When I first saw this article I was slightly shocked. If you’ve never been to Crater Lake, it is truly a beautiful, pristine, and stunning National Park. A skatepark would definitely be an incongruous intrusion. Yes, I was definitely against building a skatepark! It just made no sense, adding a huge skatepark essentially in the middle of nowhere. The view while skating would be amazing, sure. After I started reading a bit, it seemed a little silly, and when they mentioned sourced “organic concrete” it became more apparent that the article was actually satire. I thought it was real at first, not being familiar with the web site, which it turns out is a an odd mix of the Onion and a tourism site. Enjoy the article Crater Lake’s ‘Volcano Bowl’ Set to Open in 2026 as the World’s Largest Skate Park and if you get a chance, go visit Crater Lake.

Enjoy these mediocre photos (except for the drone shot, which is not mine.) of what is now my favorite skatepark. You’re looking at a semi-new a park in sleepy little Vernonia, Oregon, built by Evergreen Skateparks. About an hour outside of Portland, Vernonia has less than 3000 people. The axe on the left side is a nod to its logging history. You can tell you’re riding an Evergreen skatepark if it’s got that moonscape feel with bits of coping sticking out of what might otherwise be a tribute to the best parts of 70’s era skateparks. This version features the usual connected low bowls, bumps, and berms with the addition of a pump track round the outside. But again, they’ve improved on the traditional pump track with subtle variations on either side, so you can ride the track multiple times in various combinations, hitting (or ignoring) obstacles along the way, reversing course without losing speed. So many combinations for fun. There’s also a medium sized, mellow bowl in the middle. I can’t tell you enough how much love this park. I can’t wait to get back there.

I bought another issue of Skateboarding Industry News and included in the auction was an issue of something called Skate & Surf which I had never seen before, and didn’t really pay any attention to it. Glancing at it I thought it was an early 80’s mini mag or pamphlet or some sort of insert or giveaway. Turns out it was the 2nd issue of a new (at the time) trade publication dated March/April of 1978. Contrary to Skateboarding Industry News, the art direction of Skate & Surf made it look closer to something like Action Now than a stodgy industry magazine. Flipping through it you might think it was aimed at skateboarders and not skate shop owners. The huge bonus to me was finally finding a full page ad fro Skate-ball, some 14 years after I found the first one online, and here it is, freshly scanned and transcribed., starting at $25,000 in $1978, and a perfect business opportunity for the absentee owner.

Normally I’m against using your local skatepark to film an RC car commercial, hold a nerf battle, drop off your scooter kids like it’s a daycare, or basically any non-skateboarding related usage of skatepark. However, in this case, I’m happy to make an exception, albeit ultimately sad that it has come to this… again. Welcome to the Derek Chauvin murder trial. These pics come from BennyCruz via Public Enemy. Fight the power.

BCSA skatepark benefit show this weekend in Corvallis, OR at a place called Cloud & Kelly’s Public House in downtown Corvallis. 21 and over, 3 good bands, all proceeds go to the skatepark project.

The quickest way to get your picture on Skate and Annoy? Wear an S&A shirt like Greg Baller. Of course, frontside double trucking doesn’t hurt either. Photo by Christopher Bright.

Merde-y Merde merde. Travis Augustine flows on flow in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Holy cow, I guess the skatepark is still open. What’s the sitch, Egbert? “M.” “ake.” “Make.”

Outsider trade magazine articles on skateboarding and skateparks can usually be summed up by one or more of the following generalizations: uninformed, boring, misleading, or a steaming pile of excrement. When they aren’t it’s always because they were written by someone in the know, in this case, Portland skateboarding fixture Ben Wixon, who aside from being a teacher is also involved with Skaters for Public Skateparks and something called Drop Into Skateboarding, an organization formed by a few other names you might recognize. Aside from having a stimulating title, Recreation Management published an article titled The Evolution of Public Skateparks, written by Ben. You can read it online, or look for the cover at a very boring and/or thorough newsstand near you. What’s the takeaway? Two things. The push for more integrated spaces as opposed to an isolated facility in the middle of nowhere, and:

The experts surveyed unanimously agreed that concrete surfaces have overwhelmingly become the material of choice for skateboarding performance and durability.

It’s not a fascinating read, but you have to think of the target audience. The only beef I have is that it looks like they used a picture of a Skatepark in Indiana and label it as Phoenix. The second page has a photo of good ole Holly Farm skatespot in Portland. Man, I haven’t been there in ages.

– Thanks to John Aguilar for the tip.

Take ingredients (1 Christmas Sweater) and distribute evenly amongst the session.

– Via Frank Shaw