An urban rail jam is not defined just by the big crowds and product giveaways. There are many players to be considered, from riders and fans, to company sponsors, local sponsors, and the production company setting up the features.
One company that understands the bigger picture is Snowboy Productions.
Founded in 1997 by Krush Kulesza, Snowboy Productions sees the rider as the most important player when setting up an urban rail jam. “I know it’s the biggest cliché, but we always want it to be riders first. If riders are having fun, the crowd will be stoked,” says Kulesza.
Keys to success when setting up an urban contest include looking at the terrain, understanding the locals, and “trying to make it fit the area,” says Kulesza. Snowboy tries to make sure the courses are not too gnarly, keeping in mind that most urban jams are early season.
On November 20, 2010 Snowboy Productions teamed up with Salomon to produce its 2nd Annual Backyard Bang Rail Jam at the Art Institute in Denver, Colorado. Kulesza says they tried to make it different from last year’s event and really use the terrain, normally a metropolitan thoroughfare, on location. The intersection where the rail jam was held, 12th and Lincoln, has a fairly steep hill, and Kulesza said they wanted to create a long course and utilize as much snow as possible.
This year’s course included three features, a box, the Scion “Death Gap” and a kinked rail. The death gap consisted of a ramp over a Scion, which took some heavy beating from riders.
“We try to not ever do the same event twice,” says Kulesza. While a casual observer might not notice anything different, he says, they try to make each event a little bit different to keep the riders and sponsors stoked.
“At every event, we try to make sure its relevant, if it’s the same spot, same setup, people are going to get burned out.” Kulesza hopes to return next year and is already working on ideas for the next setup.
Keeping riders from getting burned out and events that aren’t fun is why Kulesza started Snowboy Productions in the first place. “I was bummed that all the events kind of sucked and wanted to see if I could do a better job.” Thirteen years later Snowboy is producing events like the Downtown Throwdown in Seattle and the Holy Oly Revival. In the future Kulesza is thinking about bringing a Downtown Throwdown to San Francisco.
Riders aren’t the only ones having fun at urban rail jams. These events are also a great way for local retailers and sponsors to take part in a community event that effectively reaches their target audience. It was retailer Christy Sports first year supporting the Backyard Bang. “We have a good relationship with Salomon and Bonfire,” says Christy Associate Maka Kalai. “We want to do more local snowboard events, and this is a great way to get the name out in front of the people.”
Woodward at Copper was also at the Backyard Bang for the first time, taking over from Copper Mountain Resort who sponsored the event last year. Reps said that quite a few riders in the rail jam were Woodward campers, and being there was a great opportunity to spread word about summer camps.
The Backyard Bang was able to get an even wider spread of sponsors and individuals involved as it was hosted at the Art Institute of Denver. Marketing Coordinator Marcie Kaplan at the Art Institute of Denver said that the event was a great way for the school to reach out to the community and for students to get involved. Salomon has partnered with the Art Institute of Portland to host rail jams, and some of the local Salomon reps in Denver had the idea to bring the event here said Kaplan.
The Art Institute was also able to get involved as current students, alumni, and prospective students had the opportunity to design boards from used Salomon decks. The top boards were then auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Art Institute of Colorado Student Scholarship.
