Lake Oswego Parks and Rec is having a youth skate competition at the Lake Oswego Skate Park next weekend August 7th. Their website is lakeoswegosports.org.

They are also looking for donations Colin. If you are interested in supporting the youth competition contact the Lake Oswego Parks and Rec skatepark coordinator. Any type of donation is appreciated!

Missoula Montana has a 16,000 square foot skatepark completed by Grindline in 2006. I saw video of this either on Fuel TV or Tony Hawk’s Skatepark Tour. I thought it was going to be huge. It’s pretty good sized, but not nearly as mammoth as it looked on TV. I think it’s pretty safe to say that any skatepark is going to appear smaller in real life, but I haven’t been to Lake Cunningham yet.)

The City of Miami skateboard park is under attack by well connected political elites. Check out Miamiskaters.com and join their Facebook group to find out what you can do to help. There is an event to support the park on Monday, July 19th which is detailed past the jump.

I found out about this from a non skater, you know, a civilian. Turns out the new indoor park is next door to one of those warehouses full of inflatable bounce houses for kids. My informant was there for a kid’s birthday party. I went to go check it out on a Saturday but nobody was there. The place looks like it’s still under construction. From what I can see, it’s standard indoor street course type fare. Basically a one hit back and forth affair. From my vantage point ( standing on the roof of the SUV backed up against the roll up door) it also looks like really close quarters. There’s also what appears to be long miniramp with one end bowled in. Before actually seeing this place I thought it might ease the pain of The Department shutting down, but I’m fairly certain it’s not going to fill that gap. Ripzu is admittedly run by parents of skateboarding children looking for a sterile environment for kids to skate. Not that the Department is especially gritty. The rates seem high but this place might actually survive based on the fact that a lot of parents are already going next door with little kids on a regular basis. The Ripzu site (not sure what the name means?) has some construction shots that are a lot more clear but not as recent my spy-cam shot.

The Second Annual Skate The Lake Summer Contest Series kicks off this weekend on Saturday at the Lake Cunningham Regional Skatepark in San Jose. Registration begins at 2:30 p.m.; contest begins at 3:30 p.m. Entry fee is $10. Events for this year include Street, Best Trick, Mini Bowl, and Main Bowl (Travelodge for June). For more information, call LCRSP at (408) 794-SKATe (7528) or check the flyer after the jump.

– Thanks to event sponsor Weirdo Skateboards for the tip.

P-town Throwdown this Saturday at Pendleton Skatepark Appearances by Bacon dudes. Benji, Johnny, Oudalay, and Jeff Ferris who will be traveling here in a time machine from the eighties to emcee. I swear, the kid could be an illegitimate son of Steve Schneer. Flyer after the turn.

I’ve heard from a couple of different sources (some of them reliable even!) that The Department of Skateboarding, or D.O.S., will be shutting down at some point mid-summer. The rumor is that the building was sold, and the bowl is scheduled to be closed down as early as June, with the rest of it to follow possibly in August. This seems at odds with their posted summer camp schedule. Colin has an associate of D.O.S. scheduled to appear on his radio show on June 16th. Maybe we’ll get an answer then. It will be a blow to Portland’s skate scene if D.O.S. does shut down. It’s the only indoor street course of any mentionable square footage accessible to the public in the greater Portland area. No word on what this might mean for the attached Cals Pharmacy skate shop, a long time fixture in Portland.

[Image: SkateAllCities]

Today is day zero for the Maloof Money Cup in New York City. The contest doesn’t start till tomorrow, but today there is a ribbon cutting ceremony, jam session, and two skateboard related art show openings in the city. Believe it or not, SnA was considered a legit blog by the media credentials people so I have all access passes to everything. Check out the recap of last night’s pre-Maloof party hosted by DC Shoes and, starting around 2 PM, a live blog of the days events.

…in Echo, Oregon. Thanks to Sam from Skate Oregon for this report:

Eastern Oregon continues blowing up with the little town of Echo (population 700) opening a nice little “Community Skatepark” this afternoon. Grindline made them a great 4000 square foot (?) concrete shape not dissimilar to Portland’s Gabriel Park: shallow top to hip hip deeper bowl. It is open to skateboards, inline skates, and bikes.

While not yet on the official city web page, they do have a Facebook page for the skatepark. And of course, Sam has some shots up at the granddaddy skatepark sites, SkateOregon. Now I have to go look up Echo, Oregon on Google Maps.

The Oregonian had a story about the Lincoln City skatepark today. In case you haven’t been paying attention, Lincoln City is up to phase V with the new skate track. Not a bad story although they seemed to be confused about a few things like calling the pool replica is one of the park’s easiest features when I think they meant the new reservoir bowl.

[Photo: Thomas Boyd /The Oregonian] – Thanks to GVK and my mom for the tip.