OUR BACKYARD X SNKRFRKR SWAP MEET

This year has been the year for swap meets in Melbourne. With one held every couple of months, sneaker heads have had lots of opportunity to sell and swap their sneaks as well as mingle with people of similar interests. The weekend just past saw the biggest sneaker swap so far in Melbourne (this year), held in conjunction with the Art Centre 'Our Backyard' event - an event that promotes hip-hop culture to today's youth. Located in Hamer Hall, sneakerheads were treated to the plush surroundings of leather lined walls, massive couches and one of the nicest atmospheres to show off their wares. Other activities on the day included shows by local MC's, DJ's, graff artists and of course breakdancers. To top off all the elements represented, there was a finale show by one of Australia's best hip-hop groups - Muph n Plutonic. And all this for FREE!!!

There were about 15 main sellers who were involved, with massive representations from Sneaker Freaker, The Heist and RareAirShoes. There was definitely no shortage of heat on the day. The other sellers were made up of regular SNKRFRKR forum members and a handful of closet sneaker heads with awesome collections. Samples and free magazines were also the order of the day and left many kids grinning from ear to ear!

We were also impressed by the amount of kids (and parents) who knew not only about the sneaker scene but also that sneakers are somewhat of a commodity. All day we were discussing the value and rarity of certain sneakers with them, where normally issues of conversion like that is left to the geeks on the internet forums. It just goes to show how far and deep our culture has come.

The highlight of the entire day for most of us though was the presence of beloved SF forum member X-Drift. His humour and one liners kept most of us in stitches all day! X-Drift also had the most talked about t-shirt of the day on - 'Snitches Get Stitches'. He must have had every kid in the place begging him to buy one!

All in all a brilliant day for such an event. The support from the local kids was awesome and much to our delight, the Art Centre and their staff were some of the most professional we've ever dealt with. They understood the culture and were giving 110% to make sure that everyone was looked after, whether they were involved or just patrons who came to check it out.

A huge thank you to Linda who made this happen and who made everything seem painless. Hopefully next year will be even bigger and better! And a big thanks to all involved with the swap meet - it really makes putting the effort into events like this more than worth our while. Respect!