—– DATE HAS BEEN UPDATED!! SEE POST ABOVE!!!!——
Hey Everyone.
The Dept. is kicking off the winter break by bringing the Holiday Havoc!! Holiday Havoc is going to be the biggest contest Portland has seen this year! Here’s the breakdown: Three divisions- 14yrs and under/ 15yrs and over & sponsored. Jam style format. Killer prizes through 5th place in each division. $15 entry fee. Every participant gets a prize pack. Practice and registration/check-in starts at 6PM. We’ll keep you posted on pre-registration.. Make your plans now for Friday Night Dec. 19th to check out the Holiday Havoc!!

UPDATE: YOU CAN NOW PRE-REGISTER ONLINE BY CLICKING THE BANNER AT THE TOP OF THE HOMEPAGE OR GOING TO www.departmentofskateboarding.com/holidayhavoc !!

There are a limited number of entries so pre-registering is encouraged.
If you enter the regular contest, you can also enter the best tricks contest. If you’re just entering the best tricks contest, you still have to pay the $15 registration fee.

There is going to be an opening reception for the Michael Sieben + Nat Swope collaboration show “Forever and Never” that will be up at Cal’s Pharmacy for December this Saturday night. You may recognize Michael’s art from numerous contributions to the skateboard world, including graphics for Bueno Skateboards, Toy Machine, Volcom, Thrasher Magazine…etc. When you’re a highly talented individual in the skateboard world there is never a shortage of channels to display your work. Nat is widely regarded as one of the best screen printers in the business, so make sure to stop in and check it out or swing through sometime during the month of December and view some of Michael and Nat’s handiwork up close. Here’s a few other spots to check them out as well:
www.msieben.com
www.bloompress.com

If you’ve been holding your breath wondering when those dudes at Dept. were finally going to get around to fixing the ledge, go ahead and exhale. The ledge has a new lip and it really came out pretty nice. Allegedly, Cody Bustamante was quoted saying “…as long as this ledge is here, I’m never moving away from Portland.” Evidently, Cody doesn’t think there’s any good ledges anywhere else in the world. Here’s a few more photos:

(and one of Cody NOT skating the ledge.)

Special thanks to Kent @ Solid Rock Granite.

Paul, Cube, Kyle and the crew did an amazing job on the resurfacing of the bowl. Solid baltic birch ply. Diamond corners might be the wave of the future. Anyways, you gotta ride this thing. Nothing but rave reviews. Way faster, way brighter and way less slippery.

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Flip Feast West Coast Tour is stopping by The Dept. this Friday Night @ 7:00PM. This promises to be one of the biggest and best demos ever to go down and you need to make sure you see it in person. The lineup looks like this: Mark Appleyard, Rodrigo TX, Geoff Rowley, Arto Saari, Lance Mountain, Rune Glifberg, David Gonzales, Louie Lopez, Curran Caples and a recent addition to the team Luan de Oliviera. Serious LEGENDS in that list. The demo is scheduled to start around 7:00pm and the madness will more than likely continue all night. Get the crew together and get down here.

If you ever wanted to skate or rub shoulders with some pro shredders you better make sure to come to the park this Saturday. The Santa Cruz team and the Habitat team will both be gracing us with their collective presences this weekend as they stop by The Dept. on their respective tours. First, the Santa Cruz guys should be rolling in around 4:00pm and are going to hang out and skate the session with everyone. There is a definite possibility that Emmanuel Guzman will be your new favorite skater when you leave Saturday. There will be some serious shredding and some goodies given away while those guys are here.

Next, the Habitat team will be rolling through around 7:00pm and those guys have something to prove. The new Habitat Video “INHABITANTS” is set to premiere nationwide October 31st and promises to be one of best films of the year. This is your chance to experience what you will soon be seeing in the video in 4-D, live and in person. Stefan Janoski, Danny Garcia, Raymond Molinar, Silas Baxter-Neil, and many more. Make sure not to miss this. They’ll be bringing promo stuff as well and everyone loves that. (Note: this is not a video premiere. The video doesn’t premiere until October 31st in Ohio.)

Remember. This Saturday. More pros (and top ams) than you’ve ever seen in your life. Starting at 4:00pm and continuing through the evening. See you there.

Ben Horton, the brains and art behind $lave Skateboards amongst other things, will be having an art show opening at Cal’s Pharmacy Friday night from 7-10PM. Make sure to come by and check out some new stuff from a guy who has seriously ridiculous art abilities.

Whatever plans you had for Thursday October 4th need to be changed and re-arranged. For those not in the know, Nike SB has been working on their first feature-length skateboard film for the better part of 2 years and the fruits of their labors are about to be harvested. “ NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH” begins it’s Global Premiere Tour next week and the 2nd stop is right here in Portland. In celebration of the film, the ENTIRE Nike SB team will be stopping by Cal’s Pharmacy/The Dept. of Skateboarding on Thursday around 4:00pm and hanging out until about 5:30. Paul Rodriguez, Stefan Janoski, Lance Mountain, Brian Anderson, Omar Salazar, Lewis Marnell, Wieger, Chet Childress, Little Grant… the list goes on and on. If you ever wanted autographs or to meet any of these guys in person than you need to make it down on Thursday. Also, they’re bringing as much pizza as they can carry with them and will have a FEW passes to give out for the ultra exclusive showing of NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH for that night. The premiere is not open to the public so you may have to do some work to get your hands on one of these passes. DO NOT MISS THIS!!! COME DIRECTLY FROM SCHOOL!!! DO NOT STOP AT HOME FIRST!! MAKE SURE YOUR FOREHEAD ISN’T SWEATY SO THAT THE SHARPIE STICKS BETTER!! SEE YOU ON THURSDAY!!