Photos by Timo Enderle and Marcel Klerner
Video by Lucas Donnet and Gabriel Bechler
Words by Gabriel Bechler (@gabbogammbo)
In September 2024, a bridge in Dresden suddenly gave way. Just collapsed out of nowhere. Even though Dresden is about 675 kilometers away from Gottenheim, the spot being located right underneath a bridge definitely raised some eyebrows with local officials. So, they decided that there’s gonna be no more expansion of the DIY for now. But since we had already managed to build way more than we had originally planned, we weren’t too bummed about it.
This meant the crew had to wrap things up, finish a few last projects, and clean the place up so it could finally be officially opened to the public (even though it had kind of been open the whole time anyway). Despite everyone in the crew being busy with their own stuff, it was somehow possible to put together an opening celebration within just a few weeks.
The goal was to organize something simple and within our means. So we planned a day full of skating at the spot, stuff for tricks, a flea market, tattoos, drinks, and food — as the foundation for a get-together to celebrate this silly little culture of ours.
In the end, that’s exactly what it turned out to be. The weather was perfect, and it was sick to welcome locals, friends, and people who took long-ass drives just to hang out for a day. Thanks to the support of local skate shops and companies, we were able to give away boards, trucks, wheels, and other stuff to kids and hand out drinks in exchange for donations.
No one got seriously hurt, no kooks showed up, and a couple of NBDs are in the books.
All in all: good times.
Note to self: next time, we gotta sort out a better sound system.
Soooo, thanks for coming, thanks for checking it out.
Yours truly, Team Schlämme
