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Washington • Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk is donating his first skateboard to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
Skateboarding pioneers including Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Cindy Whitehead and others are gathering Friday and Saturday at the museum for a festival celebrating the culture of skateboarding. On Saturday morning, Hawk will donate his first skateboard.
The Innoskate Skateboarding Festival is hosted by the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. It will feature panel discussions and skate sessions on a ramp built outside the museum. The museum is also showing films about skateboarding.
Hawk, of San Diego, is donating a 1975 Bahne skateboard that was handed down by his brother, Steve Hawk. He modified the skateboard's fiberglass deck with plywood to raise it further from the wheels.