I put in a brief appearance at the Vancouver leg of the Drop-In with Airspeed’s Geth Noble yesterday. A handful of people showed up, and it was a good time. I don’t know if he learned anything useful, but he listened and skated well. I hate to disappoint Danimal, but I only took a few pictures. You can see them all after the jump.

Remember that cool London subterranean skate plaza project we covered a while back? Skate Daily alerts us to the fact that it’s open only to skaters under 18 except for a couple of hours one night a week. Bullshit! I bet the thing was organized and built by skaters over 18. Sign the petition and tell them why having older skaters there would be a good idea. (Closer to home, the St Charles County skatepark in Near St Louis Missouri also has very restricted access for anyone over the age of 18. – K.Ed)

So a couple of weekends ago Dave Vieira, Pete Panagakos, Jeff Fryer, and myself set out for a little 3 day weekend trip to beautiful Brookings, Oregon. Our plan was to skate, drink some beer, and for me to shoot a machine gun in Eugene. Check out: Brookings Weekend

PP&R has finalized the public design meeting schedule for the Ed Benedict Skate Plaza project. Ed Benedict Park Public Open House/Workshop Meetings to review design ideas and provide input into Portland’s first skate plaza. Early Boyles Elementary School Cafeteria (10822 SE Bush St.; 1 block south of SE Powell Blvd.) First Meeting is September 13th; Second Meeting is November 15th. Both meetings are from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm image from animation archive

Rod Wojtanik, one of the most influential voices in Pacific Northwest skateboarding, is packing his bags for a new professional opportunity and leaving behind skatepark development. Rod has been the skatepark guy at Portland Parks and Recreation. He led the skatepark siting and public outreach efforts, organizing and presenting at dozens of meetings with neighborhood associations, city council and more than a few NIMBYs. Rod has helped the skateboarding community navigate the bureaucacy and non-skating public opinion. With three skateparks in the ground, two more contracted and awaiting execution, and 14 more sited and planned for development, Rod has us off to a good start on the 19 skatepark system. Read more at Skaters for Portland Skateparks.

Aside from Vancouver, there was another skatepark opening of sorts in Washington last week. Bellingham Washington got some new Dreamland additions to an existing craptacular skatepark. We’ve shown you some pictures of the progress before thanks to John Aguilar, and he has come through again with a bunch more. They are strictly non-action photos though. There’s also a couple on Sleestak. Dan Hughes from Northwest Skater actually got in a session before the rain, as soon as his pics go live I’ll link them up.

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.

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.