Zeg Heads: Chattanooga's First Fingerboarding Park

The unexpected story of how a fun hobby turned into starting Chattanooga's first fingerboarding park and shop.

At the end of 2021, Drew Phillips decided to host a fingerboarding meet-up with some close friends. Being a graphic designer, Drew whipped up an event flyer just for fun and posted it on Instagram. He was surprised to see that over 20 people of all ages showed up to hang out and fingerboard. In the following months, Drew worked on creating his own personal private fingerboard park so that he had space for him and his close friends to fingerboard, although he knew that others would also love to find a place like it, which is why Zeg Heads was created. Zeg Heads goal is to make fingerboarding accessible to everyone so that others can enjoy the hobby that Drew has grown to love so much.

So what exactly is fingerboarding? Fingerboarding is the professional version of the popular toy Tech Decks. Fingerboards are made at the same quality as a real skateboard, but on a miniature scale. Drew has known about fingerboarding since the early 2000s, but being so young, he wasn’t able to get his hands on or afford a professional fingerboard as the main brands were based in Berlin. Much like the rise of skateboarding, fingerboarding is most accessible out west, making it still rather difficult to fingerboard on the east coast.

Drew was inspired to create a fingerboard park/shop from his childhood as a skateboarder. There was a park and shop in Tunnel Hill during the time when privately owned skateparks and shops were hot in the skateboarding scene called North Georgia skatepark, which still holds great memories for Drew. Opening a fingerboard park and shop will recreate his childhood for the younger audience while also providing a space for older skaters transitioning out of skateboarding without ever actually leaving the culture/community.

Zeg Heads currently offers monthly fingerboard meetups where Drew brings to a popular venue or public space. Attending local markets and other events as an interactive vendor is also on the business agenda. The shop/park is also available for private parties and events making great for a memorable time with friends. While the shop/park is at an RSVP session base only, Drew hopes to have a brick and mortar downtown with a skatepark for people to come by and shred on a daily basis within the next year.

Drew has hope and believes that locals will really enjoy Zeg Heads. “Fingerboarding is the most popular it’s ever been and it will continue to grow with all the social platforms that are available today,” Drew states. He also goes on to say, “I have also grown up heavily involved in the skateboarding community in Chattanooga, allowing me to become very passionate about my community. I believe that will be recognized by others which in turn will lead to success”.

Aside from being passionate about fingerboarding, Drew is also an artist. He plans to produce and sell his art in many forms, such as apparel, fingerboards, stickers, skateparks, and more. Zeg Heads is going to allow Drew to expand onto his apparel brand and make it flourish to its true potential.

Zeg Heads is currently constructing a website, but can be followed on Instagram.