The hilly region of Northern California’s Marin County might lay claim to the birth of mountain biking, but Muskegon’s hilly snow-covered sand dunes is the site where a young inventor created and later patented a wooden planked sporting device that would come to be known as the modern snowboard.
After a foot of fresh powder landed in Muskegon on Christmas day in 1965, Sherm Poppen, seeking to find a way to entertain his snowbound daughters, fashioned two skis together in what would become a single board that they could traverse easily down the giant dunes.
Since Poppen’s idea owes some of its legacy to those other sporting inventions like the skateboard and the surfboard, the arguement of who actually created the first snowboard is one of debate still to this day.
But if you look at the record of patents — the real indicator of a devices’ lifespan — then Poppen’s Snurfer (what he called it) is the winner.
To help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Snurfer, which would go on to become snowboarding’s earliest recorded product, historian Ron Pesch will present a special lunch and historical presentation at the downtown Grand Rapids Public Library on January 28 at noon. The entire program is scheduled to last just under 90 minutes.
This is a great event for those with an entrepreneurial message of how a local idea can spark a movement.
Admission: Free
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