On a misty Seattle Sunday morning the stage was set at Marginal Way skatepark for the third annual Lords of Seatown, a now legendary battle for the Seattle rattle and fundraiser for the DIY jewel of the Emerald City. Lords brought out skateboard royalty and peasantry alike for a raucous hesh sesh and brutal BBQ of epic proportions. Event founders Snowboy Productions put up some crucial scaffolding so more people could safely view the rippage and carnage. Groms, Gramps, Guuuuuurls, Ams and Pros jousted through practice while a rowdy parking lot melee kept the rest of the fiefdom busy as the mist burned away to another sunny day in the “rainy” city.
The place was packed and the tricks were firing. The groms came out swinging with dialed runs and hail marys, the Gramps used wisdom and experience for some the biggest cheers of the day, the Guuuuuurls went for broke and stuck some straight hammers while the Ams rounded it out with a few very pro performances of the highest caliber.
A proper Seattle gray sky & morning rain started out the day at the 2015 Lords of Seatown at the Marginal Way DIY park but it didn’t keep anyone away.
Snowboy Productions handled all the cat herding and organization for the 3rd year in a row and made everything radder with spectator scaffolding.
Friends of Curbs was on hand with fresh wax for the EVO curb.
Kyle Ward warms it up with an overcrook in front of the sponsor tents. This year Volcom, Diecutstickers.com, EVO & Lib-Tech pitched in to support the contest.
Diecutstickers.com brought the boost assist, CJ Hendrix brought the boost & catch.
The Lib-Tech booth had some goodies you can buy and some goodies you can’t. These custom Lib snowboard sidewall rails are rarer than a razor scooter on the Marginal punk wall.
Christian Navarro hitched a ride to Seattle from Yakima with older brother Nathan and frontside ollied his way into third place in the Grom’s division.
Josh Dulac seemed to have a trick for every spot in the park and took the Grom’s win with tricks like this boneless transfer.
Sally Roepke might hold down the low-end playing bass for Grindline the Band but she took this frontside air to the higher-side of the bricks.
Kristin Ebeling might represent Skate Like a Girl but she back smithered the bricks like a power beast & snagged the win in the GRRRL’s division.
Jessica Bassett made use of almost every wall in the park and put this 50-50 on top of the bricks.
Brian Malkemes powered out a grip of frontside airs in the Gramps division and walked away with 3rd place.
Erin, Bish & Tim from the Marginal crew kept the family fed with dogs, burgs & beers.
This year the pros were battling it out for cash and a trophy built by Terry Parker called the “Seattle Rattle.” It’s shaped like the Space Needle and contains what might be broken teeth, ball bearings, or nuts & bolts rattling around in the base.
The top 6 pros at this year’s Lords of Seatown weren’t just battling for bragging rights. These fat knots were for tricks, kids.
Tacoma’s Johnny Weir warmed up the pro division runs with some solid airs.
Andy Hopgood got his ass over his tea-kettle in the pro division.
2014 Lords champion Phil Hansen took his contest runs fresh off a hectic plane/train travel combo with no practice and ended up with a 6th place finish.
Yakima’s own Nasty Nate Navarro made the trek West and kept things smooth with tricks like this locked frontside smith.
2013 Lord of Seatown Danny Tumia rode every transition with fluidity and pop which was good enough for 2nd place this year.
Sky Siljeg was on fire from his first warm up run the whole way through finals. The more hectic the snake session got, the better he skated.
Adam Hopkins made his way down from British Columbia and tried his best to destroy the ‘Merican concrete. Backside tailslide over the love seat in the new side of town.
Mikey Swearingen put down the bonsai trimmers for an afternoon and hacked up some tile in the cradle.
Aumsville, OR’s Chad Fenlon savagely attacked the big wall with some unique tricks like this one-foot gila monster.
Kyle Ward snatches a stalefish.
Johnny Weir going coast to coast frontside…
…and takes the speed to the bricks with one of the most stylish airs of the day.
When you see clipboards you know the deliberations are going to be heated. Lib-Tech’s Pete Saari, Dirty Dan & Sausage Skateboard’s Tony Lown do the math.
Sky Siljeg’s super final runs were pure creative fire. Power slide over/under the deathbox.
Sky taking the low road to the high road on this frontside lipslide.
Sky gets a quick whip in the crade.
Sky’s second run didn’t go according to plan but multiple hippy 360’s did.
Brice Niebuhr got comfortable for his final run & took his Bill The Butcher/Travis Bickle routine right to the big wall…
…with this frontside invert over the death box and straight into 3rd place in the pro division.
Your Grom winners: 2nd Quintin LaVille, 1st Josh Dulac, 3rd Christian Navarro
Gramps division winners: 1st Metal Mark, 2nd Kimo Cole, 3rd Brian Malkemes
The pro division paid out to 6th place, but after Danny Tumia in 2nd, Brice Niebuhr in 3rd there could be only one Lord of Seatown: 1st place
Your 2015 Lord of Seatown, Sky Siljeg goes King Kong on the Seattle Rattle!
Then there were the Pros, who were maybe not all “pro”, but all in it for the $4000 cash purse on the line. Practice alone was enough to know it was going to be an insane showing. A heated battle left six warriors in the finals: Danny Tumia, Brice Niebuhr, Sky Siljeg, Chad Fenlon, Adam Hopkins and straight off the plane, last year’s champ, Phil Hansen. Everyone ripped! Danny came out swinging with his text book flow/style/difficulty combination that makes him a threat every year. Sick lines, a couple blunt tricks thrown in nonchalantly and gnarly moves over the light and on the big wall. Brice Niebuhr skates Marginal like he made it, because he did! Or at least he’s one of a community that’s responsible. Brice flows through the park like angry water trying to escape, tricks happen, speed happens, Brice happens, then he got naked. RAGE! The Chad went back and forth punishing the pocket, the big wall and the vert extension with his own personal brand of impossible reverts. Adam Hopkins was everywhere putting his wheels to ceiling on an invert, getting solid back tails and going for a couple 540s. Phil Hansen’s hectic two week schedule of skateboarding, competing and traveling culminated with him sprinting from the light rail to Marginal Way and taking his first runs as practice, but still making the finals, all added up to a full body seize in the finals. Even with a tweaked back and general body shock he still managed to lay down some insane crail slides and backside airs. And that left Seattle’s son Sky Siljeg. If Brice was water ripping through the park than Sky was fire! Controlled creative chaos culminating in some of the most amazing lines and unexpected moments Marginal Way has ever seen.
When the sword of Damocles fell it was Sky crowned the victor and to the victor went the spoils; $1500 cash and the Seattle Rattle trophy. As dusk and dust settled on the battle field of an epic day Sausage’s Todd Lown added Sky’s name to the “Lords” pillar alongside Brice and Phil and a grand total of $5008 was counted for the Marginal Way Non Profit Organization to keep things going under the bridge. Thanks all who came out and supported. If you missed it than you missed it but we’ll see you next year!