While you are out sessioning the new Vancouver Washington skate park this weekend, keep your eyes open for these guys and thank them for taking time off work to help clean off the graffiti so the parks district would actually open the place. If you think you know who’s tagging the park, please help them learn not to be such mental midgets, by any means necessary. Photo and elbow grease by Earth Patrol Media. That’s Mark Conahan as Mr Clean. Thanks guys, Reinert too.

There’s no need to barge the scene, Vancouver’s new skate park is now officially open. I got there late this evening as what seemed like half the Trifecta was getting ready to pack up, including Benji Galloway, Rune Glifberg, Sergie Ventura Chris Cudlipp, Josh Sandoval, Morgan Burgess, Tyler Mumma and I think Devon Lamb. I heard Tyler, Rune, and possibly someone else made it (that day) carving over the top face of the capsule! Not a bad demo for an unanounced opening day! Joe Hammeke was there with a bunch of lights, but until those Indy Kickflip shots of Rune get published you’ll have to settle for old Kilwag’s photos, that is unless Rich from EPM got anything. (Update: He did.) Grover and he were pressing glass this afternoon when the park opened. The park is a lot of fun, barring the recurring dust storms blowing in off the uncovered dirt in the surrounding unfinished areas. That’s Cudlipp above with North Portland locals Xavier and Doug in the. See larger versions after the jump.

What? You didn’t know that Battle Ground, Washington is located in Oregon? Well don’t tell anyone. Yes, the pro event got rained out and moved to Tobin’s bowl, but no, it’s not covered in this feature. It’s coming Monday. Until then you can check out the Women’s and Master’s event coverage with a little bit of the warmups for the locals and pros. That’s Jesse Nelson entertaining the crowd during the rain delay. Thanks to Shawn Reinert for the extra photos that don’t match the color balance or exposures of mine in the slightest. What can I say, I just want to make Jim Gray happy. Check out: 2007 Oregon Trifecta – Battle Ground Washington.

Paul Schmitt has a curriculum he is trying to sell to schools. Kids apply math and vocabulary, and stuff they learned about trees by watching a video while designing and making a skateboard.

Photobucket user sk8grl48 has this comic up on her account. Be careful following that link because it contains a lot of NSFW material. Who tipped us off? Why Concrete Wave’s own Michael Brooke, but he doesn’t know the creator.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction? Sort of. It turns out they all aren’t wife-beating child-haters. Portland has had at least one Police officer firmly entrenched in helping skateboarders move forward with the now completed plan to revamp Pier Park. (Name MC?) There’s also an officer in the Cayman Islands who lets kids skate on his backyard mini ramp, and there is also an outreach program in Lee-On-The-Solent or Hampshire ( I know! It’s a UK town or district, I can’t tell with all the wacky names they have) where Bobbies attend skate clinics with kids at local skateparks to reinforce positive interaction with police and kids. [Photo: Left and bottom – Solent News Photo. Top – Brent Fuller for the Cayman Compass ]

Yes, some sick skating went down at Portland’s Pier Park that truly left the crowd dumbfounded. Day two of our Oregon Trifecta overkill coverage is up. Check out: 2007 Oregon Trifecta – Portland’s Pier Park.

When Mark Conahan isn’t busy getting heckled for wearing pads or drawing comics, he’s appearing in magazines like Portland Monthly, where the richsters pretend to be hipsters. It’s not clear how Steve Grover got in past security, but he makes an appearance as well in the August Best of 07 issue that chose Pier Park as the city’s best skatepark. They try to imply that Pier Park is “gnarlier” than Burnside because it’s bowl is deeper, but that’s a pretty uninformed comparison. Who writes these articles? I mean seriously, your average Portland Monthly reader isn’t about to hop in the BMW and drive to the local skatepark, unless they are bringing their little kid. I’m sure a lot of them are going to drop in on the best place to get a tattoo as well. Yeah, I’m just jealous because we didn’t get chosen for Best Local and International Skate Coverage, even though that wasn’t one of the categories.

Well here it is finally, the first of way too many pictures of the Oregon Trifecta. This is Lincoln City coverage. It’s a lot to digest. There are a lot of pictures included that probably shouldn’t have made the cut, but we figure people want to see more and not less. Right? They don’t all have to be Kodak moments if it’s someone you know. If you find it overwhelming then maybe you should wait for our “Best Of Gallery.” Until then, enjoy! Check out: 2007 Oregon Trifecta – Lincoln City

Jeff Parker will be reading from his novel, Ovenman at Mississippi Pizza Pub on August 30 from 6-8 p.m. as a cosponsored event with Powell’s Books. We were originally talking about this as a benefit for Skaters for Portland Skateparks but it will be a free event and the beer and pizza will be free. We may have a donation jar or sell sweatshirts or something. I met the editor from Tin House at Pier Park where she was soaking up some skate atmosphere shortly after opening day. She asked me if I would be interested in reading a skateboarding related novel they were working on.