Stand Up for Skateparks

October 13, 2009 (Beverly Hills, CA) A star-studded crowd turned out on Sunday to support the skateboarding icon at the 2009 Tony Hawk: RIDE Presents Stand Up for Skateparks. One thousand fans and supporters gathered at Green Acres Estate for the festival-like atmosphere highlighted by a Vert Demo that featured a Who's Who of X Games, including Hawk, Bucky Lasek, Andy Macdonald, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Simon Tabron, Coco Zurita, Lincoln Ueda, and Kevin Staab. A highlight for fans was seeing Tom Green and Fred Durst at the top of the ramp cheering on the riders as Hawk landed his signature 900 for the crowd.

MMA star Chuck Liddell and pro skater Terry Kennedy
came to support the cause.

The fundraising component kicked off with a special presentation by Tony Hawk and youth from the Los Angeles community of Watts, who are working with the Tony Hawk Foundation and community leaders to build a skatepark at the foot of the famous Watts Towers. Both adults and kids played in the interactive booths and bid on items ranging from signed skateboards to a Hawkized Ford Mustang to Roadie for a Day with pop-star Miley Cyrus. The event raised over $775,000, including $43,500 for the Watts Towers skatepark.

Blink-182 and Verne Troyer helped out Tony Hawk.

Wrapping up the event, blink-182 joined Hawk onstage to support the cause with a special performance for the intimate crowd. Hailing from San Diego, the band was the original musical performance at the inaugural Stand Up for Skateparks event six years ago.

Tony Hawk and Andy McDonald perform a doubles
routine while Tom Green hams it up.

About Tony Hawk: RIDE Presents Stand Up for Skateparks

Created by Tony Hawk, Stand Up for Skateparks is a family festival of games, auctions, music, skateboarding and a premier vert demo produced to raise funds and awareness for the Tony Hawk Foundation and support its mission. The Beverly Hills event was made possible through the generous support of Activision, UFC, Ex Drinks, Andaz, Dynacraft, and Galpin Auto Sports.

Paul Rodriguez chats it up with Watts youth.

About the Tony Hawk Foundation

A charitable, non-profit organization, the Tony Hawk Foundation was established in 2002 by its namesake, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, to promote and provide funds to build high-quality public skateparks in low-income areas throughout the United States. Since then, the Foundation has awarded $2,887,500 to 448 communities.

For more information, log on to http://www.tonyhawkfoundation.org.

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