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Boarding for Breast Cancer's 6th Annual Snowboard + Music Festival
Ryley Bane
The smell of sunscreen, sweat, and wet clothing all but numb the olfactory
nerves as more than 5,000 snowboarders pack into Sierra-at-Tahoe resort in
California on closing day. They are everywhere. Moshing at the stage area to
the band Flogging Molly as they rip through punk tunes on mandolins. Lining
the deck of the halfpipe, watching snowboard pros Ross Powers and Shannon
Dunn pull tricks in a season finale. Hanging at the base of the big-air jump
while Tara Dakides, Mikey and Tina Basich uncork sick airs. Still more thread
their way through a circus of tents where artists display exhibits, and
sponsors demo equipment, lining up to take breast exam sessions on jelly
breast molds hosted by volunteer nurses. It's the annual Boarding for Breast
Cancer Snowboard + Music Festival, snowboarding's largest one-day fundraiser,
where over $100,000 will be raised for breast cancer research by nightfall
and hopefully, many more will walk away knowing a little more about early
detection.
"This all started at a very grassroots level," recalls cofounder Lisa Hudson
about the Snowboard + Music Festival. "My mother and good friend Monica
Steward who was well-known for her work in the snowboarding industry both
told me they had breast cancer in the spring of 1995. My mother was in her
early 50's and I had heard quite a bit in the media about the increased risks
of getting breast cancer as you got older. Monica's situation was different-I
had never heard of anyone under the age of 30 getting breast cancer and
Monica was healthy and vital and only 26 when she first detected it. The
reason you don't hear of young women getting breast cancer is that there are
very few young women who actually survive breast cancer because it spreads
much more quickly in young women."
By the Fall of '95, Monica, Lisa Hudson, Kathleen Gasperini, Tina Basich, and
Shannon Dunn decided to create some sort of event that would speak to their
generation about the risks of the disease. But in January 1996, 3 months
before their inaugural Boarding for Breast Cancer Snowboard + Music Festival,
Monica died of breast cancer. "She asked us to make this event our priority,"
says Hudson. "Our community came together: Burton Snowboards, Bonfire
Clothing, Sierra-at-Tahoe, K2, Sims, and Vans, just to name a few donated
money, product, and staff to help get the first event off the ground." The
Beastie Boys, who were good friends of Tina Basich's agreed to play for free
and a friend of Hudson's built a 20 x 20 stage in the middle of a ski run so
they'd have a place to play.
"It was surprising to all of us when 5,000 people showed up," recalls
Gasperini. "We thought we'd have maybe 500-1,000 friends, mostly." Since
then, the BBC Snowboard + Music Festival has showcased world-renown riders
and bands, including the Foo Fighters, Luscious Jackson, Spearhead, and Moby.
To date, the BBC Foundation and its events, including six Board-a-thons
across the country, an active website, and on-tour displays with the Warped
Tour and several sporting and music events, have helped to raise more than
$500,000 for breast cancer research, education, and awareness programs.
"It's ironic," says Gasperini, "that mainstream stereotyping often denounce
our audience as the slacker-gen and non-caring, but the BBC events prove that
it's anything but." Steeped in the artistic and expressive subculture that
surrounds the action sports genre, the events themselves have become places
where this culture's active underbelly comes to the surface in a positive
manner. Take for example, the widely popular breast mold art exhibitions by
Modart, an organization that promotes youth culture and action sport athlete
artists. Modart founders, Shaney Jo Darden and Mona Mukherjea-Gehrig had a
concept to help the BBC by crafting paper maché breast molds modeled,
literally, from the breasts of women-athletes, celebs, and musicians. At
least year's Snowboard + Music Festival, their breast mold booth was packed
with pro riders and attendees painting the molds then buying them for $50-100
a piece-all of which was donated to the BBC Foundation. Modart took their
concept one step further this year with pre-auctions online and at two art
shows in NYC (February 28 at the Inhumane Shop) and San Francisco (March 23
at Red Five). They've also rounded up even more artists to paint molds,
including Shepard Fairey, Lance Mountain, Ed Templeton, Peter Line, Futura,
and Andy Jenkins.
"It makes sense that things would spawn into alternative and artistic arenas
considering the people we're trying to reach," says Gasperini. "Those who
support the BBC are passionate and expressive. We care deeply about the
things we feel are core to our lives. This is one of those things."
For more information about the 6th Annual BBC Snowboard + Music Festival
April 14, go to www.b4bc.com.
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