I hit up the Tigard skatepark for the second day in a row, since my friend Anthony Napolitan was in town on a trip with a fancy shoe company you’ve probably never heard of. A bunch of people were down there shredding including Anthony, the shoe crew, and the usual Portland suspects like Ben Hucke (above), Caleb Quanbeck, and Roman Tencza. Check out some more photos after the jump.

Anthony Napolitan, lookback.

Caleb Quanbeck, tailwhip over a hip.

Ben Hucke nac-nac-attack.

Roman Tencza, one-footed X-up.

Caleb Quanbeck, invert.

Roman Tencza, one-footed toboggan.

Caleb Quanbeck, with a Justin Inman approved invert.

Caleb Quanbeck, no-hander.

The sun is back in Portland, hopefully for a while now. I cut out of the office early, admittedly for the second day in a row, to go ride bikes. I met up with Roman Tencza, Mark Rainha, and a few others at the Tigard Skatepark, and fired off a few photos of Roman and some local skate rippers. You can view them bigger after the jump.

One of those big contests is in town this week. It’s not that I’m not a fan of big contests… I’m just not a fan of the Dew Tour, and how they’ve gone about things the last few years. Behind the scenes bullshit really. Their sales pitch to get riders on board in the beginning was that it was going to be “different” from all the irritations riders and people in the “industry” had gotten used to with other TV events. That lasted two stops. The first two events a few years back were actually looking like they might hold true to that original pitch. But then it all went out the window. To each his own, and while it’s nice to see some of my good friends getting paid somewhat decent money (I use the term decent loosely in a televised professional sports sense) I’m not in a agreement with the borderline exploitation of some really great lifestyles. An office full of people who either have never touched a skateboard or bike (yes, I know Miller is involved, he and DMC are clear exceptions), or haven’t in many years,  dictating where things should be headed. There’s no regard for what’s really happening with the participants on a daily basis beyond the TV show they’re making. That’s horrible. While there’s a level of professionalism that has to be maintained to create a televised sporting event, things like skateboarding and BMX were founded as the antithesis to those very “things.”

So, while I’m just going to pretend that’s not even really happening a few blocks away from our office, it’s nice to see a lot of friends while they’re in town. Fortunately, a lot of them are down to go and ride what Portland has to offer, away from all the corn syrup. I’ve gotten some good shots in the last two days of some of the Dewds dudes at the local parks. You can check them out after the jump. Above is Ronnie Napolitan. Click to expand the view.

Instead of dewing the Dew, I’m headed to the Haro 25th Reunion Tour in Ashland, OR this weekend. Brian Blyther, Dave Nourie, Mike Dominguez, Ron Wilkerson, Bob Haro, and Kevin Martin. It’s going to be epic. A five hour drive, but no bullshit press credential required. Just like old times. Fun. Let’s Dew Do This.

Brian Hunt, Lookback, Oregon City.

Kevin Porter, can-can, Glenhaven.

Kyle Harris, Turndown, Burnside.

Ronnie Napolitan, Turndown, Tigard. Click to Expand.

Brian Hunt, nothing, Oregon City.

Roman Tencza, lookback, Tigard. Click to Expand.

Seth Klinger, turndown, Tigard.

Kyle Harris, Euro Table, Oregon City.

Codie Larsen, Invert, Glenhaven.

Roman Tencza, No-hander over Codie Larsen, Tigard. Click to Expand.

Brian Hunt, No-footed Can-can, Oregon City.

Kevin Porter, Table, Glenhaven.

Roman Tencza, Huge whip transfer, Tigard. Click to expand.

Jam format skate contests on parks with a variety of blind spots are deadly, and there were some very close calls, and some unfortunate collisions… apparently one at todays event at Battleground was even worse. But that’s the way it goes, and those things happen regardless.

On the whole, Trifecta is the way these things should be. No bullshit, just a good skate contest. With the Dew Tour about to go down in a few days, Trifecta was a refreshing reality check into what a skateboard contest is.

Saturday night Hurley (the main sponsor of the Trifecta this year) put on the “Pool Rules” art show at the Nike SB skate warehouse in Portland. Pool Rules is an exhibition of art from four generations of skateboarding, centered around backyard pool skating. Duane Peters, Rick Charnoski, Lance Mountain, Chris Ortiz, Christian Hosoi, Bryce Kanights and a number of others exhibit work and artifacts from the early days of skateboarding through modern times.

Tony Alva had the first production Alva skateboard on display. Salba had a number of cool objects of the past, including a piece of coping from the Pipeline, and tile from the original Combi Pool. The legendary Jay Adams also had some work on display. While I will say it wasn’t quite my thing, it was interesting to see what’s coming out of his head. Hosoi on the other hand had some nice line drawings, and Pat Ngoho had some really vibrant prints.

There was a ton of history in Pool Rules, and while it was only in Portland for one night, you can catch it at Hurley HQ on August 26th, and at ASR in San Diego from September 8-10th. Thanks to Brooke Geery for photos Hosoi and Jay Adams’ art… I slacked on taking photos, or maybe I was just in awe of the coping from Pipeline.