For Johnny: The Johnny Strange Legacy Skate Contest Returns to Malibu in 2026
Malibu, California — September 2026
After a year away, Malibu came back together over Labor Day weekend.
The chili was cooking. Music carried through the Civic Center. Boards hit the ramp. And on Saturday afternoon, a corner of Malibu gathered for something that has become much bigger than a skate competition.
They skated for Johnny.
On September 5, 2026, the 6th Annual Johnny Strange Legacy Skate Contest returned to the Malibu Chili Cook-Off, bringing another generation of skateboarders together in memory of Malibu native, adventurer and athlete Johnny Strange.
A Malibu tradition built around Johnny Strange’s spirit
Johnny Strange lived with an extraordinary appetite for possibility.
From skateboarding and big-wave surfing to mountaineering, BASE jumping and skydiving, Johnny continually pushed beyond what seemed possible. He climbed Mount Everest and completed the Seven Summits while still extraordinarily young — but the records tell only part of his story.
Johnny’s legacy was also about curiosity, courage, community and inspiring young people to discover what they might be capable of.
That spirit could be felt again in Malibu this weekend.
Following the Cook-Off’s pause in 2025 amid the community’s recovery from the Palisades and Franklin fires, its 2026 return carried a little more meaning. The four-day celebration once again brought Malibu together — and 100% of the event’s net proceeds support the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu and its work in youth programs, mental health and wellness, safe spaces and long-term community recovery.
The 6th Annual Johnny Strange Legacy Skate Contest
Presented alongside Bones Love Milk and Aviator Nation, the 2026 competition returned to the mini ramp at Malibu Civic Center with more than $5,000 in prize money.
Skaters competed across women’s and men’s intermediate divisions before the Open Advanced Mini-Ramp Jam, while the ramp remained open for public skating during the Labor Day weekend.
The competition was once again organized with The Boardr, continuing a relationship that has helped turn the annual contest into a genuine part of Malibu’s skate culture.
But winning has never really been the whole point.
Every kid who drops into the ramp is participating in something Johnny believed deeply in: get outside, try something difficult, discover what you’re capable of and bring other people along for the ride.
From one life to the next
The competition forms part of the wider Johnny Strange Legacy Inspire Skate Program, a beacon program of the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu.
Through skateboarding lessons, maintenance of the ramp and inspirational speakers, the program uses skating and its culture to help young people move beyond barriers — whether those barriers are real or simply ones they have begun to believe about themselves.
That may be one of the most fitting ways Johnny’s story continues.
Not behind glass.
Not simply in photographs.
But outside, on a skateboard, through another young person discovering the courage to drop in for the first time.
Six competitions. One enduring reason.
From the first official annual Johnny Strange Legacy Skate Competition in 2020 to its return in 2026, the contest has become part of the rhythm of Labor Day weekend in Malibu.
And after the year away, hearing wheels against the ramp again meant something.
The faces change. New kids arrive. Tricks get bigger.
The reason remains Johnny.
Explore more of Johnny Strange’s legacy and discover the Johnny Strange Legacy Inspire Skate Program.
