Swampfest goes from zero to 100 for me. Upon arriving, just seeing the wild ideas and shear sketchiness of some of the obstacles, I can already feel the sense of the forthcoming chaos. I traditionally show up on “Day 0”, which is basically the industry arrival day. Brands handle finishing touches, ramps get painted, logos added, while team riders sample the course before the crowd arrives and mayhem ensues. This is my opportunity to have total control over my photos for a day and setup flashes wherever I need without any worries for their safety. Overall, it’s a chill day that doesn’t feel much different than a typical session shooting photos. That changes the following day when the gates open to the public.
“Mix in dirt bikes, beer, flamethrowers, and Catfish’s antagonizing on the mic and it was an adrenaline soup that was on the cusp of boiling over.”
No doubt about it, BMX riders get wild. But the crowd at Swampfest has been steadily growing to include plenty of non-BMX-brethren as well. This year was a mixed bag of riders, skaters, scooters, local country folk, random porn industry affiliates, and a crop of local squatter punks who apparently live in a punk village just across the street. Mix in dirt bikes, beer, flamethrowers, and Catfish’s antagonizing on the mic and it was an adrenaline soup that was on the cusp of boiling over. Gates opened at noon on Friday and the first five hours were an open session. Within an hour people were already jumping off the massive monster truck into the shallow murky pool—one guy even did it with his entire back on fire. I could go on and on about the non-BMX shenanigans all day, but back to BMX…
Friday’s events included the Source Middle Finger, Shadow Coffin, Pit Viper Limo, and the Odyssey Swamp Line. The Source middle finger obstacle was in honor of the late Fids. As I’m sure you know, Fids was a BMX legend and integral part of the Source BMX crew who passed away last December. Artist Nick Sawyers did an incredible job with the skeleton middle finger mural. The narrow vert wall saw an awesome mix of tricks—from airs to lip tricks and Gary Young even rode the side of it with a Ruben style double peg. The Shadow Coffin always provides, and we saw a rundown of jumping tricks off it and a few scattered grinds as well. Highlights for me included Mason Ritter’s front flip and Aryei Levenson’s 360 whip off the top, and Reed Stark jumped over the whole thing. Preston Okert gets an honorable mention for doing a manual 180 on it on Day 0 as well. The Pit Viper Limo session is where things finally reached 100 for me. The limo was sandwiched between two other obstacles so there wasn’t much room between the media and spectators and the action. There were bikes, boards and scooters shooting out in every direction. A loose scooter flicking past you might as well be scythe—the Grim Reaper’s blade. That thing catches your shin or worse, you’ll be counting stitches. Speaking of which, for whatever reason, there was this half naked women—and probably half baked—who choose to sit down right against the side of the limo. After the first bike and body fell on her I thought she would for sure move, but no, she continued to subject herself to the line of fire in some sort of masochist act of defiance. I guess the basic human instinct of survival skipped a generation with her. The final riding event on Friday was the Odyssey Swamp Line, which was pretty-damn cool in my opinion. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many classic tricks and single variations go down in a jumping contest. Andres Pardo took the win in that one, which was awesome to see because he kills it wherever he goes. Friday capped off with the premiere of the Post Time video—which was shot and edited by Trey Jones and features his local crew. After Marcel Andersen’s closing section, his surprise welcome to Cult pro was announced and the venue erupted in celebration. It couldn’t have been a more perfect end for the BMX for Day 1.
By the time things kicked off on Saturday at 3PM, I felt like I was in a warzone. To my elation there were no fireworks either day, but instead I had to keep my head on a swivel for redneck mortar fire in the form of rubber dildos and full beer cans. I got a direct hit to the crotch from said inanimate male genitalia and beamed in the back of the head with an empty can—I guess my height made me an easy target. A lesser agony then a potential firework to the eye for sure, but still not what I’m trying to deal with during a BMX event. It’s sad that people can’t find enough entertainment with the riding, so they need to entertain themselves by unanimously throwing blunt objects at strangers. Alright, enough ranting and onward with the BMX…
“I got a direct hit to the crotch from said inanimate male genitalia…”
Apart from the Monster Bowl events, Saturday was all about obstacles over water. First up was the OJ Wheels Wide Ride, which was a series of plywood sheets floating on the water. Some people made it across so easily it almost looked foolproof, but then others failed miserably. Eventually, they upped the ante a bit and added a little jump in front of the line, which leveled the playing field a bit more. Finally, it turned into a bonafide lake jumping session for the remaining allotted time. The Independent rail proved to be quite challenging—both its length and everything involving the water, obviously. Eventually, skater Jake Yanko finally cleaned the whole thing and then promptly focused his waterlogged board by jumping up and landing on it sitting it down—like a karate butt chop. The Monster bowl laid witness to a skate jam, followed by BMX. I shot both of them. The skate jam was nuts, those dudes were literally dropping in on each other in some sort of urethane frenzy. The BMX jam was a little less chaotic. It was cool to see a few young rippers I’m not familiar with getting their laps in along with bowl destroyers like Gary Young, Mason Ritter, and Sem Kok. Twelve-year-old Sonny Wynn dropped in as well, and the crowd cheered on as she pulled a fakie and rolled across the flat bottom. She had a smile ear to ear as she popped out, and that’s what it’s all about. Beyond Sonny, other bowl highlights that jumped out me include Gary Young roasting a table over the arch, and Mason Ritter pulling his signature Ritter roll (barrel roll to fakie)—which cemented the Bowl Jam win for Mr. Ritter.
“He bounced up immediately and exclaimed, “Hospital, now. Let’s go!”
Up next was the GnarBBQ Log Ride, which I must confess, I missed most of due to my chatting up Mason after his win and then getting a much needed water break. By the time I found a decent angle to shoot from, I caught the last few people make it across, followed by the scariest thing I witnessed all weekend, Baboon tackling Richie Hernandez off the log into the water. The Dan’s Comp curve wall will surely go down in history was one of the most intense Swampfest sessions of all time. That thing was treacherous if you were to come up short—High Desert did just that on Day 0 and sliced his arm open on the back edge of the landing. He bounced up immediately and exclaimed, “Hospital, now. Let’s go!” Doctors said he almost needed a skin graft, but he got away with only eight stitches. Thankfully the wallride didn’t claim any other victims to my knowledge, but some sure got close. The jam went off with numerous people throwing 180s and whips out. Jake Rutkowitz did a 360 bar and then followed that up with a 360 whip. Then Gary Young tapped in with an alley-oop 360 table—which I thought wrapped the session, but not a chance, as Jake had one last trick to get of his chest with a friggin’ flip off the wall. Stomped straight into MVP status. Final e vent of the day was the Cult curve rail, again, over water. Richie Hernandez came super close to pulling it right out of the gate, and he actually made it around a few times to hop over, only to out his foot down. Eventually, Marcel tapped in and got around it cleanly for the win. Full disclosure, he and I shot a photo on the rail on Day 0. He took the plunge countless times that day before finally getting it, but thankfully it worked out for him much easier during the jam.
It didn’t take long before one of the wheels on the monster truck was set on fire and the traditional Swampfest closing ceremony was underway. Burn baby, burn! Now that the ashes have cooled and the dust has settled, here’s over 100 photos from my four days on the course in chronological order (for the most part). Huge shout-out at Trey Jones, Jabe Jones, Dave McDermott, Baboon, Corey Walsh, Marcel Andersen, and all the other people who help make Swampfest happen and keep BMX edgy. —Jeff Zielinski
