Local shop owners of Cab (Clothing + Accessories + Boards) Aaron Kienle and Brennan Wiens are heading into their tenth year of business in Yorkton this weekend, hosting a tenth anniversary sale and celebration this weekend.
With action sports growing rapidly around the world, the province and especially in Yorkton we took the time to sit down with Aaron and Brennan to talk about the growth of skate and snowboarding in the community over the past ten years and their take on what is next. Being in skateboarding and snowboarding for over twenty years, the two had a lot to say about the direction of the scene, especially for Yorkton.
Q. What has been the biggest change over the past ten years for you guys? What have you noticed?
A. When we first opened up Cab it was in all honesty to fill the void of a fashion store in town, but being avid skateboarders and snowboarders we always leaned to catering to our personal interests and now it has went from supplying the handful of other skaters or snowboarders from around the area to skateboarding and snowboarding being one of our main focuses because of the amount of people who are now into action sports.
Q. Obviously one of the main factors in the rising popularity of action sports has to be the introduction of mainstream sports television with the X Games/Street league for skateboarding and the Olympics having snowboarding as one of its top events. How has that helped grow the sports in Saskatchewan?
A. The introduction of television into skateboarding and snowboarding has been as huge as skateboarding video games were in the 90's. Now with slopestyle and big air events coming into the 2014 Olympics snowboarding has became kind of a rite of passage and a winter tradition like skiing. If you are from Saskatchewan there is a chance that you play hockey, go on your sled, or snowboard in the winter time and obviously television has helped do that. On the same hand with skateboarding you are getting to see skateboarding on ESPN or TSN and see it is a sport, but you also can go to the skatepark and hang out with your friends and it isn't competitive. So the balance between skating and snowboarding as a sport and a hobby is a win-win situation for the growth of the industry as well as introducing more people to something that we love.
Q. Now Saskatchewan even has arguably the best snowboarder in the world in Regina's Mark McMorris. What does that say about how far things have came in ten years?
A. It is huge. Seeing a guy who came from essentially just down the highway being not just a professional snowboarder, but one of Canada's stars of the 2014 Olympics that is a lock for one or two medals proves that you don't have to leave Saskatchewan to realize that dream and that we have started to support a growing sport in the province.
Q. Recently there have been rumors about a new snowboard park being put in behind the Yorkton skatepark. Is that naturally the next move?
A. Yes, Cab and the City of Yorkton have partnered up and we will be building a terrain park with some jumps and rails behind the Broadway skatepark this winter as soon as we get the snow to build it. It is going to be nice to have something for those who want to snowboard, but can't make the drive to the hill to be able to go snowboarding this winter and we can't wait.
Q. Helping to bring in the Skatepark/Walking park has opened up a lot of new possibilities for a local skatepark. What have you guys been doing now that the park is in full swing.
A. First we wanted to build a skate team and with the quality of skateboarding being the highest it has ever been in the community it was only a matter of time so we have added some new members to our Cab skate team. We also have been working with Vans who have hooked our skate team guys up with free shoes and are hoping for more sponsorships to be ironed out in the future. There have also been so many demos and competitions hosted by us and the other local shop so it has been an exciting first full year of the park.
Q. With skateboarding and snowboarding's popularity at an all time high in the City, what are some of your predictions and goals for the next decade of Cab and skate/snow in the future.
A. For us just more skateboarding and more snowboarding. Both of us have went to the park more in 2013 than we had in the last five years because we finally have a park where we can do that after other non-permanent parks and now with the snowboard park hopefully coming in we can continue to do what we love and now we can do that with out kids. Everything has came full circle and we are excited for whatever is next.
Q. For the City?
A. More adults getting back into skateboarding and snowboarding with their kids. Also with the quality of skateboarding growing the way it has been with kids going to the park every day and getting better and better, don't be surprised to see a kid from Yorkton on the cover of a skateboarding magazine or in the X Games one day. The sky is really the limit now.
Cab Clothing will be celebrating Saturday with their 10th annual up to 99% off sale at their Parkland Mall and Downtown Broadway locations.
