10 July 6-12, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Wheels Within Reels A Dallas skatepark is the subject of a new documentary. BY RYANN GORDON T he 4DWN skatepark in South Dallas made its name known on a variety of frontiers: as a desti- nation skate arena, as an active local nonprofit and most re- cently, as subject of a film. The skatepark was once a work of art painted entirely by street artist Drigo, and it boasts of the only public, vertical half-pipe in the U.S. It also has a multi-faceted indoor/outdoor space that doubled as a community resource hub and a registered after-school safe place for kids to hang out and, well, shred the gnar. “Skate, art, music and food, those are the four elements of 4DWN,” says Rob Cahill, co-founder and skater. “Four-wheels down, we’re all about moving forward. We’re try- ing to move forward and find solutions along the way.” Another one of the park’s founders is ex- pro skater and Dallas native Mike Crum. Men- tors including Skateboarding Hall of Famer Kareem Campbell and other professional skat- ers pay regular visits. Along with these ventures, 4DWN is reg- istered and active as a nonprofit corporation with a mission of fostering sustainable health and wellbeing through a zero-waste food cultivation and redistribution program. “On the skate level, we’re international, we have resident hall of famers, international pros, but on the other hand you have the local community that represents art, music and food,” says Cahill. “So we kind of leverage our position in the skate world to bring resources and attention, and juxtapose it against what’s going on in our local community.” Most recently, 4DWN gained national at- tention in the world of film. The documen- tary 4DWN, presented by EarthX Film and Gnarly Bay, made its world premiere at the Mountain Film Festival in May and its Dal- las premiere at the Oak Cliff Film Festival on June 25 at the Kessler Theater. The documentary loosely follows the story of 11-year-old Zion Carr, a young 4DWN skateboarder whose charisma spews through the screen, despite his struggles at home taking care of his younger brother while his mom is sick in the hospital. His positive energy stays consistent as he works on teaching his brother the basics of skate- boarding and enthusiastically serving along- side 4DWN ‘s volunteer projects. “It feels good to give,” Zion says in the film. “It feels like you’re a superhero.” Zion’s attitude keeps spirits high as the film touches on a bleak reality of struggle. One thing that was not featured in the film is that Zion Carr was approaching a national trial at the time of filming, after witnessing the shooting of his aunt, Atatiana Jefferson, the Texas woman who was killed by a police officer in Fort Worth in 2019. The officer who shot Jefferson, Aaron Dean, had re- sponded to a non-emergency call about an open front door and shot Jefferson in her home. Dean was subsequently found guilty and sentenced for manslaughter. Zion was privately going back and forth to the trial for cross-examination during the same time of the documentary’s filming. The filming, which took place in late 2022, was riddled with more tragedy for Zion as well as his mother, Amber Carr, who was hospi- talized during the time of the trial and died in late January this year. Skateboarding, and specifically 4DWN, provided a support system for Zion, a con- cept paralleled in the film with interviews with 4DWN founder Cahill, who also found skateboarding as an outlet through a diffi- cult upbringing. But it’s more than just about skating, he’s sure to emphasize. “We’re trying to create a culture that opti- mizes social behavior, the same way we de- sign a skate park to optimize skateboarding behavior,” Cahill says. “4DWN’s vibe is en- couraging, celebrating ingenuity, action and inclusion. We’ve become a safe space with no weapons, no alcohol, no drugs and no gossip. So people come to skate, but they can also play basketball, make art, help with garden- ing, listen to music, do some hands-on service work, meet cool people, learn, have conversa- tions. Higher-level shit.” In fostering that type of culture, 4DWN expanded beyond recreation to include other elements such as education, cultiva- tion and conservation. “What we do evolves in response to op- portunity gaps faced by our local commu- nity,” Cahill says. “South Dallas is a recreational desert, an infrastructure desert and one of our country’s largest food deserts. “We realized 40% of food goes to waste, meanwhile over 40% of Dallas is a food des- ert. You put those numbers together and you don’t have to be a genius to be helpful, it just takes a little bit of giving a fuck. And people do, there’s not only an abundance of food but there’s an abundance of good will.” Seeking this, Cahill and co-founder Mike Crum began partnering with local food growers to incorporate educational programs on food cultivation, then eventu- ally they set to work on building relation- ships with local food producers, distributors and grocers to collect food headed for waste and redistribute it amongst those in need. A portion of the park is built atop a ship- ping container that doubles as a cold storage for food that is distributed weekly at 4DWN’s 9–10 a.m. volunteer “Sunday Service.” “Some weeks have more food than oth- ers,” Crum says. “We collect local foods throughout the week then pick up loads from different Whole Foods the day of.” From there, organizers lay out the tarp and join volunteers in sorting through the col- lected food. Foods that would be thrown in the trash are sorted into care packages with variet- ies of sustenance, from fresh produce, quality dairy and bakery items, and nutritional pro- teins to high-dollar grocery items, organic, brand name and chef-made meal kits and other packaged goods. All food that can’t be used is composted, minimizing landfill waste. Theresa Tumminia, director of outreach and programming, directs the food redistri- bution program from the grassroots, leading growing handfuls of volunteers each week, food distributors and partnering organiza- tions, then personally distributing food packages and getting the word out to fami- lies and all of those in need. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” says Cahill, drawing a diagram of what the proj- ect means to him personally. “The funda- mental needs are physiological. You need water, you need food, shelter, clothes. Then after that you need safety, you need com- munity. And as you go up the hierarchy of needs, you have aspirational needs, art, po- etry, inspirational things. But eventually you arrive at a point, the actualization level, which is the need to give back. “I get depressed. When I look at the news, I become a depressed person. But when I see people cooperating and develop- ing, it’s harmonious. It makes me feel like the world is worth living in.” ▼ Culture Exploredinary Dallas artist Drigo made a canvas out of the 4DWN skate park and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so cool We bring sophistication with a twist to the metaphysical and holistic markets with products, classes and services. We have locations in Dallas, Carrollton & Frisco. www.soultopia.guru psychic Hotline Now available: 888-415-6208 Visit us: 900 W Davis St, Dallas • 3414 Midcourt Rd #100, Carrollton 7004 Lebanon Rd, STE 106, Frisco, Texas 75034 Best of Dallas 2020 awarD wiNNer
