Ditching the stigma and rising from the underground, skateboarding is on the rise is a catalyst for community in Delaware.
Words: Robert Brink / Delaware Today, July 2025
Photographs by Joe del Tufo and Angie Gray
“I never thought I’d see a day where Delaware would have public skateparks,” says Mike Cordrey of Wilmington. Cordrey, 51, has been skateboarding since the mid ’80s and is ecstatic Wilmington finally got a park. “Many of us advocated and volunteered for years trying to get that skatepark,” he says.
As a kid, Cordrey and his friends built portable quarterpipes and sliders to skate in the streets, as well as a renegade halfpipe that mysteriously appeared under a well-known bridge. “I remember there were some ramps built under the bridge in Newport too, which is now the Newport skatepark,” he says.
"In the ’70s, there was a concrete skatepark in Wilmington called Easy Rider, and one in Smyrna called High Roller," remembers Billy “Gentle Jones” Ferrell, a local skate veteran, musician, and skateboard shaper from Prices Corner, who, at 51, has been skating since 1979. “Both only lasted a few years and were demolished. In the 1980s and ’90s, there were zero skateparks in Delaware.”
John Hill, a New Castle native who skated at Easy Rider with his brother, Scott, remembers how riders would pay for half-hour sessions, then split time on the top and bottom halves of the hour. “That kept the fewest [number] of riders in the park at any one time, giving us room to really rip it,” he says. Loudspeakers blasted “skater music” of that era—Devo, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones—and an on-site pro shop sold boards, trucks, and wheels. “We bought a lot of our equipment there.”
Brannon John, a former pro skater and co-owner of Kinetic skate shop in Wilmington, says a big part of his business plan from the start was to get skateparks built. “The Wilmington skatepark was finally built three years ago, but I first attended meetings for it during high school. That park took more than 20 years to get built!”
John and his good friend Ben Jones started skating together around age 15. Time warp to 2002: the pair got a bank loan and opened the skate shop together.
This is Dante skating Glasgow skatepark in Newark, DE. No one knew him. No one got a last name. He’s en route to California. Skateboarding is an unspoken bond and brotherhood. Sometimes you simply enjoy your short time together at the skate park then bid farewell and good luck.
But they weren’t looking to start the business because they loved retail. “It was because we love skateboarding and want to give people more accessibility [to it] by building more skateparks and improving the ones we have," John points out. [That] has been our vision and business model all along—to share and promote skateboarding so people get involved and enjoy it as much as we do.”
Despite being approximately 2,700 miles from Southern California—skateboarding’s birthplace and mecca—Delaware, as unlikely as it may seem given its location and size, has a generous amount of skateboarding history. In the 1970s and ’80s, First State natives like Chuck Treece, Dave Hackett, and Ned “Peanut” Brown all discovered skating and migrated to The Golden State to chase their dream of becoming professionals.
Treece was the first professional skateboarder from Delaware and the first African American to grace the cover of Thrasher magazine. He went on to pursue a career in music that became legendarily synonymous with the ’80s Powell Peralta skateboarding films and skateboarding during that era in general.
Hackett won multiple world championships, appeared in the award-winning documentary DogTown and Z-Boys, and, in 2006, at 46 years old, set the world record for being the oldest pro to do Tony Hawk’s Loop. Brown was the first African American from the East Coast to get a pro-model skateboard.
Current professionals like Brian Peacock and Arin Lester, of Newark and Wilmington respectfully, are both pushing boundaries in their own ways. Peacock is known for his technical proficiency on a skateboard—doing some of the most difficult trick combinations possible, while Lester is one of the first trans women in skateboarding to turn pro.
Colin Shinn, who picked up skateboarding around age 6, says it’s the creativity and process that make it so special. “It’s taught me resilience and perseverance while rewarding me with the feeling of accomplishment and success when I learn or land a trick,” the 30-year-old Wilmingtonian says.
“Skateboarding provides a sense of belonging,” Shinn continues. “It’s brought so many good people into my life. I’ve seen this wooden toy bring so many people in the community together—it’s given them something to do, a safe place to be themselves, and a place to meet people with similar interests. There are so many people skating now—it’s awesome.”
The Kinetic crew and friends also built the 7th Street DIY skatepark and are directly involved with three other parks in Newark and 12 more in Philadelphia.
As the former Economic Development Director of the City of Wilmington, Jeff Flynn, 56, who has been skating since the late ’70s and still frequently skates with his 14-year-old son, Bo, says he supported the effort of the parks department to temporarily set up the 7th street DIY as a proxy while the city raised capital to fund construction of a modern skatepark within the city limits. “[It has] been a such a positive and popular outlet for young and older skaters alike, the city kept it,” Flynn notes.
Primarily a downhill longboarder, Flynn says his earliest memories of skateboarding were watching “the older kids” in the city’s Highlands neighborhood in the late ’70s. “It looked like so much fun,” he remembers. “When my parents finally bought me a board, I just followed those older kids around on it.
Eventually we moved to a new neighborhood, and my friend Drake and I skated around after school, challenging each other to bomb down the longest hills without falling. My grade school even introduced skateboard races at the annual field day—I lost in seventh grade but took first place in eighth!”
Flynn continues, “Back then, there were skate parks with snake runs throughout California featured in Skateboarder magazine. Riding down a wave of concrete without having to push looked incredible. I dreamed of being able to ride a snake run, and then, in 1979, Wilmington got its first park, Easy Rider, and it had a snake run… so my mom threw a birthday party for me there and invited all my friends.”
Captions L to R:
Skaters for life; friends for life. Ryan Nix Colin Shinn and Andrew Walker
Billy “Gentle Jones” Ferrell reflects on his skateboarding roots, with a classic G-Turn.
Kinetic has been the hub of the Delaware skate scene for 23 years. Brannon John and Ben Jones know it’s worth smiling about.
Colin Shinn with a speedy crooked grind at 7th Street.
Former professional skateboarder Ryan Nix switch ollies up and over at the 7th Street DIY, while Matt Wilson handles documentation duty.
Kobey Wesley flowing a 5-0 grind at Glasgow skatepark in Newark.
Nineteen-year-old Ava Shwab from Claymont started skating during the pandemic and has worked at Kinetic for the past four years. “When I first got into skating, there was an all-girls skate group led by Calista Tussey, who works at Kinetic too,” she says. “Being a female in any male-dominated environment can seem intimidating, but there has been nothing but love and respect, and the girls’ group immediately encouraged me to come out and skate.”
Since then, Shwab has seen a lot more younger girls picking up boards. “All the locals here are super welcoming and always motivating the younger kids, hyping them up to skate or giving them hand-me-down boards or shoes when theirs look super worn down,” she says. “It makes you feel like you are a part of something bigger.”
John has also seen the sport as a bond between generations, like Flynn and his son. “There are more parents bringing their kids to the shop to buy boards and then skating together,” he says. “It’s always been a diverse, eclectic crowd, but now you go to the skatepark and see the little kid, the old man, the punk rocker—kids from different demographics and socioeconomic backgrounds, and they’re all skating together and supporting one another—more than any other activity I’ve ever been a part of.”
Cordrey, too, sees “a lot of different types of people skateboarding now, which is great,” he says. “Some are riding electric boards; others are on longboards cruising around or bombing hills. I see kids in pads and helmets at the skateparks learning to drop in for the first time and I see street skaters doing their thing out in the urban environment. There’s no one way to do it.”
Captions L to R:
“I really enjoyed growing up in the 1970s, [when] skateboarding grew so fast, and [my brother], Scott, and I were trying to keep up with the trendsetting California skaters who were leading the way. Those were good times, and a lot of us skater dudes in Delaware were a part of it.” —John Hill
DIY skateboard ramps were common in the’80s. Here, Jeff Flynn drops in on a homemade backyard ramp in 1988.
Flynn drops in at the “V” (1984), which became a popular meeting spot for Wilmington skaters to make new friends and challenge one another.
Mike Cordrey frontside smith grinds over a drainpipe off Route 896 in Newark (1994).
With few skate parks available, stormwater ditches in northern Delaware were repurposed into informal skate parks. Ridable ditches were identified around highway interchanges in New Castle County as well as near the Delaware Memorial Bridge and off Route 896. The “V”—named after its shape—was located behind the Acme on 202 in Fairfax.
At age 17, “V” regular Frank Gilday founded a market there—in the era between Henry’s Bicycle Shop and modern specialty retailer Kinetic—selling skateboard decks, trucks, wheels, and accessories out of his ’80s Subaru Leone.
Cordrey works on his kickflips in the middle of Lincoln Street in Wilmington circa 1995.
Shwab particularly enjoys hosting live music, art shows, and skate video premieres at the shop; the most recent events featured multiple female musicians and artists.
“For such a small state, there are so many people who are passionate about skateboarding,” she says. “It brings a sense of unity in our community.”
Shinn says he’s “never felt like he belonged somewhere more than in skateboarding and at Kinetic. “They’ve donated skateboards to the Boys and Girls Club and held a clinic for the kids there,” he notes. “We host summer skate camps and lessons. Switch Skate and Snow in Newark and First State Skate Supply in Rehoboth are two other great shops—both have been great for Delaware and their local communities.”
“A skate shop works like a hub where people can come in and not feel excluded,” John says. “We’re all nerds, so let’s embrace it. We want you to walk in the shop and be like, ‘These guys are cool!’ Come hang out and talk about skateboarding. We can give you directions to skateparks, tell you when skate camps are, or which cities or shops are hosting contests or premieres or other events.”
As years passed and new generations began skating, it’s become less renegade and more accepted, Flynn says. “Skateboards are a common sight sitting right next to bicycles in people’s garages now. Parents who skateboarded had children, the generational gap erased, and they bought their kids skateboards. Skateboarding is an Olympic sport now—a healthy outlet for kids to get outside, make friends, and do something physical. Most people I encounter don’t view skateboarding as inherently bad anymore.”
Today, its seen as “a healthy, fun activity that people dedicate their lives to,” John adds. “That’s a big part of how we want skateboarding portrayed. It’s not just degenerates smoking weed and doing nothing with their lives like some people think. We’re not trying to be the outsiders."
John would like to see skateboarding grow in Delaware even more—especially among kids. “Kinetic could support more camps,” he says, noting the absence of amenities like lights, restrooms, water, and pavilions at skate parks as a main issue. “Everyone would love [it] if we could have all-day skate camps, but parents can’t leave kids for a whole day,” he says.
“Lights at the skatepark would be huge,” says Shinn. “For kids without access to transportation to the larger parks, smaller, neighborhood parks would be another added benefit."
Captions L to R:
Bo Flynn, 14, would follow his dad, Jeff, around on a scooter when he was little. At age 6, the younger Flynn got his first skateboard, but it would be a few years before he stopped “pushing it around the streets and started following me down the hills on [it],” his dad remembers.
Rockford Park’s landscape provides downhill adrenaline for Bo Flynn, as he leaves his dad and friends Jim Buckley and Mike Cordrey in the dust.
The need for speed. Mike Cordrey and Jim Buckley charge at Rockford Park.
“I would love to see Wilmington build a pump track in the community,” explains Cordrey. “Not everyone wants to skate the same way and do tricks or jump down handrails—a pump track would be more accessible to people, young and old, who just want to cruise and feel the glide.”
Many also express the desire for an indoor skate park (good during harsh winters, Ferrell notes), while Shwab says she wants more girls’ skate groups and meetups to help nurture the growing female skateboarding community. And for some, skateboarding can have an even deeper meaning.
“Skaters have jobs and families,” says John, “[They’re] a valuable part of the community, and skateboarding isn’t going away. We want to get people—especially young kids—involved so they can be inspired and know what’s out there and learn how skateboarding can connect you to a bigger world.”
Ferrell credits skateboarding for changing everything about his life. “As a kid, it was fun and easy to make friends through skating,” he says. “After high school, I got a job at our local skate shop, Henry’s. Over the past decade, I’ve sold hundreds of skateboards that I designed. I’m proud to have made my own small contribution to the global skateboarding community from right here in Delaware.”
Hill says he really enjoyed growing up at a time when skateboarding was growing so fast. “Scott and I were trying to keep up with the trendsetting California skaters who were leading the way,” he says. “Those were good times, and a lot of us skater dudes in Delaware were a part of it.”
"Best of Delaware Today" 2025
Kinetic Skate Shop
3906 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803
kineticskateboarding.com
Serving the Wilmington area and beyond since 2002, Kinetic offers a complete, well-curated and premium selection of skateboards, footwear, apparel, accessories, longboards, snowboarding equipment and outerwear and more. The knowledgeable and passionate staff always strive to be more than just “retail”—Kinetic and its founders Ben Jones and Brannon John are pillars of the skate community, hosting events, operating skate camps and lessons and helping build skateparks in Delaware.
7th Street DIY Skatepark
Babiarz Park
1180 E 7th St, Wilmington, DE 19801
There’s something special about doing it yourself—an ethos that skateboarders wear like a badge of honor. The 7th Street DIY skatepark is collaborative grass roots effort between the city of Wilmington (who donated the space), Kinetic skate shop and the local skateboarding community, that started with a few small obstacles brought by Kinetic founders Brannon John and Ben Jones but has grown and continues to be built and modified but the skaters themselves. 7th Street is known across the entire country and has become a mandatory stop for professionals while they are passing through Delaware. There are no rules, just be respectful and have fun!