Words by Jacob Folsom-Fraster

When LB Worm printed his first issue of the Wormtown Punk Punk Press back in 1978, he was just trying to bring a little hype to what he saw as a dead punk scene in Worcester. There were DIY newsletters at shows in Boston and he figured he could make a “press for punks” for his local scene. “Worcester was like hair bands, country western, and lounge jazz, and I’m like the fucking scene’s dead you know. Dead, worms, Wormtown.” The newsletter spread, the punk scene exploded, and “Wormtown” grew beyond LB’s newsletter. All sorts of groups have utilized the Wormtown moniker to signify their underground or countercultural status since. It eventually became the city’s unofficial yet reluctant nickname.

Soon after opening its first shop in Fitchburg, MA in 1989, Eastern Boarder opened its second location in Worcester, establishing a home for the local skate scene, and fitting right in with Wormtown’s alternative culture. Back in those days the shop had a section with hair dye, spiked bracelets, and other punk stuff which pushed local residents to complain that the new store was bringing “all the evil shit” to town. By the mid 2000’s EB had five shops across MA and NH becoming an anchor institution of the New England skate scene. After watching the first season of King of the Road, in good ol’ Wormtown fashion, they thought “why don’t we do that here?” They wrote up a book of Worcester-specific challenges that included skating the bowl at Green Hill barefoot, eating the most hot dogs at George’s Coney Island, chugging hot sauce at Tortilla Sam’s, eating live worms, and covering rival shop stickers with EB dots. (Disclaimer; EB no longer condones the defacing of stickers and other artifacts relevant to Worcester’s skate history.) In the summer of 2008 they put out the word, and for the next six years, crews from across New England would go to EB every August to pick up their challenge book and enter their team into the running to be crowned KING OF THE WORM!

After a ten year hiatus, we brought KOTW back for a whole new generation of Worcester skaters. A total of nine teams submitted edits representing Worcester, Leominster, Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine. Getting people out to explore our spots definitely gave the locals some motivation to defend their home turf.

Team MASCOT took us on a tour of some classic Worcester spots serving up that East Coast flavor with a nice balance of ledge-tech and street-gnar. Representing their local board brand, and holding down the legacy of Concrete Wave Skateshop (1990-2018), the Mascot crew won the “Most Worcester” award.

Team STURDY took a break from skating Allston park and laying out their next zine to hop on 90 West and explore all that Wormtown has to offer. They found some choice bump-to-bars and manny pads, as well as the parrot lady who can be found downtown. Pat, the only Sturdy crew member who could make it to the party, rocked a tweed suit and accepted the “Mass Pike” award on behalf of his team.

Team THANK YOU ALL MILLENNIALS put the spotlight on our local grom squad. A year of growth spurts and training at the skatepark set the crew up to put together a banger of an entry. A refined bag of tricks and some truly proper editing earned these young guns the “Rookies of the Year” award.

LOS PAVOS COMEN EL GUSANO introduced us to the next generation of Worcester skaters. With a rock to fakie from Dad at Uxbridge park, this edit has got to be the first multi-generational KOTW video ever. These little dudes and their parents got the “Brightest Future” award.

The Team FRAWG edit exemplified the modern skateboard video in short form. A beautifully crafted edit capturing some top tier shredding, with animations, propped granite blocks, and a very 2024 soundtrack, these dudes put in the work to make something really dope. They won the “Best Production” award, and showed us that Wormtown looks damn good in HD.

Team PEMDAS traveled the furthest coming down from New Hampshire/Maine, and in one day of filming, got some of the most impressive clips of this year’s competition. They skated the crustiest spots, took some of the worst slams, and produced a truly unique and spooky video, well deserving of the “Gnarliest Edit” award. Someone send these dudes some gas money!

Team REDDYS LADS, a merger of two of Boston’s most notorious skateboarding powerhouses, Reddy’s Skateshop and Fancy Lad Skateboards, took multiple trips up to the Worm bringing their signature creative approach to the local landscape. Fueled by a seemingly unlimited supply of Modelos and the inspiration of an Element flat bar, these guys had us laughing, crying, and gasping for three minutes straight. The industry won’t know what to do when this edit goes public, but it will be clear why they took home the “Most Fun” award. Extra points for being the only team to eat a live worm.

Team LEO BOXING CLUB carried on the longstanding tradition of KOTW teams out of Leominster. Though the EB Leo shop closed almost a decade ago, and these dudes gotta drive an extra 30 mins to get boards now, they have remained loyal shop supporters, and this edit showed us the scene is still thriving out there. Clearly they have made the new park their homebase, but took to the streets highlighting their technical prowess on spots in Leominster and Worcester. All said and done the Leo boys earned themselves the “TKO” award for getting so tech.

Team TRICENARIANS, is a team of skaters over 30 who got up early, stayed out late, and ate a lot of shit in between their various full time responsibilities. These dudes truly missioned and packed a ton of high caliber tricks into three minutes. With death defying pole jams, impressive tech combos, gaps no one in their mid 30’s should skate, and a barefoot blunt to fakie in the deep end at Worcester’s ancient Green Hill Park, these “old” geezers proved most worthy of the crown. Winning the 2024 “King of the Worm” might even teach the kids coming up to respect their elders.

Once edits were submitted we had a big party! Vendors popped up selling vintage, art, clothing, and old skate goodies all day in our parking lot. We then brought everyone downstairs to New Tradition Co., our local coffee shop and bar, to watch the videos, hoot and holler, and crown the victors. Everyone showed out and packed the house!

Thanks to New Balance Numeric, Deluxe Distribution, and Quasi Skateboards, all the teams walked away with a fat box! You can peep all the KOTW edits on Eastern Boarder’s Youtube channel and Instagram.

It was an honor to resurrect one of EB Worcester’s greatest legacies and bring KOTW to a new generation of local skaters; a fitting way for Eastern Boarder to close out its 35th year as a brick and mortar in Massachusetts. KOTW is here to stay, you can be sure next year will be bigger and better! Here’s to keeping the Wormtown spirit alive!