Three Days of Skateboarding, Wrestling, and Music in Austin, Texas

In 2006, a handful of local skaters in Austin, looking for a way to attend a music festival for free, offered to build a ramp and put on a demo as a sideshow. The crowd liked the skating, the sport aligned easily with the music, and the unique lineup of the Fun Fun Fun Fest was born. This weekend marks the event's tenth year, and some of the best skaters in the world will join acts like Wu-Tang Clan and Jane's Addiction at a venue that has grown to include four stages, a wrestling ring, and, of course, a giant custom-built ramp.

The skateboarding component has long been sponsored and staffed by local skaters and the Austin-based organization Project Loop, which also invites a dozen BMX riders to put on a demonstration during the event. For the past four years, Project Loop has been joined by clothing and lifestyle brand Volcom. The company started as a part-time sponsor in 2012 to showcase its record label, Volcom Entertainment. Today the fest is one of Volcom's largest sponsorship venues of the year.

"I've been a huge fan of FFF's approach since they started. I've always said, there's only two kinds of music –good music and bad music—and they think in the same genre-less way," said Mike Aho, Global Creative Director at Volcom. "Kids today don't have as many boundaries in the love for music. So we thought it was a perfect fit."

In 2014, FFF invited Volcom to become a full partner and asked for help in upgrading the small vert ramp skaters had been using.

"When they [FFF] asked us [Volcom] to get involved, I can just tell you that the excitement was huge around here, and I had to live up to that," said Remy Stratton, Volcom's VP of skateboarding. After a long professional skating career, Stratton has helped develop nearly all aspects of Volcom's skating program. "I had to just go into fantasyland… We didn't want to go in there and do a typical ramp. It started as a random sketch I made, and then it kept on looking better and better."

What resulted was the Super Collider, which Stratton describes as having a "mousetrap layout," with three ramps converging in the center. That allows for six directions of movement, as opposed to the usual two-directional ramp. It's one of the most complex ramps in the world, and it can only be ridden during FFF, which means that the event is a big draw for skaters.

"The ramp gradually became our fifth stage as the level of skate and BMX talent has gradually grown larger," said Neil Maris, Director of Production for FFF.

Pro skateboarder Grant Taylor rode the Super Collider at last year's festival. "It's a really crazy ramp, that's for sure," he said. "I've never ridden anything like it before."

This year, the ramp has been tweaked to give skaters more hang time in the air and allow both goofy-footed and normal-footed skaters to ride at the same time.

Taylor will be returning to the Super Collider this weekend, along with top names like Ryan Sheckler, Collin Provost, and Chris Pfanner, as well as other skaters like Louie Lopez and 12-year-old CJ Collins. At select times during the festival, the ramp will be open to the public.

"We try and get all the guys on the team there," Volcom's Aho said. "There are definitely people whose skating lends itself more to these wild ramps, but ideally getting everyone there is great. Not only to skate, but to check out the great vibes and music at the fest."

In addition to the skating and the music, on Friday and Saturday, the Anarchy Championship Wrestling competition takes place in the venue's ring. Inspire Pro Wrestling, a union of professional wrestling talent in Texas, draws much from every artistic community in Austin. Max Dropout, the owner and booker for Inspire Pro Wrestling, said, "Lots of folks from The New Movement Theater, which is run by Chris Trew, participate in what we do." Chris Trew is an Austin-based comedian and wrestling manager. "In fact, Chris Trew manages several wrestlers in our company. The athletic component is pretty obvious. No one can argue that what we present isn't an incredibly physical and athletic spectacle."

"Spectacle" could describe the whole FFF weekend, and one Volcom is happy to be supporting. "This is by far our biggest relationship with anything like this," Aho said. "We sponsor other events, but we all look at this as a long term relationship that could really grow into some cool things."