Copenhagen’s Biggest Skateboarding Festival:
Three Snapshots From CPH Open.
By Antonia Beil
Every June, I travel 5,000 miles from my hometown of Portland, Oregon, to Copenhagen, Denmark, to attend the CPH Open Skateboard Festival. It’s an epic, 100-hour party that brings the world’s top skateboarders and their fans together to celebrate skateboarding. This is how I spend a typical day at CPH Open and why the event draws me back year after year.
CPH Skatepark: Mingle With the Pros
During CPH Open, hundreds of spectators and skateboarders fill CPH Skatepark’s 2000-square-meter facility. A skater tosses me a bottle of Tuborg Green as I make my way through the crowd. I chat with skate world stars like Oskar “Oski” Rozenberg and Heitor Da Silva, and we cheer as competitors flip and glide over dozens of boxes, rails and ramps. I smell wheel rubber burn when boarders speed past me.
Enghave Plads: Relax and Refuel
I escape the mob at CPH Skatepark and walk to Enghave Plads, an outdoor skatepark. The aroma of falafel and hummus from Pasha, the kebab joint across the street, replaces the scent of scorched rubber. Skaters practicing ollies and kickflips entertain me as I enjoy a fresh, doughy pita wrap from a wooden park bench. The boarders pester me for a bite, but I say “nej,” and shoo them off (that means “no” in Danish).
ALIS Wonderland: Get Your Adrenaline Fix
As night falls, I head to ALIS Wonderland. Trippy graffiti art drenches the building, and prayer flags hang from its eaves. I pack shoulder-to-shoulder with a hundred other spectators to watch skaters zoom around the 10-foot-deep concrete bowl. I gasp when skaters launch into the air and think they’re bound to break an arm, yet they stick the landing. As the night wears on, the air thickens with the smell of sweat, booze and tobacco.
I can barely keep my eyes open after a week of skating and partying. On my flight home, I dream I’m back in Copenhagen biking alongside Oski and Da Silva. We’re headed home from Wonderland, and their skateboard wheels roar against the cobblestone streets. As soon as the festival ends, I start to count down the days until my next trip to experience CPH Open. So will you.
