Local pharmacist carvin’ out a skateboard legacy at 56

Jun 11, 2019 | 10:45 PM

Marvin Penner effortlessly drops-in off the quarter pipe deck into the bowl at Polson’s skatepark.

Riding a 44-inch longboard, it looks like Marvin is surfing the concrete as he flows from one end of the bowl to the other and back.

His unconventional choice of board is close to a foot longer than the average skateboard.

“It is just my skate. When people ask me if it’s a longboard and I tell them, ‘well, it’s long,'” Marvin says with a laugh.

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The longboard isn’t the only thing that stands out about Marvin — he’s one of the oldest skaters to frequent the park.

At 56, the full-time pharmacist and part-time skater is more than 35 years older than the park’s average skater.

“I never did figure out basketball,” Marvin said with a shrug. “But, I always had skateboarding in my back pocket. (Josh Winquist/Vernon Matters Staff)

“I am proud to say that I have been too old to skate since I was like 25,” he says.

‘Carvin’ Marvin,’ as he is affectionately known, comes from the mid ’70s crowd of skateboarders who are the original counter-culture crews to help bring the sport along in its early days.

“I am proud to be a part of that; part of the ’70s crowd. There were never many people doing it. It was hardcore. It would be like five or 10 guys in a town, and nobody cared and that would be just your thing,” he says.

That edge is what originally attracted Marvin to the sport. He was a bit of an outcast in high school, never really falling in with the “mainstream” sports like basketball.

“I never did figure out basketball,” Marvin says with a shrug. “But, I always had skateboarding in my back pocket. If those people only knew what I could do on a skateboard, they would have seen me in a different light, so, that always kind of gave me confidence in those days.”

Marvin witnessed the power of this counter-culture activity and saw how, at its best, it can bring together a group of outsiders to form a supportive community.

“Skateboarding is kind of a hard thing to do, so, people who can do it with some proficiency have respect for each other and a bond that goes with that,” Penner said. (Josh Winquist/Vernon Matters Staff)

At the skatepark with Marvin is a youth named Kyle, a friend of Marvin’s daughter.

Kyle hasn’t been to a skatepark in years but decided to check it out with Marvin.

“It is pretty sweet,” Kyle says. “I am just trying to get a feel for it again. He’s just doing his thing, I am doing mine.”

While not necessarily a mentor, Marvin is somebody Kyle looks up to and admires. Through Marvin, Kyle said he sees what his future could look like.

“Just watching Marvin skateboard and the way he does things, it is pretty inspirational, just for life in general. It doesn’t have to be a certain way, he just enjoys it for what it is. He just likes doing it,” he says.

For Marvin at a young age, skateboarding gave him something to belong to when he felt he didn’t belong to anything.

“Shared experience is always a quick bond,” Marvin explained. “Skateboarding is kind of a hard thing to do, so, people who can do it with some proficiency have respect for each other and a bond that goes with that.”

“Skateboarding rewards uniqueness. It rewards funny,” Marvin says. “It is not cool to take it too seriously.” (Josh Winquist/Vernon Matters Staff)

Skateboarding culture has been popular for decades now, but there was a time that it was thought of as an activity for people who attracted trouble.

In the early ’90s, Marvin fell away from the skateboarding crowd — that was until he heard about someone who had set up a group in Aldergrove focused on connecting the skateboarding youth with like-minded people and mentors in the community.

Marvin quickly became involved in Skatelife, which is part of a faith-based Christian group called Young Life Canada.

“Really what it is was about was creating a relationship with the skaters and then if hard things happen, the leaders might be someone these kids can talk to,” he said.

Through Skatelife, Marvin was able to help build positive relationships and, in certain communities, help bring a positive light to the skateboarding culture through clubs and camps.

Marvin was a volunteer leader with Skatelife when he moved to Vernon and helped bring the organization to the community. For a while, it was the only connection between the kids in Vernon and the organization.

“A lot of skaters don’t have relevant adults in their lives. So someone that shares their biggest passion can be really important,” he says.

Twenty years on, Marvin isn’t as involved in Skatelife as he once was but said a lot of its leaders now were once kids who joined Skatelife looking for a place to belong. Skatelife programs are now available right across Canada.

The park was a project of the Vernon Rotary Club and the design was a collaboration between skaters who were active in the community.

“I can’t dis Polson [skatepark] because I am partly responsible for how it turned out,” Marvin said with a laugh. “Basically, my input was the right side of the park and this quarter pipe here,” he says while pointing to where he and Kyle were standing.

In the early days of the sport, there was no such thing as skatepark builders and designers; it was just general contractors and maybe landscape architects who drew the pictures.

“It was a collaboration with some other kids that had a vision and we worked together and then, just like any other plans, once they start building it, you throw away the plans and just make the site work,” Marvin said.

For purists like Marvin, who come from the counter-culture days of the ’70s and ’80s, Polson skatepark is the personification of skateboard culture, right down to its graffiti.

“Actually, it was a fun park. It is still a fun park. Somehow, in its weird way, it stood the test of time. It’s a locals park. You can be a good skater and walk away with not much here. It is the people that know its ins and outs that will skate it well,” he said.

Many skaters will ride right beside Marvin not knowing his contributions to the sport in Vernon. It was those early-on skaters, like Marvin and others, who helped shape not only the sport’s culture but its community and its reputation.

“Skateboarding rewards uniqueness. It rewards funny,” Marvin said. “It is not cool to take it too seriously.”

by Josh Winquist

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