Fun is #1: Evolution Whistler Launches New Video Contest
Posted by: Feet Banks
According to Charles Darwin the key to success in nature is adaptability. So why should having fun be any different? At local Whistler board shop Evolution, they’re putting that theory to test with a new video contest built on having fun with whatever you’ve got.
LEFT: Bluebird fun. Framegrab from submission “Gettin Squirely” by Jacob Flores.
“I’ve been having so much fun on the hill I just want to keep the vibe alive,” says Evolution owner Jenine Bourbonnais.
Jenine opened her bike and board shop in Whistler Village in 1995 and has long been committed to celebrating and building the local board culture. Most winters Evolution hosts a “Backyard Sessions” event to encourage Whistler locals to build and rip their own backyard terrain parks. This winter hasn’t provided enough consistent snowfall at the valley floor elevation to pull off the Backyard Sessions so Jenine and her staff are taking the fun up the mountains with a themed video contest called “Having Fun on Snow with the Snow we DO Have”.
The rules are, in good Whistler style, pretty relaxed. “Any video 8-seconds or longer is fine,” Jenine says. “I originally said 8 seconds upto 2 minutes just to make it sound fun and easy but if the video is longer than 2 minutes that is fine too.” A single-shot vid from your phone is just as valid as that magnum opus park edit set to the soundtrack of Apocalypse Now. This contest is truly anything goes so long as everyone is having fun.
The contest lives strictly on the Evolution Facebook page and Jenine and her staff will be giving out prizes each week throughout March and at the end of the month. “There are two overall prizes,” She explains. “One for the video with the most views and one Evolution Pick. The popular vote and our staff vote.”
Edvin has fun. Frame Grabs from “Powder they said” by Jakob Knutsson.
Prizes include product from popular brands like Airblaster, Neff, Volcom, LRG Clothign, Board Butter and local Whistler eyewear-and-helmet company Sandbox. So far about a dozen videos have entered, and with decent snowfalls the past couple days and sun in the forecast for Sunday, the Evolution crew are expecting more this weekend.
“It’s just about positive vibrations,” Jenine says. “This is a town about having fun so lets get out and celebrate that. We have snow up there, everyone has a camera on their phone so lets do this.”
Entries can be viewed (and “liked”) on the Evolution Facebook page. Anyone wanting to submit can email a video link to Jenine and her staff at shop@evolutionwhistler.com or contact them on Facebook. Entries can be as amateur or pro as you want, it’s all about having fun. For motivation check out this submission from “Intern Edvin” and his buddy Jakob. Edvin is over from Sweden doing an 8-week high school work experience program as the Evolution shop intern (aka: living the dream). Well done fellas!
Find out more about having fun in Whistler at Whistler.com
Article source: http://www.whistler.com/blog/post/2015/03/20/evolution-whistler-videos.aspx
