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“I’m stoked to be here,” Quiksilver CEO Bob McKnight told a crowd of

hundreds in Times Square on June 16. McKnight was on hand to announce,

among other things, that when the Quik-silver Pro New York competition comes to Long Beach on Labor Day

weekend, the first Association of Surfing Professionals world tour event

ever held on the East Coast will be broadcast nationally.

“We’re going to bring high-level energy out here with the best

surfers in the world, and combine it with art, music, fashion … all

kinds of stuff,” McKnight said. “We couldn’t be happier, so bring it

on.”

Moments after McKnight, perched on a nearly 200-foot-long BMX bike

ramp, posed for photos with 10-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater and

other athletes, BMX competitor Brett Banasiewicz swooped down from above

as A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It” reverberated through the

Crossroads of the World.

Banasiewicz — one of 20 BMX and skateboard competitors from around

the world who took part in MSG Action Sports’ “Air in the Square” event

last Thursday — soared above the crowd, performing 360-degree flips and

other acrobatics. The Quiksilver Pro in Long Beach, Sept. 1-15, will

include a similar BMX exhibition, among other satellite events, and,

organizers announced, will be telecast on MSG Networks and the music

network Fuse. Thirty-four of the world’s top surfers, including Slater,

will vie for an unprecedented $1 million prize purse, and the winner

will pocket a cool $300,000.

The event will be nothing less than a sports, music, art and fashion

festival featuring 48 bands, BMX, skateboard and Motocross exhibitions

as well as fashion and cultural events. A week before Air in the Square,

Nicola Pero, vice president of Incognitus, the company working with

Quiksilver to produce the event, updated Long Beach merchants and

residents at a Chamber of Commerce meeting.

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