Steez Magazine – Creative Quest October Column with Pat Milbery

Steez Magazine, an awesome quarterly publication out the beautiful town of Beverly, MA recently dropped their issue #25. So-Gnar’s Pat Milbery, who writes a quarterly column for the publication called “The Creative Quest” which varies in content. Milbery decided to focus this issues column on the first thing the So-Gnar jibbed on the tour when they finally received some snow in the great state of Michigan. On page 24, Steez features Milbery’s Creative Quest plus the shot Milbery and photographer Steve Cummings snagged with the help of our friends Austin and Camo Cody. The crew had the opportunity to have a fun session during this first snowstorm on tour in Gaylord, Michigan. For a full read got to Barnes & Noble to pick up a copy anywhere around the U.S. and support the independents, or here’s the link for online reading- READ HERE

Creative Quest – by Pat Milbery

On the quest for shred, it’s the simple things that often times create the greatest amount of fun and memorable experiences. We had been traveling around the United States of America on a tour and were 20 days deep into a snowless journey. It was the first time in 7 years we couldn’t simply hop out of the van and strap into our snowboards if we saw something rad to session.
We were in the middle of Michigan on a tour stop, and we finally got some snow. It honestly felt like a holiday celebration of sorts, everyone in the crew was charging with tricks they had waiting to try all season. The energy was great and we were finally able to start stacking some footy!
There wasn’t really too much around to shred, the land was really flat and it was a Monday afternoon, so all the local schools and businesses would definitely be a bust. So, we explored around on some Davey Crocket type journey and stumbled across this gem. When I walked up to it, it reminded me of a monster, but it certainly was the funkiest shaped electrical box I had ever seen. The structure resembled a pale green monster face coming out of the ground, with a cute nose and almost a train car like body shape. The top of the jib had a bunch of screws securing the two sides of the structure together, which made nearly impossible to try tricks on, but the edging of the this little monster had the best natty little rainbow slide. The material it was made out slid super well, it is slick and better than most rainbow rails set-up snowboard terrain parks.
The fun had begun, the Banshee Bungee got busted out to help assist us with some extra speed and we felt welcomed into the Michigan trees, which resembled a page straight out of Tim Burton’s children’s tale. The trees were tall, skinny, moody and quite mysterious, with plenty of character to provide each and every photo quite the photogenic backdrop. We all landed a bunch of tricks and had some fun on this inaugural dusting from the moody Mother Nature. Our new friend, the little green pale monster became our new best friend and allowed me to share this memory of our session with you today in print. From Michigan with love, or shall I say straight from the mitten…

Michigan Fun Facts:
- There is a city called “Hell” and it is one block in length.
- Detroit is known as the car capital of the world.
- Colon is home to the world’s largest manufacture of magic supplies.
- Michigan ranks first in state boat registrations.
- Michigan’s state stone, The Petoskey is the official state stone. It is found along the shores of Lake Michigan.
- The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in America to feature cageless, open-exhibits that allowed the animals more freedom to roam.
- Michigan is the only place in the world with a floating post office. The J.W. Westcott II is the only boat in the world that delivers mail to ships while they are still underway. They have been operating for 125 years.
- Michigan is the only state that touches four of the five Great Lakes.
- Michigan is the home of Marshall Mathers, the best selling hip-hop of the 2000’s
- The world’s first international submarine railway tunnel was opened between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada in 1891.
- The first auto traffic tunnel built between two nations was the mile-long Detroit-Windsor tunnel under the Detroit River.

Peace, stay safe, pray for snow and happy travels! //Pat Milbery