Tony Hawk & Friends Gear Up For Skatepark Benefits

TONY HAWK AND FRIENDS CELEBRATE THE 11TH ANNUAL STAND UP FOR SKATEPARKS BENEFIT IN BEVERLY HILLS

With DJ Z-Trip spinning and mashing sounds atop the 13-foot halfpipe, Tony Hawk’s 11th-annual Stand Up For Skateparks benefit came to a climactic conclusion with Hawk and other top skate and BMX pros performing an all-star demo yesterday at Green Acres Estate in Beverly Hills, California. The event has become a staple for Tony Hawk Foundation supporters and celebrities alike, offering a fun kid-centric day that culminates with Hawk and friends performing on his personal ramp. And eleven years on, Hawk is still finding ways to mash up the program-this year putting Z-Trip in the middle of the action and high above the crowd.

Tony Hawk’s Stand Up For Skateparks is a family-friendly action-sports carnival with games, food, and live and silent auctions with one-of-a-kind items and experiences. Another sell-out crowd and terrific auction items like Hawkized custom vehicles from MINI and Triumph, special celebrity experiences from Ben Harper, Jon Favreau, and Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, a guitar signed by Slash, and one-of-a-kind visits to Napa, Dubai, and the Gumball 3000 rally helped this year’s Stand Up For Skateparks raise over $850,000. Proceeds support the Tony Hawk Foundation’s mission to empower youth through the creation of free, quality, public skateparks in low-income communities throughout the U.S., and Internationally with programs that enrich the lives of youth through skateboarding.

“Stand Up For Skateparks and the skatepark movement in general have come such a long way,” said Tony Hawk. “With more than 500 skateparks in all 50 states receiving funding from THF, and more than 2,000 projects benefiting from our technical assistance program, we’re as busy and as needed as ever. This was our eleventh-annual benefit, and I believe it was our best yet. Skating my ramp with DJ Z Trip spinning and mashing it up on the deck-literally with the riders-was incredible. It was a great display of skateboarding, BMX and music, and a fitting end to a terrific day.”

Notable attendees this year included Mel B., Julie Bowen, Erik Estrada, Eve, Perry Farrell, Bob Forrest, Willie Garson, Brian Austin Green, Tom Green, Tiger Greene, David Hasselhoff, Andrea Jaeger, Anthony Keidis (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Chuck Liddell, Chris Massey, Kyle Massey, Novogratz Family, Joaquin Phoenix, Rain Phoenix, Holly Robinson Peete, Slash, Verne Troyer, Robert Trujillo (Metallica), Chris Tucker, Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Wee Man (Jackass), pro-skaters Lizzie Armanto, Andy Macdonald, Tom Schaar, Elliot Sloan, Kevin Staab, and Lincoln Ueda, and BMX Riders Simon Tabron and Coco Zurita.

Stand Up For Skateparks was co-Chaired by Tony Hawk and DJ Z-Trip. Benefit Committee members include Ron Burkle, Eve and Maximillion Cooper, Fred Durst, Etty and Perry Farrell, Jon Favreau, Brian Austin Green, Mat Hoffman, Bobby Kotick, Jason Lee, Tommy Lee, Chuck Liddell, Howie Mandel, Rodney Mullen, Lyn-Z and Travis Pastrana, Chris Sacca, Sultan AlSaud, Christian Slater, Henry Stupp, Robert Trujillo, Steve Van Doren, Mark Wahlberg, Lori and Bill Walton, and Shaun White.

This year’s event was made possible through the generosity and support of Kohl’s, MINI USA, Gumball 3000 Foundation, Starkey Hearing Foundation, Clif Kid, HEXBUG, Nixon, Sony Action Cam, Sweetwater, and The Yucaipa Companies.

For more information about Tony Hawk’s Stand Up For Skateparks, visit www.standupforskateparks.org.