by Jonah Climp

Fort Collins isn’t known for its skateboarding. However, a Market Skateshop employee, Connor Rose, explains how the shop supports the Fort Collins skateboarding scene and why he loves the city.

Rose lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, and works at Market Skateshop on 640 South College Ave. He praises the weather, the mountains, and Horsetooth Reservoir as his favorite aspects of Fort Collins.

“The shop is rad,” Rose added.

According to the article, “A Recipe for Urban Happiness”, by Charles Montgomery, two of the ingredients that drive happiness in a city include physical health and social relationships. 

With so many great options for outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming, and biking, Fort Collins promotes a healthy lifestyle for residents that can increase overall happiness. 

Social relationships are another key contributor to the happiness that Rose connects to skateboarding. Having a skateboarding scene fostered by a local skate shop that is core skater owned creates a sense of community and builds social relationships.

“It becomes more intimate and so it nurtures a scene,” Rose says, “The scene is self-supporting but it’s about having the right backing and access.” 

Maintaining core skater values is an important aspect of why Market Skateshop has remained successful over time. 

Rose says, “at the end of the day we’re retail. It’s supply and demand. What do the kids want? What are people looking for? If people are always coming in here asking for something then why not carry it. What we carry. How we do our stuff is somewhat defined by the consumer themselves.” 

For Rose and many other skaters, skateboarding is so much more than an activity, it is a way of thinking. Market Skateshop aims to maintain the core values that make it that way. This outlook helps build up social relationships within the community, which in turn contributes to the happiness of the community.

Rose says that Market tries to stock and provide local and skater-owned products to support the scene and keep skateboarding unique. 

Rose says Market Skateshop isn’t “just another corporation or conglomerate pushing stuff out with a dollar sign on it, without any actual feeling backing it.” 

This was made evident when a customer asked Rose for a gift recommendation for their son. He recommended two t-shirt options from local Colorado skateboarding companies. 

Equity is another ingredient in the recipe for urban happiness. According to Colorado demographics, Fort Collins has the fourth highest population in Colorado at 166,788 people. 

The population is 78.1% white. The city undoubtedly lacks diversity, which could negatively affect the population’s happiness.

“I don’t know if I’m in a position to speak for the skate shop as a whole,” Rose says “There are issues everywhere. Anywhere there’s humanity involved there’s bound to be something. There’s always progress to be made.” 

At the end of the day, what is so cool about skateboarding is that it’s all-inclusive and it hasn’t changed much since its inception. 

“It’s pretty much a piece of wood, some metal, and some rubber,” Rose says. 

Diversity is growing within the skateboarding scene and there is more acceptance and awareness of current social issues but there is still room for improvement. Market Skateshop carries products that support all genders, nationalities, and races in order to keep the scene inclusive. 

“Skateboarding regulates itself. I mean skateboarding in and of itself is an outcast thing. It’s illegal to a degree,” Rose says. 

By supporting the skateboarding scene and sticking to core values Market Skateshop has seen success. 

Rose says, “We are rewarded. We are rewarded in that we are still here. We’ve been here for 27 years, at three different locations. And I think that says a lot especially for not having much of an internet presence. We don’t have a massive internet presence really at all.” He continues, “Yet we still maintain and thrive. We are just consistent in our goal and approach to skateboarding.”

While Fort Collins may not be a diverse city, there are communities in it that promote diversity and inclusion. The skateboarding scene is one such community that does so with physical activity and social relationships. 

“The scene is sick and there are tons of parks,” Rose says, referencing skateboarding in Fort Collins. Speakeasy Colorado Skatepark Directory lists 6 skateparks in the Fort Collins area which is a high number for a city of its size. 

Due to the fact that skateboarding provides so much joy, it is noteworthy that Fort Collins provides so many places for skateboarding.