Backyard BBQ at Oxford Valley Mall
Submitted by dtomko on Tue, 2006-06-20 20:38.Catching air
By Tara Nurin
Philly EDGE Correspondent
MMM. Ketchup.
What’s a better way to get back at your nephew or your best friend’s kid for all of his devilish antics then to have dozens of other little rascals douse him in condiments and roll him around on a big piece of cardboard “bread?”
You’ll have just the opportunity at the free Journeys Backyard BBQ tour coming to the Oxford Valley Mall parking lot on Saturday, June 24. It’s the last stop on a national tour sponsored by the chain “lifestyle” retailer Journeys – a shop where the high-school-and-younger set stocks up on the clothes they need to brand themselves as cool skaters, surfers, snowboarders, etc …
Ok, so the main point of the tour isn’t to permanently stain clothes or psyches (a prize of a free pair of sneakers helps ease the pain); the purpose here is to grind out a free day-long outdoor party for the girls and guys who are into skateboarding, BMX biking and loud music.
The fiesta promises to be sick because it’s not only fronting a whole day of pro skaters and freestyle BMX bikers doing their tricks thing, and it’s not only gonna be a fantastic place to play games and grab some free loot, but it’s also featuring Elissa Steamer, arguably the best female skater ever. Steamer is the only woman included in any of the Tony Hawk video games and she’s the first girl with her own pro model street skateboarding shoe.
And seriously, what’s cooler than a skater chick? A skater chick who’s really f’in good.
“Skating is my life,” the street skating celeb says on the phone from San Francisco, where she lives. “I’m a really nice person but people tend to be intimidated by me. I’m a tough girl and I’m pretty gnarly with scars.”
Steamer is part of the Etnies skate team - the active apparel company sponsoring the Philly and St. Louis legs of the tour. So, PA and Missouri fans will get to see her in person on this round.
But people at the Oxford Valley Mall will be the select few along the six-city tour who get a live, free concert of Matchbook Romance, the band that’s tearing up the charts with the single, “Monsters.” WMMR, which plays Matchbook Romance in its rotation, will be doing live remote broadcasts narrating the action and providing musical backdrop in between sets by four local bands, including the Central Jersey group, The Bank Robbers.
“We’re pulling out all the stops in Philly because it’s the end of our tour,” says Brian Glass, who’s producing the event for Sandbox Marketing. “We’ve got a great lineup and we’ll basically be handing out more giveaways than anywhere else – anything we’ve got leftover. Emptying the truck.”
“Philly’s a really good market for us,” adds Kari Irons, senior retail marketing manager for Journeys’ parent company. “We have three stores in the area, and it’s such a thriving place for skaters.”
Planners are expecting five or six thousand fans and their parents to show up throughout the day. Irons says the family-friendly tour is a way to thank and inspire its loyal customers.
“Journeys started out as a grassroots company, with its ground-level marketing and attitude,” she says of the chain that now boasts 700 locations. “So now we’re doing something to give back to all the people in the communities that support us.”
People who support Journeys between now and June 24 will get even more back from the company when they buy a pair of Etnies shoes there. They’ll be invited into the V.I.P. tent at the BBQ, where they’ll get to chow on sizzling grilled food and meet the skaters and musicians.
Journeys Backyard BBQ
June 24, 2006, 1 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Oxford Valley Mall
2300 East Lincoln Hwy., Langhorne, PA
