Hey Everyone,
The Dept. “Spring Broke” Skate camp will be going down March 22-25th. Camp runs Monday through Thursday from 9AM to Noon. Campers will be able to stay and skate all day through 6:30PM. Dept. Skatecamps are open to skaters of all ages and ability levels and provide instruction in basic skateboarding fundamentals as well as more advanced skating. “Spring Broke” Camp is open to 40 skaters and the cost is $125/week. Register by calling The Dept. at 503.493.9480 after 1PM or emailing at info@departmentofskateboarding.com.

-The Dept.

The Dept. will be hosting the ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE Contest Sunday Feb. 14th. Mike and Justin over at Shrunken Head are the masterminds behind this unique event that promises to be a departure from any contest you’ve experienced in the past. All your favorites in LOCAL PORTLAND SKATEBOARDING will be representing. Face it, you more than likely don’t have a valentine so there should be no good reason you don’t check this out. For more info hit up those guys at Shrunken Head!!

(This means there will be NO REGULARLY SCHEDULED SESSIONS SUN. FEB. 14TH!! Also, there will be NO 9-11PM SESSION SAT. FEB. 13TH due to some contest prep..)

Era Skateboards will be putting on the NW AM Test Contest Feb. 21st @ The Dept. We’ll keep you updated on info as the contest gets closer or you can check it here.

Last chance to shred for the first decade of the 3rd millenium. The Dept. will be closed New Year’s Day and be back on regular schedule Sat. Jan 2nd.

The Holiday Havoc contest is back again to finish off 2009 with a bang!! HOLIDAY HAVOC 2 is going down Wednesday Dec. 30th and is taking things up a notch. This year the format is changing a bit and the level of skating will be rising as well. Here’s how it’s going to play out:

HOLIDAY HAVOC 2 2009 AM CONTEST Presented by Nike SB and Scion.
$2000.00 Prize Purse!!

10:00AM- Doors open for registration and practice.
12:00PM- “Get Familiar” Open Qualifier Contest
$15 entry fee- open to the first 60 entrants. (Don’t be late to register!!)
Every entrant receives a HH2 tee and prize pack.
Skate Jam format- heats divided by age and skill level
2nd through 5th places receive product prize packs and advance to the HH2 Invitational Round.
1st place winner receives product prize pack as well as the “Golden Ticket” to the Finals of the HH2 Invitational Round.

2:30PM: INVITATIONAL ROUND PRACTICE

3:00PM: HOLIDAY HAVOC 2 INVITATIONAL: Presented by Thunder Trucks
$10 Entry Fee – Every entrant receives an HH2 tee and prize pack.
The HH2 INVITATIONAL ROUND showcases some of the NW’s most talented skaters.
Individual run format – Two 60 second runs each, best run counts
Top 5 advance to STREET FINALS

HOLIDAY HAVOC 2 STREET FINALS: Presented by L.R.G.
6 Skaters total (top 5 finalists from HH2 INVITATIONAL ROUND & the Golden Ticket holder from the OPEN QUALIFIER)
Individual run format – Two 90 second runs each, best run counts.
1st PLACE: $1000
2nd PLACE: $500
3rd PLACE: $300

8:00PM: BEST TRICK CONTEST: Presented by REAL Skateboards
Anything goes on the Street Course.
Open to contestants who entered any of today’s events.
1st PLACE: $100
2nd PLACE: $50
3rd PLACE: $25

All registration will go down the day of the contest. If you’ve never been to The Dept. before and are under 18 you need to have a parent/guardian present to sign a waiver or have a notarized waiver.
Send any questions about the contest to jesse.bracewell@gmail.com

See you on Dec. 30th!!
-The Dept.

Blame it on The Berrics. Game of S.K.A.T.E. tournaments are the hottest thing going right now. Alex Davies decided to go one better and came up with “3 Man S.K.A.T.E. Date”, the first 3 person team challenge. Here’s the breakdown:
-3 Person Teams
-$20 Entry per team
-16 Team Limit for the first tournament
-The first 16 teams to sign up and pay @ Cal’s Pharmacy are in. NO IOUs.. NO HOLDING SLOTS!!
-The games are going to be every Wednesday night starting Dec. 9th @ 6:30PM
-The first week (Dec. 9th) every team needs to show up to determine their seeding and which bracket they will be in. After that, the games will be scheduled and it won’t be required to attend every game.
-The games will be Berrics rules (which everyone is familiar with).
-3 Man S.K.A.T.E. is basically the same as a regular game of S.K.A.T.E. but the defensive team gets to choose which team member performs the trick. A single team member can’t go 2 times in a row on defense. Show up Wed. Dec 9th with any other questions.
-Winning team receives $300 to split. Runner up team receives $100 to split.

Get your squad together and get into The Pharmacy ASAP because slots will fill up quick!!

Laters.

PS, we already know the name sounds…

The Thrash Giving Session went off and collected more food than we ever could’ve expected. Thanks to everyone who came out and huge thanks to Altamont/Es/Emerica for joining forces on this event. We look forward to doing this again.

-The Dept.

The Tribute guys are premiering they’re new video “Tribute Takes Portland” this Thursday night Oct. 29th @ the Someday Lounge and have added a second all ages showing Friday night here at The Dept. @ 9PM. Make sure to swing by and check it!!

The 30 or better session is back on starting tonight.. hope to see you there.

…on the internet with this sick VR photo that PDXVR.COM made. Look up and down. It’s kind of trippy.

The Holiday Havoc contest finally went down last Friday night and closed out the winter break with a serious barrage of shredding. Over a hundred skaters entered tore the course apart. Here’s a list of the top 5 finishers in each division as well as the Nike SB Best Tricks contest wrap-up:

14 YRS AND UNDER DIVISION
1. Ben Sauer
2. Joey Carnera
3. Berkeley Anderson
4. Colin Klassy
5. Dalton Marshall

14 and under had the most entrants and therefore the most competition for the riders and the group as a whole really represented. The talent level with the younger guys these days is off the charts and judges witnessed tricks like cab flips over the hip, frontside grind fakies on the quarter pipe wall, switch front bigspins down the seven and frontside flips over the hubba and down the 3 from this group. In the end, little Ben Sauer seemed to stay on and consistent in every heat and edged out Joey Carnera for the win. Congratulations Ben!! Make sure you’re helmet size doesn’t increase because of this.

15 AND OVER DIVISION
1. Joel Shelley
2. Colin Crespino
3. Joey Kirkevan
4. Jor-El Lord
5. Trevor Ward

15 and over takes the tricks and talent from the first division and adds power and style. It’s amazing what happens to dudes when they grow a few inches and get some springs. Total domination of the dojo and an expanded trick bag from this group. We’ll have video footage shortly to give you a better idea. Good Looks Joel!!

SPONSORED DIVISION
1. Cody Maag
2. Josh Gibson
3. Matt Hanson
4. Bob Anderson
5. Anthony Grant

Again, you’ll have to wait for the video footage to really get a feel for what the sponsored division brought. The thing about jam format contests is it gives you a little more time to see the guys skate and get an idea of who rips the most consistently as opposed to who can just land a banger after a bunch of tries. Cody skated every heat like a veteran and just kept the tempo set at a consistent ripping of the entire course. He definitely was the most consistent skater in every heat. Cody’s going to be around for awhile..

Following the contest was the Nike SB Best Tricks contest. Usually best trick contests are all about hammers but this contest required dudes to get a trick on multiple obstacles to be in contention. The obstacles to be attacked were The Podium ledge and any combination of the 7 stair/hubbas or the Big 3. Just getting the best trick on either/or wasn’t good enough for the money, you had to get something on both. Here’s the breakdown of the guys who walked away with cash:

1. Erik Billups won it. Everyone knows he can jump down stuff but the consistency under pressure is really good. His winning combo was KF BS Nosegrind on The Podium followed up by a switch 360 Flip down the Big 3. Erik killed and walked away with $500. Don’t spend it all in one place.

2. Josh Gibson- Dude’s been on a tear recently and killed this contest. Several bangers went down but the ones that swayed the judges most were the KF Crooks on The Podium and Switch Inward Heel down the Big 3. Josh said he’s jobless right now so $300 should help out.

3. Cody Maag- Cody took care of biz in the contest and then continued the consistency in the best trick. He threw out several things but KF Crooks The Podium and FS Big Spin Heelflip down the 7 are what got him the $200.

Look out soon for video highlights of the contest.

Huge Thanks go out to: Ben, Dave, and Eric for judging, Nike SB, Tony at RedBull, Skate Mental, Alien Workshop, Toy Machine, Foundation, Volcom, Josh and Andy at Tribute Skateboards, the SkateChurch guys, Ried for working the sound and GIGANTIC THANKS to Betsy for the registration skills.

See everyone next time.

-The Dept.

We made a few little tweaks to the park this week. Here’s the photos:

We’re calling this the Westhusing Wheelchair ramp. Ryan and Andy threw this out as a possible upgrade and they were right.

We also swapped the angled manny pad out for a good old bank to ledge.

Sorry McGinn. Sorry Daewon.

Resident skate photog and all around great dude Garric Ray will be having his first ever photo show this upcoming Saturday night October 4th at Cal’s Pharmacy starting at 7:00PM. Over the last several years Garric has been documenting the dearth of skateboard talent that the northwest possesses and is for the first time assembling a collection of his favorite photos to display all in one place. If you look at all the greatest skate photographers through the years, the best ones are the self-taught guys who are skaters themselves and already have that perspective when they pick up the camera. Garric is definitely continuing this tradition and is someone you will continue to see great stuff from for quite a while. Make sure to come by Saturday night and check the show opening. The show will run for the entire month of October.

The Dept. will not be open for the 1-3:30 session on Tuesday. We will be open for the 3:30 and 6:30 sessions.

-The Dept.

The Dept. will be resuming it’s regular hours and will be open Labor Day Sept. 1st from 1:00-9:00pm.

Hey rail chompers, we’re premiering the new Fallen video “Ride The Sky” this Saturday night @ 9:00pm at The Dept. This vid is looking like the most anticipated video to drop this year and early accounts have it more than measuring up to other Jamie Thomas legendary sagas like “Thrill of it All” and “Dying to Live”. Chris Cole guys. Billy Marks. Pretty sure Billy’s cover shot of this months Thrasher snapped at OHSU will be in here. Make sure not to miss this premiere… it’s going to be a special one.

“Just Keep Going” An exhibition of photographs and Collage by Jai Tanju will be presented at Cal’s Pharmacy in Portland Oregon opening August 29th and will be on display until September 30th. Long time skateboard photographer and artist, Jai Tanju will be bringing his show “Just Keep Going” to the Northwest after stops in Tokyo and San Jose. The show will display many of Jai’s photos and collage from his book of the same title (Just Keep Going) as well as newer work. Artists reception will be Friday August 29th from 7 to 10pm with the melodic Dj stylings of ‘Cap’n Tony’. Special thanks goes to Adidas for helping bring the show to Portland.

Volcom has the photos, results, and coverage of the contest from Saturday up over at their website. Check it OUT. Congratulations Erik!!

Hey! Volcom’s Wild in the Parks contest returns to The Dept. this Saturday for the third year in a row. All the info you need is on the flyer and you can pre-register for the contest here.
Entry is limited so don’t sleep…
See you on Saturday.

(THE DEPT. WILL OBVIOUSLY NOT BE HAVING THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED SESSIONS ON SATURDAY. THE 101 LESSON SESSION WILL STILL BE GOING ON BUT WILL NOT INCLUDE THE 10-1 SESSION. IF YOU’RE PLANNING TO COME SKATE SATURDAY EVENING, GIVE A CALL AND SEE IF THE CONTEST IS OVER..)

Cal’s Pharmacy will be hosting a photo show and book release party next Friday July 11th for Mike Burnett’s new book “The Outskirts of Awesome”. The release party will run from 7-10pm and will feature music from Mike’s friends Yes Father. Most skateboard types who pay attention will know Mike as the driving force behind Thrasher Magazine over the last 5 years or so. If you’d like to see more of Mike’s photos check out michaelburnettphotography.com or follow him around here.