Friend Kevin Kelly says Hartley was a trailblazer whose skating was beautiful. (CBC)

The Lower Mainland's skateboarding community is mourning a legendary boarder who died after a fall on Canada Day.

Don Hartley, known as Mad Carver to generations of boarders, died of head injuries sustained after falling at Seylynn Skateboard Park in North Vancouver.

Longtime friend Wee Wong said Hartley, 52, usually wore a helmet, but didn't on the day he fell.

"It just goes to show you, you just never know. You've always got to put your safety equipment on, and I hope, if there's any last lesson to be learned, any last lesson from Don, this is it," Wong said.

Friend Kevin Kelly was there the day Hartley fell.

"Any sport or art or music or anything sort of has its living legends and stuff like that, and he would have been one of those guys. He was a trailblazer … in many ways and a positive influence and an amazing skateboarder," Kelly said.

Don Hartley died on Canada Day after a fall at the popular Seylynn Skateboard Park in North Vancouver, B.C. (CBC)

"The day it happened, I thought it was weird that I never actually went over and said 'Hi' to him just because every time I wanted to go do that, he was skating, and I remember consciously sitting back in my folding chair and thinking I just want to sit here and watch him skate 'cause it's beautiful."

Hartley had been a pillar of the skateboarding community since the 1970s.

His death has sparked pages of tributes on the social networking website Facebook, as well as plans for memorial T-shirts and skateboards.

Friends are planning a memorial to be held in August.