And this should be the last construction update from me. Next shots your gonna see is all the locals skating this new “Ego” bowl here in Hood River Oregon. I can assure you that this hard-working crew will have an undisturbed amount of time in the next 3 days, breaking in the coping for everyone to enjoy.

I once “dated” a girl from Macomb Illinois who was a little bit… out there. This video about a Macomb Illinois skatepark controversy sheds a lot of light on the situation. Not the skatepark situation, mind you.

Its going to better than a Charlie Brown Xmas for us skaters in Hood River, Oregon. Today I went down to the skatepark to drop a case of Red Bull on the hard working crew. I had to ask (Designers and Builders Graham and Mark) when the expected finish date was, they said they have stayed well within the budget, with no plans of stopping and took me on a walk around the skatepark.

Dan Glowicki sent out an email last week asking if anyone had plans to skate Friday after Thanksgiving. What?! and miss the start of the shopping season? Brad suggested getting together to play golf as a change of pace. Why not a visit to a car dealership to test drive Hummers? Better yet, Cannonball run!

The theme song for Nickelodeon’s Rocket Power goes…

We are riders on a mission, action kids in play position.

Rocket Power! Rocket Power!

We are riders on a mission, action kids in fun condition. Prepare to count down… Rocket Power!

Mark Conahan is heading up a team of riders on a mission to skate thirteen skateparks in one day. He’s documenting it as he goes along on Antigravity Remote. Five years ago this would have been a more daunting task. He’ll be heading to Burnside, Woodland, Battleground, Vancouver, Pier Park, Glenhaven, West Linn, Holly Farm, Tigard, Donald, Newberg, McMinnville and Aumsville. Crap. I forgot to include a picture of McMinnville.

The News Herald reports that Bay County Parks and Recreation Department in Panama City, Florida has an extra $1.5 million or so and is trying to figure out what to do with it. One of their very bright and apparently unsolicited ideas is to build a skatepark. It’s not too often that a skatepark falls from the sky. The locals didn’t have to rally the troops or even get Matthew Lesko involved.

Hughes was recently in Arizona and found some very specific rules at the Wickenburg Skate Park. Check out a larger image at Northwest Skater. You have to like the use of a old west typeface, the rustic spelling and the creative editing by the local intellectuals.

Larry Pescatore sent in some more progress shots of the Wormhoudt park in San Jose:

It looks all but finished: the concrete and bowls all look done and the perimeter fence has been built. The testament to monolithic artsy skatable landmarks is complete. The bathrooms have been built. All that seems left is the parking lot and/or outer landscaping. They even built a walkway up but it’s all fenced off.

It looks more like a nuclear power plant than a skatepark in the shot above. More after the jump.

At the Ed Benedict meeting I saw the one of the bike guys I see around handing off a benefit check to the skatepark effort. So while the street and vert guys are flaming each other about terrain on the internet, The bike guys are raising money and going to meetings.

Dan Garland has been awarded the commission for art for the Ed Benedict skate plaza. Dan is a skater as well as an artist: Here is how he describes the project:

Basically, I wanted to create an installation that speaks to the interface between man and nature and point towards balance as a solution. I wanted to create something using the bold, iconic visual language that is such a part of the skate culture and give skaters something fun to skate but also pique their interest in what this giant symbol stood for. To have an element of discovery that can play out in skaters interaction with the plaza as many of them will spend so much time there.