Ask any Alberta river surfer and they’ll tell you the sport evolved out of community, not competition, but in order to keep evolving new elements must be thrown into the mix.
That’s the ethos behind the Slam Festival, and Slam the Kan, the first-ever North American river surfing competition, being held July 21 to 23 at the Mountain wave on the Kananaskis River located between the Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino and the Barrier Lake Visitor Centre.
While Slam the Kan is technically in its 12th year, organizers were reluctant to introduce a major competition until now.
It was only after visiting the European River Surfing Championships that Jacob Kelly Quinlan, event director for Slam the Kan, realized it was possible to hold a competition and still maintain a close-knit community of surfers.
“We’ve been very off and on with competitions because surfing is a very individual thing, kind of like rock-climbing, so it’s weird when you put in a competition element, it kind of changes things,” said Quinlan.
“It was really cool to be able to see the European championships and see the camaraderie or the friendships – even from country to country.”
Quinlan said there are eight major river surfing communities in North America, with a representative from each one making their way to the festival this year.
“What we’re seeing is that this has become more of a river surfing summit, and we just want to spread the sport a little bit and engage some awareness of the deeper roots and values of what we’re doing and they can take that home,” said Quinlan.
“We’d love to see the North American Championships travel from community to community, that way each one can put it on in their own style. We really want to develop the culture around that – that it’s not a top-down approach, it‘s everyone contributing.”
To balance out the competitive aspect with the surf slam and camp out that Slam the Kan began as, the organizers decided to branch out by creating a seven day Slam Festival, with activities held each day in Calgary, at the Mountain wave, or the Canoe Meadows campground where festival-goers can camp out for the weekend.
“We had a lot of events in the city to showcase that it is more than just surfing a wave, whereas Slam the Kan was a hyper-focus on that,” said Quinlan.
The Slam Festival kicked off on Saturday (July 15), hosting various events throughout the week – from skateboarding competitions, live music, a pool party and Wave Wednesday – an introduction to the sport held at the 10th Street wave in Calgary.
“This is what we do all summer. And we just compressed it into a week and said, you know, ‘If you’re coming all the way from Montreal, we’d love for you to experience our city and this surf lifestyle that exists in an urban setting.’ ”
Up next is an art night on Thursday (July 20), at The Compound skate park in Calgary, featuring a live art rumble where local artists create original skateboard art, an art auction to raise funds for the Alberta River Surfing Association, and a free after-party at the Palomino Smokehouse and Social Club featuring the music of CHANS and Silence the Swamps.
The festival heads out to the river on Friday (July 21), with an open surf and competition preliminaries.
Slam Stories takes place Friday night at the Canoe Meadows campsite, where some of North America’s best surfers share their campfire stories about life on and off the waves.
Canmore’s Angela Knox, who was recently featured in a river surfing video for MacLean’s magazine’s Canada 150 Project, will be talking about cold water immersion and breathing techniques – which are a necessity while taking on the icy waves of the Kananaskis River.
Slam the Kan officially begins on Saturday (July 22) at the Mountain wave, with four competition categories: men’s open, women’s open, fun foamies (for beginners) and a team event.
The finals take place late Saturday afternoon, so Quinlan suggests spectators show up around 3 p.m. to catch the best of the festival.
The Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino is hosting the afterjam that includes the awards ceremony and live music from 7 p.m. until midnight, with shuttles available from the campsite.
The Slam Festival ends with a day of open surfing at the Mountain wave on Sunday (July 23).
No matter your level of experience, Quinlan says every event is designed to build awareness of the sport and encourage crossover – especially from the skateboarding or ocean surfing community.
“Anybody that’s interested in surfing, even ocean surfing, or kayaking or paddle boarding, skateboarding, any of those kind of sports, it would be a nice introduction to our community and to our sport,” said Desiree Bilon, one of the Slam Festival organizers.
“Our sport is really fun, but what makes it is the community,” she said, adding that newcomers are always welcome to give river surfing a try, or just take in the Slam Festival events.
“That’s why I love it. Everyone gets a turn; everyone waits in line. In that sense, it’s a lot easier to pick up river surfing because you’ve got these opportunities to take your turn. And then when you get up, everyone’s cheering for you,” said Bilon.
“The idea is that it’s rooted in sharing ideas and sharing culture,” said Quinlan. “These river surfing communities pop up wherever there is a wave, there’s no rhyme or reason to it. It’s this random mix but the one thread that winds it all together is that in river surfing, there is a lot of respect and gratitude.”
Slam Festival Tickets and camping passes are available at slamthefestival.com.
