Checking Off the Bucket List at Dew Tour Chicago

This past Saturday, June 20, I went to the Chicago stop of the Dew Tour. It was my first time attending an action sports competition, and it was the first time I met an action sports athlete, two things that were on my bucket list. Now I can check those off the list!

Once I found out Dew Tour was returning to Chicago, I was ecstatic and wanted to go, especially since I missed out on the two years it was here last. When I found out tickets weren't required to attend the event and that it was free to go, I was even more excited! I told my sister and my brother, and we decided to go on the Saturday it'd be in town.

I was also excited about the specific location of the event. It was at Grant Park skatepark, which has only been open for a few months now. I've known about the plan to open it for a while now, and I always thought it was really exciting that there was going to be a skatepark downtown. I don't skate or ride BMX or anything like that, but I was just excited as an action sports fan.

Luckily -- or unluckily as it may have turned out -- I was going to be in the city for a doctor's appointment anyway, so there was no excessive traveling that was out of the way. Unluckily, my doctor's appointment prevented us from getting to the event at its start, so we missed the only skateboarding competition of the day, skateboard streetstyle, which was the event we were most looking forward to.

We got there around 2:30 or 3 PM, near the end of the streestyle contest. Once we got there, we immediately checked out the course for BMX street, which was the next contest. Even though it hadn't started yet and only some of the riders were actually on the course practicing, there were still a lot of people checking it out. My siblings and I walked all around the course to find a good spot to watch from.

After watching practice for a little bit, my sister Ashley and I wanted to see if skate streetstyle was over, so we walked over to that course only to find out it ended and nothing was going on. So we decided to go to Dew Tour Experience, the area full of booths with giveaways, autograph signings, and more. We wanted to see what free stuff was there before they ran out.

At Dew Tour Experience, there were booths for all of the Dew Tour sponsors including Rockstar Energy, Verizon, Sony, Paul Mitchell, Mountain Dew (of course), Airwalk, Squatch Jerky (Jack Links), and US Army. There was also a 7-11 booth (I think it was a big truck actually) that was giving away free Mountain Dew Slurpees.

We didn't go in all of the booths, but the first one we went in was the Airwalk one. I knew skateboarder Andy Macdonald was signing at that booth earlier in the day, and it turned out he was still there! So Ashley and I got in line to get his autograph.

I also knew Paul Rodriguez (Jr.) aka P-Rod was at the Mountain Dew booth earlier in the day too, but I wasn't sure how long he was going to be signing with Theotis Beasley and Nick Tucker, so we went to see if they were still there, but they weren't.

Me and my twin sister Ashley (right) with Greg Lutzka (left middle) and Kelvin Hoefler (right middle)

Then my brother wanted to get a free Slurpee, so we stood in line with him, but then I saw the Rockstar booth and knew Greg Lutzka was signing there starting at 3 PM, so Ashley and I left the free Slurpee line because we didn't care that much for them and wanted to get Greg Lutzka's autograph.

In addition to Lutzka, fellow skateboarders Kelvin Hoefler and Manny Santiago were there. Ashley and I got their autographs and then got a picture with Lutzka and Hoefler. I wanted to get Santiago in the picture as well, but he was already signing someone else's poster and taking a photo with someone else. Oh well.

By the time we were done walking around Experience, it still wasn't time for BMX street, so we all chilled in the shade since it was hot and sunny.

It turns out that we probably relaxed in the shade too long, because when 4 PM rolled around and BMX street started, there weren't any good spots to watch the contest from. I ended up tip-toeing to see a good part of the contest, but it was worth it. I eventually got a decent spot to watch from anyway.

I haven't watched a lot of BMX compared to the amount of skateboarding I've watched, so it was really cool to see all of these BMX riders compete in person. I only got to watch a little over half of the competition because my mom didn't want us to stay too long, but I got to see a lot of good riding.

Although my day at Dew Tour didn't go as planned -- no skate streetstyle, no autograph from P-Rod, not watching all of BMX street -- I did have a good day, enjoyed it, and had fun. I've never been to an action sports competition before, so going to one at all was great. It's something I've wanted to do for about six or seven years, so going at all was definitely better than nothing. After all, I got to check two things off of my bucket list in one day! I don't think that's ever happened before!

I don't exactly know what it was about it, but going to Dew Tour got me excited about action sports again, like how excited I was about it when I was in middle school, before I fell in love with gymnastics. It reminded me that I love action sports.

Thanks to Dew Tour for a great day! I really hope it comes back next year because there was a great turnout this year. I think there's a pretty high demand for it, and I would love for it to come back (especially because I still have yet to watch a skateboarding contest in person). And if it does, I hope to continue checking things off of my bucket list and enjoying less-appreciated sports.