Thrasher Magazine

Summer on the coasts is all well and good, but there’s somethin’ special about mixin’ it up with the Midwest. New Balance Numeric did just that with a packed crew of untouchable talent. We’re talkin’ Tiago, Reynolds, Westgate, Foy and too many to name here, but you’ll see 'em soon enough. Now, let’s go see what they got into in the Second City. Thanks, NB Numeric, Voodoo Ranger, Skullcandy and Uprise Skateshop.—Joe Brook

Starting out with an epic view of the Sears Tower from my room

First sight to see, THE BEAN!

And the first rip of the trip, Wilton Souza with a front heel

Reynolds with classic wallride

He wanted a close-up, too. Yes, Boss!

Jake Hayes hit ‘em with a fat three flip

Top rider Tiago hit the nollie crooks for fun

Tom K wax camera taking me out. I love it!

Brian Reid frontside flips

Jordan Trahan brought the cajun flavor farther north, frontside wallride

Good vibes already

Tiago’s back with a nollie V flip

Reynolds and Tom talking shop

The Southwest’s premier switch kid, Ryan Lay dodged the Arizona sun for a bit and hit the wall opposite stance!

Wilton Souza’s got the grind to grind…

… and the upstream slide

Big G and Lil’ G. Let’s keep it movin’ 

Gregson, prunin’ prep for the SOTY

Warm up? What for? Foy hops on a crooks first T

Then back 5-0

And then an overcrooks to finish the clinic. Damn…

Patrick Praman, personal challenge drop-in

Marcello Campanello hopped outta NYC to ollie into the bank 

Levi and Reynolds, just two big dudes with real big kickflips on their records 

Brian Reid hits this back-alley ledge to bank first. Kicky back tail

Ryan Lay got a blessing from the SSBSTS god himself after this one

Meeting of the skate minds

Ronnie Kesser, back tail kickflip out into the bank

And on the airborne beat, Westgate rips a huge O over the whole thing

Much has been written about the benches in Chicago. We had to see one for ourselves

Local artist on the session

Drew linked up with his fellow Baker Boy Neen Williams

Tiago starts it off with a switch ollie the hard way. Of course he did

Jamie Foy with a proper heelflip

Brain Reid, nollie flip straight up and over

And Ryan Lay closed out the session with a kickflip. Oh wait, that was switch. Of course it was

We roll DEEP

NB squad had to pay a visit to Chicago’s Uprise. Stop by when you’re in the city

Then we had to check the Uprise TF

Junebug is a Chicago legend. Here he is with the kids his skate program

Reynolds gave the people what they came to see, a classic FS flip

Our resident double threat Chris Gregson put down the camera for a kickflip noseblunt. He rips! But you already knew that

Ryan Lay, nollie 180 flip over the hip

Reynolds got on his ATV shit with a kicky on the quarter

Marcello cooling off with a cold Fat Tire brewski

Everyone enjoying a cold one after the Uprise jam

A fan brought Reynolds vintage Birdhouse board to sign. Maybe he should re-release this graphic?

Our guy Gary with Aaron Polansky from Sky High skate shop in Milwaukee

Uprise owner Uriah and his fam

Marfa the rad stepdad with Reynolds

Chicago Media is ready for the show

Neen brought the NADC burgers! What a guy

Not a scrap to be seen

Not A Damn Chance!

Neen saved one for his Deathwish dude

Out back we had the flatbar ready for Foy

Local ripper broke it in with a heavy front feeble

Foy with a crowd-pleasing pinch across the whole damn flat rail

Skull Candy always showing the love

DEMO DAY! Our guy Dylan keeps the bevs nice and cold. Thanks, Yeti

I shit you not, Jake Darwen usually carries this much camera gear. But this time he's helping carry the product-toss goodies

Random Brunner Bro sighting in Chi-town with Franky V

Crowd check 

Tom K impossible the gap to officially start the demo at Grant Park

Reynolds, buttery smooth back nosegrind

Westgate with a super-powered ollie over the top to 50-50

Tiago doing what he does best—switch back tail

Ryan Lay had fans in the crowd

Justin Henry nollied into this nosegrind

Gary was FIRED UP

Reynolds with one more frontside flip for the masses

Chicago was loving it

Tiago snaps a switch varial heel over the rail

Local photogs got it covered

Ryan Lay, nollie noseblunt

Jake Hayes brought out the Barley grind

Patrick Praman, backside noseblunt

If there’s a rail, Jamie Foy can fakie crooks it

Ryan Lay, switch front blunt

Gary always gets the crowd goin’

Patrick put down a perfect front blunt

And finally, Jamie Foy gets the kickflip front crooks for the curtains

And that’s a wrap for the demo! Thanks for rolling out, Chicago

Now there’s just a few more orders of business, starting with the slingin’ of some ink. Reynolds, you go first

Foy marks up the most valuable real estate in skateboarding

And, of course, the product toss! Watch your heads

Westgate with a Stay Gold superfan

Midwest superstar Justin Henry, signing away

Is Patrick down for a selfie? Fuck yeah, he is!

Jake put his pen on many a shirt

Jeff Halleran from Flying Low skate shop came correct with all the Thrasher covers from the NB skaters in attendance

Damn near everyone got laced up today

After the demo we hit the show to see Boldy James from Detroit

They put on a helluva show

It’s fair to say they shut it down

Last day, Reynolds bought a mystery bag for the team from the Goodwill. Ryan got a sick shirt from the haul

Wilton, off the curb cut to 50-50

Somehow we still had some gas in the tank, so we hit up Chicago’s hallowed library spot

Jordan Trahan threw out a 360 flip to warm up the plaza

RIght behind him, Partick Praman soared a nollie inward heel over the can

Who’s got the nollie back heel? Tiago, easy

Few things look better than a classic kickflip. Jordan knows

Thrasher shirts, not just for lookin’ sick in the streets, but also for keepin’ ‘em clean

Franky took a walk down the block with a Bennett grind

Barred up by Levi Brown? That’s a trick in itself

Tiago with a powerful switch front crooks. It's so fun to watch him skate in person

And closing out the whole weekend, Marcello ends the trip with a backside nosegrind through a modest forest. Thanks again for all the good times, Chicago! We’ll see you soon