Montreal just celebrated Peace Park’s 30th anniversary, and it was smashing, but why does it matter? Why would Thrasher post a video let people know about Peace Park?

Peace Park is more than just a granite skate spot with beautiful trees. It’s an urban battleground with a raging turf war that has become the heart and soul of street skating in Montreal. What transpired there changed the face of skateboarding in the city and set a global precedent.

It went from a place where skaters were slapped with $600 tickets, to becoming the first public park in the world to legalize skateboarding. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of that historic achievement!

To give context, the park is located in the heart of the city’s historical Red-Light District. It was inaugurated in 1994 in homage to nuclear disarmament, symbolizing the city’s commitment to being a nuclear-free zone. At its inception, the park was the centerpiece of a plan to revitalize the neighborhood. At that time, the park was surrounded by parking lots and overrun with street life. The city hoped the park would entice promoters to develop empty lots of land around it into condos. However, things didn’t go as planned. The violence in the area deterred any interest in condo developments. Determined to sell the land, the city cracked down hard to clean up the park – especially on the skaters who were jailed for making too much noise.

The city’s attitudes towards skateboarding started to shift in 2013 after the Peace Park documentary premiered in the park alongside a skate event. Together, the film and event framed skateboarding as part of the solution to the park’s social and urban problems. For the first time, the city recognized the positive energy that skaters brought, seeing that without them, the park was overrun with seediness.

With the momentum of his film and support from the Society for Arts and Technology (located next to the park), David Boots approached the mayor in 2014 with a proposal: a pilot project to legalize skating in the park for the summer. The pilot project, which included four skate events, was a success, and in April 2015 skateboarding was officially legalized in the park.

Since then, Peace Park’s success story has had a ripple effect. It played a key role in legalizing skateboarding in Bordeaux, France, and it set the stage for the construction of Montreal Plaza—the first all-granite, multi-functional plaza designed by skaters.

For three decades, Peace Park has been a vibrant hub for community, skateboarding, and inclusivity. It continues to inspire governments worldwide to collaborate with their skateboard communities in finding innovative solutions to urban issues. Happy 30th, Peace Park! 

Barry Walsh

Penzo Gritty

Trou Noir

G.I Jinx

Faze