Words: Cayley Alger
‘She’ll Be Right’, is no longer just a phrase us southern hemisphere natives mumble at the hint of an impossible task. It’s also the name for a grassroots event held down in the backbone of New Zealand’s South Island, The Southern Alps. Attracting, women, girls and non-binary individuals from across the country this ever-growing community takes over Cardrona Parks to design, build & ride their very own park.
Collaborating with the Cardrona Park crew, the build was orchestrated to provide an opportunity for participants to learn from some of the best in their field. Through rain, hail, shine and a blizzard, Cardrona Park crew were able to facilitate this opportunity for 10 women many of whom have never considered that park shaping or grooming could be in their future. Supporting the next generation of parkitects, something SBR is passionate about!
Thankfully the event days boasted less treacherous weather conditions and spring finally turned on for the third annual two-day event. She’ll Be Right is unique in that day one is designed to be the most officially unofficial shoot you’ve ever seen. It brings up-and-coming riders together with talented videographers and photographers to bring the magic to a screen near you. Providing the link between filmers and photographers and New Zealand’s future pros, SBR kickstarts the creative pursuits of both riders and media.
Day two of the event however, breaks the doors wide open, and the whole SBR community was able to ride the park they built. Welcoming everyone, from seasoned pros like Christy Prior & Celia Petrig to the tiniest cutest 6-year-old you’ve ever seen and everyone in between – it’s a real community jam session.
Some of our content team were shooting snowboarding for the first time and they were able to learn from others who’ve been shooting on snow for years and thanks to our friends at Burton, Dragon, Nitro and B.effect Brewing, we were able to stoke out our community with new gear and refreshing beverages across the two days.
I think it’s safe to say everyone’s biggest takeaway from the event was definitely the sense of community and all the new friendships formed. Huge thanks to everyone involved for making it happen and helping this crew dive into more areas of the industry. I hope, we see more women and non-binary folks building parks, shooting events, or hitting rail jams—and if ‘She’ll Be Right’ played (and hopefully continues to play) a small part in that, I think it’s done its job!
