Those who were expecting one of the big two to get the contract will be surprised to learn that Gabriel Park will be built by Airspeed. Portland’s parks department made the announcement yesterday. Here’s the unofficial word

…the selection process is set up to judge the specific proposals that are
submitted, and while they take into consideration past experience and performance, the majority of the decision is made upon how well the proposal addresses requests and items in this specific RFP. Unfortunately, not all of the great skatepark builders in the world who excel in the field excel in the realm of putting a proposal document together. Many simply just did not give specific consideration to Gabriel Park’s unique topography, opportunities or needs. Airspeed did.

Toledo has been a surprise hit. That’s Waldport Oregon and Pescadero, Mexico in the shots above, both taken from the Airspeed web site. It’s important to remember that the selection committees are changing for each park in the system. Here’s to variety!

Our friend Rich Burton shot some opening day photos for Skaters for Portland Skateparks. Above: Mark Conahan and Molly Quan hanging out by the Peanut.

Last Friday, Glenhaven finally opened. Several hundred people came out to see the ribbon cutting and skate the new Dreamland park. I haven’t heard any complaints yet. The street/bricks/ditch is getting heavy use as is the mid bowl. The 8.5 foot deep Peanut bowl is great. It rides a lot like an insanely good backyard pool. Okay, first complaint. I would have liked to see tile in there. It’s just about perfect though. Portland is on a roll.

More pics at Earth Patrol, Old School and Dan Hughes’ photos from Saturday

Glenhaven opens tomorrow? Wait, how did that happen while I’m away in Florida? I am really dropping the ball as far as Oregon skatepark openings. First I missed Irrgon and now Glenhaven, which is only 15 minutes from my front door. EPM doesn’t have these problems. I guess it will be there when I get back. Get your super limited edition shirts at the event tomorrow. Hey MC! Sign me up for an XL… Oops, they only have large and medium. Must be a result of all the unsold memorabilia they have left over from the Pier Park opening. Maybe Conahan will have them both there. Buy a cool shirt, help us get a roof over a skatepark. Details.

Recently I posted some construction pics of a new upgrade to the old Bellingham Washington park. I remarked that the digging seemed to be a bit deep, considering than the plans on the city’s web site only showed a shallow street park. Reporter John Aguilar got the scoop.

I had a little chat with Sage today. He said the deep end of the bowl would be around 10 to 10.5 ft deep and then a shallow end and a over vert pocket, and on the other side of the existing sk8 park is going to be the street course that is the actual concept image that shows in the city web site designed by Grindline. So the street area is the one in the city of bellingham web site , but as Sage said the bowl is the bonus hehe!!

Very nice, indeed! Sometimes you get more than what you pay for. It’s not as sweet as it could have been, but it will certainly be better than the steaming pile of Purkiss-Rose that they have there now.

Dave Tobin sent this photo of Jay Meer painting a sign for Glenhaven. Jay is the artist responsible for the mural work at Burnside over the years. Five more days and the sucker is open!

Our senior Mexico City transplant correspondent (Senior, and Señor) John Aguilar sent in these pics of Dreamland construction going on in Bellingham Washington. This is phase 2 of an existing skate park built by Purkiss Rose It’s a Grindline design that apparently dates back to March of 2006. The rendering shows what appears to be a relatively shallow beginners area. It’s hard to tell from the photos but it appears that they might be digging something deeper than that. Who knows, maybe the plans have changed. It has been over a year. More after the jump

Earth Patrol Media has some pleasant shots of the Prosser Washington park that MC talked about in his roadtrip to Irrigon post. It shows the park from different angles and gives you a better feel for the overall layout. Enjoy!

In spite of the fact that it was pissing down with rain in Portland Saturday morning; MC, Rich Burton and Shawn Reinert hit the road for the Irrigon Skatepark Grand Opening. Smay was right behind us with Lance Leisher and Brogan Robinson and Chris Stevens. The new Grindline creation was packed, 200 people or more watching and skating. The park was as unique as we had hoped but just crazy crowded. The grass hasn’t grown back yet so the crowd tracked a lot of sand into the park and everything was smaller and tighter than I expected but it’s a really fun skatepark.

More Arizona action from Old Man Army. Doubles. Nice shot, huh? You have to see it to believe it. Update: Added an alternate shot.