Co-owner Fred Brunton at Sonora Skate Park

By Eric Aldrich

So there I am sitting on a hospital gurney in the emergency room of Ukiah Medical center and all I could do was sit and stare at my knee, which at this time was the size of a large cantaloupe. I poked at it with a morbid curiosity similar to that of a child on the beach with a jellyfish. My repeating thoughts took hold and it was then that I realized… I might really be hurt.

It is a strange feeling to know that your athletic ability is gone, perhaps forever. And let’s face It, I had no insurance, no money, and I was looking at a $15,000 emergency room bill (helicopter ride included) and yet I was stupidly optimistic, or maybe in denial. Whatever it was I’m glad that I didn’t compound my predicament with a heap of negativity. After all, I had been known to miraculously escape serious injury my whole life and maybe I could do it again.

As it turned out I was “extremely lucky” (as the orthopedic specialist put it) to be able to walk, or even keep my leg! He said if Fred hadn’t made you sit on that bag of ice for 2 days, I would probably have had to remove it from the knee down. It was at this point I realized…. I was done. GAME OVER.

I went back to work later that week only to be presented with a final paycheck – I was told that I was a liability to the dealership and I could no longer perform my job position. So I enrolled at Sonoma State University to study criminal justice and took a part time job at the nearby skate shop. I soon realized that my efforts at school were in vain because of my injury. On a weekend trip home to see my parents I noticed a sign in the window of the local skate shop: GOING OUT OF BUSISNESS-50% off! So I put together a half-ass business plan and approached my family for a loan to start my own store…they laughed…very hard. Over the next month I let them bring it up and tried not to seem over-eager when they did. Until they said yes.

We opened our first shop on November 15, 2003 and I called it Westside Boardshop. We had three employees and only two of us got paid. I remember working every day for three months, with one day off and then working for 90 more days straight. Whatever it took to make ends meet. We pumped new life into the local skate scene and we volunteered on Friday to teach school kids how to snowboard at Badger Pass. It was the kind of satisfaction money couldn’t buy. And that was good because I had no money. Every dollar we made went right back into the business.

One summer I found myself in Sonora to film a friend’s wedding and I noticed kids wearing some of the clothes I was selling in Oakhurst. So I asked them where they were getting their stuff, and to my surprise every single person responded by saying they got it at the Modesto Mall or Ross or Online… I was dumbfounded, completely shocked. Of the two-dozen or so people I spoke to, not one person named a local business. It was at that point I decided it was time to grow my business and bring it to Sonora.

By that December we opened Earth & Ocean Boardshop in the Junction Shopping Center. It felt good to be back in Sonora and it was fun to see familiar faces again. I remember seeing old friends from Dodge Ridge checking out the new store totally surprised to see me behind the counter – folks I hadn’t seen in years telling stories of all the crazy stuff we did together when we were all a little younger and a lot stupider. Good times.

I still remember when my friends John and Jason opened Pure Boardom; I wanted to follow in their steps. I liked that they turned a hobby into a lifestyle and I always admired them for that. They were the only shop at the time that had “sponsored” riders and they always found some way to give back to kids who pushed themselves and kept a good attitude. I remember Lonnie Kauk ripping so hard and going so big he had to move where the jumps are bigger, so he landed in Mammoth. Just YouTube this guy and you will see what I mean. And yes, he was a local rider at Dodge Ridge.

I would like to see more talent come out of our community. I want to push riders to that next level and show them that there is a chance for them to make it, but they have to be willing to listen and treat this like an opportunity, not a right. To make it in today’s industry you have to be a combination of skill, personality, and persistence – a challenge that I would find daunting, and most riders do. But it is not impossible.

Our Rail-Jam contest is a way for us to bring together riders and have fun. That’s it in a nutshell. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel but we do want to make sure the local scene is on point. Our goal is to give Sonora an injection of FUN. After all, parking lot rail jams are like riding a jet ski in a swimming pool…but hey, why not, that would be fun too! Our goal is to make a new feature and add it to the event until we have a whole course to hit.

We hope you will come out for our rail jam on Sunday, January 18th. We will have a DJ and the Deli and La Parilla will have food specials. Rider fee is $10 (riders under 18 require a parent signature). Call the shop at 533-5329 for details about registration and event time. Our shop will start its WINTER LIQUIDATION SALE on Friday the 16th so don’t miss out.

*Thanks to the community for making this our best year ever! Without you making the choice to do business locally, we wouldn’t be here. We hope the choice was easy!