Now in its third year, Orange County-based Brew Ha Ha Productions’ Punk in the Park festival has expanded its footprint to include a total of three stages led by punk and hardcore acts like Pennywise, Descendents, Circle Jerks, Buzzcocks, Goldfinger, GBH and more. Festival producers also partnered with Costa Mesa-based skateboarding shoe and apparel brand Vans to bring a vert ramp along with skate and BMX legends to the event at Oak Canyon Park in Silverado on Nov. 4-5.
“Skateboarding and punk rock have always gone pretty much hand in hand,” pro skater Steve Caballero and guitarist for Carlsbad-based punk band Urethane said during a recent phone interview. Caballero has played the Punk in the Park festival in the past, but this year will be hitting the Vans vert ramp for demos with other skating and BMX superstars.
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“I wish I was playing this year, too, but maybe I’ll jump on stage with Pennywise for a song,” he said with a laugh.
Skater punks
During the festival, Caballero will be joined by fellow pro skaters Christian Hosoi, Bucky Lasek, Ruby Lilley, Lizzie Armanto, Josh Borden, Omar Hassan, BMX rider Rick Throne and more on the Vans vert ramp.
“I listen to all kinds of music, but growing up at the skate park I feel like I listened to so many of the bands that are performing (at Punk in the Park),” Armanto said during a separate phone chat. “I grew up skating with an older generation of bowl skaters and they listened to Circle Jerks, Descendents and even Goldfinger from the soundtrack to Tony Hawk’s pro skater video games — those are all such like classic skate bands.”
Both Caballero and Armanto were featured skaters on the summerlong Vans Warped Tour at some point in their careers. The beloved traveling music festival, which was helmed by Southern California promoter Kevin Lyman and ran from 1995 to 2019, brought on Vans as a sponsor and the skate ramp and demos were as big of an attraction as any of the music on the stages.
“I spent 10 years on Warped Tour and doing that all over the world was amazing,” Caballero said. “I saw it grow from eight bands to close to 100 bands a day. It’s really cool that Punk in the Park is adding a skate element this year and we’ll see what the fans think of it.”
“I miss that,” Armanto said. “Back in the day, Warped Tour was just such fun vibes and I feel like right now with nostalgic ’90s trending again, it’s kind of a perfect time to bring a little of that back.”
Punk in the Park and Brew Ha Ha Productions founder Cameron Collins said he never set out to create a Warped Tour-style event, but the combination of punk rock and hardcore music and skating and BMX all came together organically.
“It’s all just a part of this lifestyle and this punk and hardcore music is the soundtrack that most of these skaters were listening to and many of them still are,” Collins said.
It’s entirely possible that Hawk, one of the most recognized and highly decorated pro skaters of all-time, could show up to the event, too. He’s been hopping on stage to perform the song “Superman” with Goldfinger, which plays the festival on Sunday, more recently at a show at House of Blues Anaheim earlier this year and at the When We Were Young music festival in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago.
“I hope he does show up,” Armanto said. “That would be fun for everyone and he’s a great guy.”
Brand new kicks
Steve Van Doren, vice president of events and promotions at Vans, said this partnership was all possible thanks to a phone call from his longtime friend Fletcher Dragge, guitarist of punk rock band and day one Punk in the Park headliner Pennywise.
“Fletcher called and said ‘We do this show called Punk in the Park and it’s us, Descendents, Guttermouth and all of these other bands and we’d like to have the Vans ramp out there like in the old days of Warped Tour’ and I got really excited and just said ‘Let’s do it,’” Van Doren recalled during a recent phone interview.
He said that though he got his fill of concerts doing Warped Tour for 24 years out of its 25-year existence, he really hasn’t been to a show since and he’s stoked to be bringing his brand to the event, as well as curating the talent on the vert ramp.
“I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces and getting back inside the merch booth to say ‘Hi’ to people and give out some free stuff,” he said. “It’s like a big family. The music industry is a big family and it will be great to get that feel for music and skating again.”
Van Doren said Vans was also inspired to create special limited edition Punk in the Park shoes, which come in two styles and will be sold exclusively at the event. A few dozen fans were able to score some of the only 500 pairs during a Punk in the Park pre-party at Rad Beer Company in Anaheim on Oct. 14, but once they’re gone, they’re gone.
“No where else on Earth can you get these shoes, you can only get them if you come to Punk in the Park,” he insists. The designs were inspired by the 2023 Punk in the Park artwork, that features a punk rock jungle vibe.
“I would have never, in my lifetime, believed that at any point in my life that Vans would be doing not one, but two, custom shoe designs for one of my events,” Collins added.
Craft beer and more
Since Brew Ha Ha Productions also specializes in craft beer events, there will be beer, cider, mead, kombucha and seltzer tastings from noon-3 p.m. daily for all of those 21 and older.
Participating breweries include 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Alesmith, Artifex, Brewery X, Modern Times, It’s Alive Kombucha, Nectar Creek Meadery, Wild Barrel and more. Fans can also try the new Punk in the Park West Coast IPA, a collaboration between Rad Beer Co. and Stone Brewing, that will be available for tastings and for purchase alongside Stone’s Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager in tall cans at the bars.
Cell service and WiFi have notoriously been an issue out at Oak Canyon, however Collins & Co. made an investment for additional infrastructure at the festival grounds to allow fans to access free WiFi to be able to text, call and use social sites. Onsite parking will be available, too, but they’ve also setup a free shuttle with roundtrip service to the Tustin Metrolink Station for those using ride share or public transportation.
Crossing generations
While the Punk in the Park stages boast some of the icons in punk rock music and the Vans vert ramp will feature big names in skating, both the stages and the ramp will also highlight fresh faces within each scenes.
“That’s exactly in line with what the festival is doing,” Collins said of the up-and-coming skate talent like 16-year-old Ruby Lilley and newer bands on the roster like Drain and Scowl. “We have these absolute legends and then we have a bunch of the next generation of legends.”
“It’s always awesome to introduce new talent,” Caballero added, though he said he’s a bit jaded with the bands since he grew up with so many of these punk musicians, he did say he’ll be going to check out some of the newer acts at the festival this year. As far as skating goes, he said the up-and-coming pros “keep us inspired, motivated and literally on our toes more than anything.”
Punk in the Park
When: Noon on Nov. 4-5
Where: Oak Canyon Park, 5305 Santiago Canyon Road, Silverado
Tickets: $64-$94 Saturday-only passes; $57-$77 Sunday-only passes; $159-$209 single-day VIP passes; $100-$120 Weekend all-ages passes (without craft beer tasting); $120-$160 Weekend general admission passes (with beer tasting); $300-$370 Weekend VIP passes; Kids ages five and under are admitted free with paid adult. All passes are available at punkinthepark.com.
