STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — After a successful clean up of the Howelsen Hill Skate Park, Trevor “Apple” Mekelburg and his new group Go Skate Steamboat earned a lot of positive recognition. Taking advantage of this momentum, Mekelburg has already planned his next move. 

At 7 p.m. Friday, July 24, there will be a board drive and competition at Howelsen Hill Skate Park. The drive will collect donated boards, trucks, wheels and other equipment for Go Skate Steamboat. Mekelburg hopes he’ll be able to put together a small fleet of rideable boards with all the donated material, so he can hold free skateboard lessons in the near future.

“My hope then is to offer free community lessons and be able to bring the boards to the park. That way people who have never skated, they don’t have to worry about getting equipment. They can just show up and try it out,” Mekelburg said. “Then, I can bring those boards into neighboring communities, like Oak creek and Hayden, and do the same thing, offer free community lessons there.”

Having a supply of skateboards also will give him the ability to give skateboards to those who are deserving but can’t afford to buy one on their own. 

“Skateboarding is pretty inclusive, and compared to skiing and snowboarding, it’s pretty affordable to get into,” Mekelburg said. “Yet, not every kid can afford a skateboard. My goal is anybody who wants to skateboard I want to eliminate reasons why they couldn’t.”

Mekelburg is the head skateboarding coach at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and knows that those programs may not be affordable to everyone. He loves the sports so much that he wants to do everything he can to grant access to anyone who wants it. 

“It falls in line with Go Skate Steamboat’s mission of just spreading skateboarding through the Yampa Valley,” he said. 

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This Friday the 24th! Registration starts at 7pm. Free to enter. $100 cash prize for the winner. At Howelsen. • BOARD DRIVE. Please consider donating any old equipment. Completes, wheels, trucks, etc. All equipment gathered will be used for free community lessons in Steamboat and neighboring communities. We want to be able to give a couple boards to dedicated young skaters who can not afford a Skateboard. • If you would like to donate to the gear drive but can not attend the event our friends at @urbanesteamboat will be accepting donations for us for the remainder of this week. Just say it is for the @goskatesteamboat Board Drive. Anything purchased at Urbane can also be directly donated. New bearings, bushings, and grip tape can go along way in sprucing up an old board. 🛹❤️

A post shared by Steamboat Skate Culture. (@goskatesteamboat) on Jul 19, 2020 at 8:03am PDT

Go Skate Steamboat partnered with Urbane in downtown Steamboat Springs, where people can bring used gear or buy new skateboarding equipment to donate at a drop box in the store. 

The main purpose of Friday’s event is to gather donated boards, but Mekelburg isn’t leaving the skate community without something to do. There will be a single elimination bracket style tournament in which one skater will go against another, trying to mimic each other’s tricks until one is eliminated.

The winner will advance to take on a new opponent. Whoever is the last skater left standing will win a $100 donated cash prize.

To reach Shelby Reardon, call 970-871-4253, email sreardon@SteamboatPilot.com or follow her on Twitter @ByShelbyReardon.