Words and photos by Balthazar Wyss
“Oli Bürgin, Claudia, RJ and the whole Port Land family put together a new edition of the Freakend party. Three days of rad skating, music playing, silkscreen printing, snake venom drinking and chicken plucking in one of Switzerland’s most famous DIYs.
This year has been very uncertain as the city is planning to build a temporary school on the area, leaving few hopes for any further skater-made and community-oriented open place to skate in the region. The project has been postponed, or modified, and that’s all we know about it so far. We’ll see what news 2024 is going to bring.
Freakend at Port Land DIY – Basel, Switzerland
Filmed by Elia, Alain and Taro. Edited by Taro.
Anyways, nothing, even the rain, would have stop this year’s Freakend, and although the afternoons were kind of wet, the squeegee detachment and the blowtorch squadron just blew the bowl dry for the evening sessions. So the guys and girls could give everything for the best trick challenge around the lighthouse, the surprise fire step-up, and the kids session.
Definitely a good occasion to meet the nicest people coming from all over the country, but also from Austria,France, Germany, the Netherlands… remember to listen to festive country-blues-garage-rock (or whatever it was) by the talented Red Tape Redemption and Thomas Schoeffler Jr and the Rusty Rifles. Look at the kids and families fooling around and showing how highly essential such places are in the city.
By the way, organizers’ wishes were very high, and some challenges are still open. Don’t hesitate to ask what tricks still need to be seen there if you’re passing by…” – Balthazar Wyss
Grom session:
Check out the Freakend at PortLand from 2019