A flash mob is “a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment“. That is the only thing I can think of that resembles the Toronto Board Meeting. Yesterday, September 10th, we joined 900 longboarders on a two hour skate through the open streets of downtown T-dot.

The route, several kilometers long, took us through a number of Toronto’s landmarks. Along the way, all 900 of us sat down in the middle of one the busiest intersections for a 5-minute break, gathered in front of the city hall chanting “board meeting”, and mobbed a Christian-rock concert.

Not sure what’s going onhere… my theory: MGR is licking invisible balls held by Kalie.

The responses of onlookers is one of the most interesting aspects of Board Meeting. All 900 of us were dressed in white shirts with ties because it’s a board meeting… get it? Most onlookers simply have no idea what to think and stare blankly in a is-this-really-happening-? kind of way.

Others love it and honk their horns, hold their hands out for high fives, and film us with their phones as we skate by.

The only people that are unhappy with the whole thing are businessmen in BMWs furiously tapping away on their blackberrys (probably trying to explain to their bosses why exactly they’re late for their board meeting).

But most amazing of all was the response of the Toronto Police Department. Apparently, this year the Board Meeting was so big that they decided to join us rather than resist us and actually blocked off intersections for us as we skated through. It felt like being in a parade (but illegal).

In the end, there was a special feeling in the air. A feeling of community and friendship and that together we can do whatever the fuck we want and no one can stop us. Which will have me coming back year after year.

Thanks to Mikael Bottreau and Yan Lhermitte for the use of your photos!

- Dmitri Komarov