Unforgettable pond parties, an imaginary discotheque, an undone landscape puzzle… These are some of the dots I’ve been trying to connect in my mind about a certain weekend I experienced with some familiar faces, and some new painted ones that I now have the pleasure to call my friends. Although most of the links in my memory chain long to be reminded of most of what actually occurred, the big picture of that grandiose weekend remain immortalized in my mind’s eye. It was that amazing something that I never knew I always wanted. An all expenses paid, alcohol induced weekend winter getaway to the mountains of Maine. All for the sake of making friends, spreading some Jack Wills exuberance, tobogganing, and filming the entire thing to prove it ever actually happened.

It’s Thursday night in Boston, MA, and I’m running down Newbury Street with three trash bags full of layers and layers of clothes to keep the bones warm for the weekend. I was dashing towards the Jack Wills shop to catch a ride up to Maine with Wills Baker, who I have yet to meet. While waiting for Wills, I passed my time in the store by doing some tasks for a few of the Blonde beauts I have the pleasure of working for. Everybody on hand was buzzing with questions for me for the weekend ahead, that my only answer could be “I have no idea what to expect.” Willsy pulled up, we loaded up his Land Rover, and Wills, I, Cory Paul Martin and Elliott Johns were off on an unfathomable adventure. On the way, we needed to make a quick pit-stop at the Savant Project to meet up with good friend of mine, Edek Vache of Boston’s Finest.tv, to pick up one of those crucial identification cards. After our important stop, we were full force towards toboggan fun-time! After some finding something in common between all those involved in the ride up, getting a bit lost in the woods, and Willsy geeking about the invisible problem with his car, we arrived in dark, assumingly beautiful Rockland, ME. We pulled up to an all-too-familiar “Cheers!” from Ben using the outdoor bathroom supplied by loving Mother Nature, and we were out to spread our legs in some random house. We walked in, slid our shoes off, and entered an exultant room of new faces having a ball with some drinking games, reminiscing, and for whatever reason rubbing dried chicken/bacon fat on one another- don’t ask; I didn’t. The night carried on with learning some names that I’d ask for again the next day, meeting the founders of the US Tobogganing Nationals and savoring some custom-brewed whiskey beer especially for the event.

And the night would not have been complete without some last minute professional toboggan training:

The training was actually kind of necessary, and yet another cool, supa dupa awesome bonding experience. I’m glad the JW crew I rolled with and I made it up that night. I had originally planned on voyaging up on Friday. Thankfully Jonzey was on my case about getting up to Maine by Thursday night. After a great night of silliness, we traveled back to the hotels we would call home for the next couple of days. We immediately felt welcomed as we opened our hotel room doors to two beautiful and gracious sights. A custom JW Seasonnaire onesie, pom pom hat, and some custom shades to assure readiness and style to take on the competition:

And another hospitable and considerate gift awaiting my arrival:

The whole of the Jack Wills bunch that was there for that night then attempted to meet up in mischief. But the strobe lights, tunes, and vast array of knit hats and wayfarer sunnies proved to be too much for the hotel staff to handle. We still had our fun, and went off to sleep with little British fun fairies dancing in our heads for the day that lay ahead.

Woke up to a text buzzing somewhere under the covers telling me to come grab some breakfast - it’s Friday morning and the first thing I see staring at me is the bottle of Cisco’s finest , so naturally I kept the party going. You know you’re off to a great weekend when the bottle’s touching your teeth before your toothbrush.  It was clear that the original itinerary was going to be slightly modified once convening at 9 in the morning turned into meeting in the parking lot whenever you were ready later that afternoon.  After getting together, comparing shades and loading up the land rovers, we were off to Camden Snow Bowl! I didn’t know what to expect, yet the unexpected was present. We stepped out of our cars and up on to the frozen pond to find some people straight chillin’ in a Tee Pee, men dressed as pirates and some sort of remarkable hut being built.  After getting all signed in for the races to come we all head off to what would be transformed into my idea of the best possible use of ice, alcohol and Land Rovers. We quickly made ourselves known by cranking out of control remixes and beats out of the back of the LR’s as we got to work on throwing up the fabulous tent. It didn’t take long for the party to snowball into a bigger party. Of course what’s a tent without a suspended toboggan as a Beirut table?

The day continued with lots of dancing and getting completely stroshled on some wale’s tale and whatever else was being poured into those beautiful, custom red solo cups of ours.  With all this amazingness, it’s necessary to capture and document all the planned and not so planned madness, and that’s where my boy Keenan Foley came in! He was the lucky guy following me around asking outlandish questions to all involved, and also supplying me with an entire wardrobe for the shots. Unfortunately for him it was the wardrobe he had been wearing. Good looks, Keenan! Anyways I made sure I got this guy on the other end of the lens.

The day rolled on with some serious flip cup on the Rovers and the girls painted up the self-proclaimed “Swamp Donkey’s” shack up - Jack Wills style. Even though we never actually hit the run as planned.. he day was a complete success! We then headed back to the lovely Trade-Winds Hotel to await the arrival of the rest of the JW troupe landing in Camden and grab some din-din!

Ah, the Time Out Pub. Well I’ve certainly learned to never ever judge a book, or for that matter a seemingly hokey Maine karaoke bar. After getting settled, enjoying some food, drinks and a few rounds of pool, the night seemed to have taken off into the twilight zone. Suddenly it turned into our own personal club and we were throwing down drinks. It completely got weird, in the good sense of the word, when I took a stroll upstairs. I ran skipping every other step up some creeky old stairs only to turn the corner and be struck with the sight of incredible laser lights, bumping music that must be played on sound proof floors, and a stripper pole in the very front of the dance floor. Ya this ruled. For those that know me well – let’s just say I enjoy dancing. I danced the night away with a few of the JW ladies continued the liquiding and soon retired back at the hotel. To be completely honest I don’t remember anything after the Pub.

It’s now somehow Saturday. Once again, the early wakeup is turned into an afternoon gathering. My day started the same way it had the entire weekend with some pallet wetting, threw my rad custom “onesie” on, indulged in some face painting with Dan Sabau and was out ready to take home the gold. Rode over to Camden Snow Bowl and we all proceded back to our perch of greatness. To say the least our spot was the spot. We didn’t waste a minute getting the party started considering we had never actually stopped. Shotgunning some whales, admiring the costumes the locals were sporting, drowning loko and snapping pictures to remember it all.

At some point my team, Team Salcombe, headed up the hill and took to our toboggan to show off all our recently acquired skills. I just remember the flag went down, and so did we. On the only all guy toboggan, plummeting at what seemed to be a 90 degree angle at, lets say, a trillion billion mph, on the “Broboggan”. I did nothing but stare at the sky and laugh my freezing balls off. It was a thrill I’ll never forget.  Do it at least once before you go. Amazing.

As the sun went down on the Nationals an outrageous and sudden rager on the ice sprung up as perfectly unexpected yet expected. Did I mention I love to dance?

After another successful day on the pond, we packed up and bid adieu to the Snow Bowl, and headed back to the hotel. My roommate Daniel and I ended up passing out for quite a bit, and missed everybody mozying over to where we were having dinner, but we managed to roll in nice and fashionably late. I missed ordering time, but luckily Elliott wasn’t feeling too hot, and lent me his burger and fries. Thanks, brah! And afterwards we did the only thing we know how to do. Partied until our faces weren’t there. We didn’t have exact plans for after dinner, but when it doubt – take a Time Out. Went back to rock the Pub’s world, got our karaoke on, drank an bottomless barrel of redbull and vodkas, and danced our hearts out some more. Before the mass departure I noticed a woman looking for challengers for some arm wrestling. Naturally I wanted to own this lady, so I accepted the challenge. I confidently sit down across from this lady, she’s staring at me and the girl to her left at the same time. We drop ‘bows and got into it. As the tug got stronger her eye began to drift. I’m pretty sure my exterior did alright, but my mind was in a frenzy over every circumstance that I was in at that moment.

It was truly out of some hilarious film. Once again, I can’t say I remember a thing from after the Pub. Oh ya, the cross-eyed lady won.

It’s Sunday. We’ve partied our ni-ni’s off for about 60 hours now. We all grab some breakfast and ended up hanging tight for a nice little meeting to discuss the future of the brand and what we think would be some ace strategies for promoting the brand further. Sir George Yandell  held a nice powerpoint presentation on the past of the brand, and Ben lead the way into the think tank on how we imagine the future should look. The bulk of the pow-wow was filmed by none-other than Keenan. Everyone was tossing in some great stuff and it was real cool to see opinions given chance on camera.

After getting to know everyone over the weekend it was a great cap to the weekend, and unquestionably made us feel like more of a team ready to scheme this brand across the country.  Jack Wills never ever ceases to amaze me. It is such an innovative brand, and we are exclusively spreading it like wild fire. It’s by us for us. Truly. Plus, check this shit out.

Try describing that! To the new friends I’ve made, and old ones I’ve become closer to: Cory, Wills, Elliot, Carly, Juliana, Lizzie, Dan, Grace, Rachel, Ben,  Gabrielle,  Sellers, Olly,  Abby, George, Caity, Natalie,  Will, Sasha, Big Love, Swamp Donkey, and anybody and everybody else – we shared an epic , unforgettable and immortalized weekend together! And I’m glad it was shared with all of you.  Fellow University Seasonnaires – it has begun.

Cheers!

Stay steady,

Jimmy Sparks

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