Skateboarding and opera all under the same roof? Sure! Why not?

On May 27th the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC treated the city to an open house event celebrating the 100th birthday of John F. Kennedy. My wife and I spent the day and a good part of the evening down there taking in all we could. We visited with friends and we soaked up the sights and sounds. Ate good food and made a few photographs. The entire Center was open and in use.

Thousands of people visited throughout the day and were treated to — among other things — acrobats, dancers, DJs and live music — Hip Hop, blues, alt-rock — and of course a killer skate session at the Finding A Line skate park in the front plaza of the Center.

It was an amazing event open and free to the public. How they were able to pull that off I have no idea, but good on them for doing it.

So here’s to more events like this one. And here’s to the the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for being bold enough to blend a great variety of artists and performers with skate culture. As you’ll see below, it worked out pretty well!

Audience participation.

Teaching the Piedmont Blues with the Archie Edwards Blues Foundation.

Jammin’. Washboard, fiddle, and guitar.

Little rebel.

Member of the vertical dance troup, Bandaloop.

Photographing the skaters.

Ben Ashworth. The driving force behind the Finding a Line skate community.

Silhouetted skater gettin’ some air.

The JoGo Project with Donvonte McCoy on trumpet.

Revelers.

Skater chick.

Skater dude.

Jennifer Soto flying.