Mesh Skatepark Closing Its Doors For Good - An Interview With Chad DeGroot

FatTony

• November 04 2009
• 1,617 views
• 9 comments

After a great five year run, one of the best wooden skateparks in the country is closing its doors at the end of the month. We hit up Chad DeGroot to get the scoop, hear some stories from the park’s glory days, and see what he has in store for the future. Read on…

Chad, first of all, let’s get the dirty stuff on the table. In the most blunt way possible, tell us why Mesh is closing-I know it’s not because you were simply tired of running a shop and park.
We were supposed to be done a year ago. I figured a way of staying open and trying to make it work for one more year, and here we are now. Mesh is a huge operation with a lot of monthly expenses. Tack on some debt from bad ordering and a slow down of attendance, and this is where were at now. Over-ordering was the first mistake. The longer we are open the more deals people get. So the “free-list” got out of hand as well the kids sneaking in. We actually had a kid say to us why would he support us, we are doing bad and he would rather sneak in and spend his money somewhere else. I could blame it on this or that, but what it comes down to is running a skatepark is non-existent these days. The city is starting a free park just two blocks away. That would kill us for sure. End result; kids are kids. They will always be the same and that is tough having them as a main source of income. From dealing with them pissing in squirt guns, stealing golf carts, spray-painting the building, stealing anything not bolted down, and just the wild accidents… From liability to bills to rent, it’s rough to stay afloat a maybe come ahead.

Taj Mihelich whipping the hump box while his bike is dressed up as his dog Roscoe. Photo by Fat.

As much as I don’t want to get into this subject, can you briefly tell us what you think the state of private skateparks is or where it’s going as a whole?
Private skateparks are a dying breed. With all the free parks popping up, why would you go and pay to ride what you can get for free? Much respect to parks like Rampage, Scrap, and Chenga 1. They lasted the longest, but fell the hardest. At least we made a ton of good memories, received a ton of magazine coverage, and Web videos will still be coming out for awhile with footage from Mesh.

Ok, backing up a bit…give us a run down of the past five years (or more?) for you and what Mesh (and Mission?) has been through. Fill us in with somewhat of a timeline.
Mesh started when I was approached from Metro skatepark, which was located a few miles away. It was skate only and they had it locked down. Mission was known as the more of the bike-park and Metro was true skate. So we did the numbers and decided we could “Mesh” together and do a super park with bikes and skates being separated, but going on every day of the week. No one had done this and it would satisfy most everyone. When we started switching sessions, that is when we became a powerhouse. Best of both worlds under one roof. It really helped that we found a building two blocks away from Mission and big enough to house the skatepark with a huge pro shop. We were on top of the world around 2004. Mesh stared getting sponsors, stocking the shop, and moving inventory with over 10 people working there. Baco-a-Go-Go was insane then-huge pro purse, great party. It was unstoppable. 2008 rolls around and we all got a little relaxed on orders, all the partners really didn’t do their full job title, so it started to slack behind the scenes. I bought out my one partner earlier this year ’cause everything wasn’t adding up and he wanted to call it quits with huge bills with EVERY account we had. I couldn’t go out like that. So I worked my ass off to stay afloat for one more year and here we are.

Here’s a video from the last Baco contest in October 2008…
Get the Flash Player to see this player.

If you could go back and change how you did anything, would you?
One less partner, have meetings every week, start an online shop, have better park sponsors, agree on ordering and employees, cut out all after-hours sessions or limit them, and just be more business when business calls.

On to the fun stuff. Give us some of your best memories from the park. Was it riding sessions? Contests? Parties?
The first two Baco contests were pretty amazing. Those really stand out as some of the best times. But then again, building new stuff and riding it was always fun. Mesh was set up pretty different-the bike side was all hips, wallrides, and spines, with a ton of lines and full speed. We did have a lot of parties… New Year’s fires, art shows, bands playing, and best of all, the anniversary parties were insane.

The 2008 Baco after party getting wild before getting absolutely insane… Photo by Fat.

Why do you think the Baco contests and the parties got so wild at Mesh?
They got wild because we let them. Dressing up for Halloween is sweet in itself. But if you add riding and drinking and Catfish on the mic saying whatever the hell he wants… He would pretty much tell the crowd anything he wanted and people couldn’t stop laughing. It was pretty easy-he just made fun of Florida people. You have to agree the people around here are a little different? [Editor's note: Fully, fully agree...]

What are your plans for the future as far as a park or shop goes?
I did start a shop a few blocks away from the park. It should be open in December. It will have a good, clean feel with completes, shoes, and skateboards. I came up with an idea for this shop and it is turning out way better. It has full service, so we are expanding into working on all bikes. Another great part of the shop is half of it is the Deco. headquarters-almost like an outlet store for all your Deco needs.

I’m also trying to work with the city and get the public park going and trying to keep the scene alive in our area with local support.

Chad DeGroot… A driving force behind the Orlando BMX scene and professional facial hair farmer. Photo by Fat.

How do you think this will change up the dynamics of the Orlando BMX scene?
I really do feel this is a blow to the scene. But with the help of Red Bull and other local support we can pull through this. I mean, Profile is close by, Shadow is a few blocks away, Subrosa as well, now Deco.-so there is a lot going on in this area for it to die out…it can’t and won’t. We will still have events and contests somehow and some way…maybe Deco.-a-go-go?

Anything else you want to add?
Huge thanks to everyone who has ever helped me or supported anything I have ever done, ’specially both my skateparks. We have had some insane support from everyone in the industry. Thanks to every little kid, every pro, and every person who stopped by to see our scene and help it grow.

Stay tuned to decobmx.com and my new shop mrbikesnboards.com to see pics of the new shop and location info. Can’t thank everyone enough for the solid years in the skatepark game. It was great and the memories won’t be forgotten.

Thanks.
- Chad