initiatives

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In spring 2024, we partnered with WAF, the first Nigerian skateboarding company, and skatepark builders Wonders Around the World to construct the first public concrete skatepark in Lagos, Nigeria.

Located in the historic Freedom Park, a former colonial prison turned cultural center, this 600 square meter skatepark sits adjacent to the WAF skateshop and provides a unique, shaded, and tranquil setting in the middle of bustling Lagos Island for skaters to congregate to skate safely, one of the few such spaces in the city of 16 million.

While the skatepark is a public space, it also hosts skateboarding classes for youth, girls only sessions  hosted by Dencity skate collective, and competitions and events hosted by WAF.

Working together with the Strange Family, we support skateboarding development and programs at the Johnny Strange Memorial Skatepark in Thimphu, Bhutan.  

We are heading back to Bhutan this November to hold the 2nd annual free skate camp at the Johnny Strange Skatepark!

In October, 2022, we held a 2 week free skatecamp co-hosted with local skateboarders for the youth of Thimphu and donated an additional 30 skateboards, DIY skateboard manufacturing equipment, Photo/Video equipment and accompanying mentorship workshops. 

In August, 2021, we sent a shipment of 20 complete skateboards to The Bhutan Olympic Committee to be distributed to 20 local skateboarders, boys and girls, aged 6-18 who signed up to participate in a skateboarding event held at the Johnny Strange Memorial Skatepark in Thimphu, Bhutan. (Follow the progress on Instagram @bhutanskates)   

A message from the Strange Family:

Johnny Strange was an adventurer, mountaineer, extreme sports athlete, brother, son, and friend from Malibu, California. He was the youngest person to summit the world's Seven Summits (including Mt. Everest) and a renowned skydiver and BASE jumper. He big wave surfed in Nazare, Portugal and Hawaii, trained in martial arts in Thailand, and in his free time could often be found bombing hills in California on his skateboard. Through his many adventures, he worked to bring awareness to causes he cared about, like protecting youth in impoverished or war-torn regions.  

Johnny first visited the Kingdom of Bhutan in 2014, and fell in love with the beautiful mountainous country and the people of Bhutan, the happiest people he had ever met. He developed a friendship with many Bhutanese people and spent time working with the Bhutan Olympic Committee. On his two trips to Bhutan, he brought a longboard skateboard and skated the hills in Thimphu, the nation's capital. When his skateboard caught the attention of local kids, he taught them how to skate.  

Johnny tragically passed away in a BASE jumping accident in 2015. In his honor, his family, in cooperation with the Kingdom of Bhutan, built the Johnny Strange Skatepark in Thimphu in 2018–the first skatepark in Bhutan. The Strange family is excited to partner with Salad Days of Skateboarding to ensure the long term success of the skatepark by maintaining the park and providing boards, shoes, and skate camps to Bhutanese youth.

Read this National Geographic article on Johnny's legacy in Bhutan