SK8PARK PALE ALE RELEASE PARTY

About Saturday Night!

Cheers to everyone that came through Bent Paddle Brewing Co. for our SK8PARK PALE ALE beer release in effort to build a brand new Midtown Skatepark up the street from the shop. This has been a project we have had in the works for a long time and to release it with everyone was a dream come true to us. Thanks to all the homies who helped make this whole thing a reality. Graphic Science for all the artwork, Mike Rapaich for making the brewery edit, Steve Seitz, Nate Hynum, Carter Nguyen and Josh Kuno for doing the skating, Jaw Knee Vee & Boog3ym3n for the music, Al Kreinbring, Pepin Young & the rest of the Bent Paddle Beer crew and all the shop employees/volunteers.

KIDDO

If you haven't heard, "Kiddo" is the latest Duluth skate video and it just dropped online (and is still available on DVD in the shop). Featuring local skaters such as Carter Nguyen, Stephen Pestalozzi, Josh Kuno and more, this video showcases the gritty streets of Duluth, Minneapolis, and more. Give it a watch today! 

Carter Kills

In skate news, shop rider Carter Nguyen took home first place at 3rd Lair's "Midwest Melee" contest over the weekend. Hell yeah Carter!

Carnival of Carnage Recap

On Saturday, September 8th we hosted the "Carnival of Carnage" at the new Cloquet skatepark after a 13 year hiatus and it did not disappoint. Around 50 skaters came out to participate in the festivities and some really heavy skating went down. Relive the days' events through these photos by Matt Kako.

Carter took the top spot with moves like this down the stairs.

Garrett was ripping all day.

Cloquet native Jackson going up the a-frame rail.

Josh and Jonas throwing down some unique crowd pleasing tricks.

Carter Kills, locked and loaded.

Twin Cities based musician and skater Jaw Knee Vee was pumping out the tunes for everyone.

The "King of Carnage" award hand painted by Duane Mullen.

Matt Anderson took it home along with a Toy Machine Tech Deck. I heard he's got a finger board edit in the works... Thanks for all you've done to get this park built Matt!

Carter won the Pocket Park event the day before then took top honors at the Carnival. Can't say anyone was too surprised. 

15 and Under

1st - Jace Boord

2nd - Julian

3rd - Christina 

16 + 

1st - Carter Nguyen

2nd - Caleb Gibson

3rd - Josh Kuno

Sideshow Best Tricks

Ledge - Carter

Deep End - Caleb

Hippie Jump - Simon Walters

Stairs - Zach Anderson

Most Bails - Christina

Honorable Mentions

Simon and Manda

Body Carnage 

Jonas Bodovinitz

King of Carnage 

Matt Anderson

Group shot! Thanks so much to everyone that came out to this year's Carnival of Carnage. Hyped to do it again next year.

Pocket Park Challenge Recap

The Pocket Park Challenge went off yesterday as skaters young and old tore apart the oldest park in Duluth. It was a cloudy day in the 60's, a perfect recipe for everyone involved. A new 40+ "Fedora" division was added this year to join the "Jacket" and "Tie" age groups. Big ups to Girl, Chocolate, Royal, Lakai and Happy Hour for sponsoring the event. Check out the Photos and results below!

Photos: Lloyd Fisher

Winners from left to right: Carter put together some impressive runs to take home his 4th "Jacket" title, Ollie cruised to his first "Tie" victory and his dad Eric skated solid all day and claimed the "Fedora" division. Josh Kuno took home best trick on the new DIY rail. Nice work dudes! 

Jacket Division

1st - Carter Nguyen

2nd - Caleb Gibson

3rd - Stephen Pestalozzi

Tie Division

 1st - Ollie Christopherson

2nd - Ian Gunnelson

3rd - Otto Winnings

Fedora Division

1st - Eric Christopherson

2nd - Bill Howes

3rd - Mark Villasenor

Eric greases a mean front board on the new DIY rail over the grass.

Josh Kuno stomped a front board pretzel out on the grass gap rail to take home best trick. Whether it's snow or concrete, Kuno riiiiips. 

 The trophies: jacket, tie and fedora.

 Boss man Ben hyping up the judges and crowd.

 Smooth operator Stephen Pestalozzi with a nosegrind on the bench.

 It might be a contest but everyone is friends here.

Damage legend Kyle Walczak with that POP over the bank.

MINI RAMP AND RAGE

The 15th annual Mini Ramp & Rage went down last Saturday at Midtowne and it was one for the books. Some of the area's finest ramp riders hit the famous midtowne mini ramp for a day full of raging. After the final run the judges tallied the scores, and shop rider Carter Nguyen came out on top. Caleb Gibson took 2nd place and Eric Christopherson grabbed 3rd place. After the competition we hosted the VANS Skatepark Clean Up and made sure the park was in tip top shape. Thanks to everyone who came out and participated! 

 Thanks to all of our event sponsors Vans, OJ, Thrasher, Bronson, Creature, MOB, Happy Hour, Independent and Almanac Coffee. 

 Congrats to our top 3 riders Carter, Caleb and Eric!  

Mini Ramp & Rage 15 Crew!

Carter Kills

Shop rider Carter (aka Carter Kills) won best trick this past weekend at twin cities hip-hop festival Soundset where Familia and Volcom hosted a best trick contest. Nice work dude!

Kickflip Challenge

The 2018 kickflip challenge went down yesterday and despite the cold weather we had a good sized group trying to land the most kickflips in 60 seconds. Reigning champion Carter Nguyen was the favorite and in the end he came out on top with 35 kickflips! Pretty insane considering the world record is 36... Will someone break it next year?

2018 POCKET PARK CHAMPS!

In the 11th year of the chase for the coveted "jacket" - Caleb Gibson was crowned the winner after putting together two amazing runs. This is the second time Caleb has had the jacket, the first being in 2011. Elton Skog will be the ninth name to grace the "tie" as he took home the top honors in the youngsters division. This year's contest was heated with many of the area's top riders vying for the top honors in both divisions. The judges had a tough time deciding the winners, but in the end Caleb and Elton came out on top.  

Results:

Jacket

1. Caleb Gibson

2. Zach Beckmann

3. Carter Nguyen

Tie

1. Elton Skog

2. Ian Gunelson

3. Jack Seibert

Thank-You to all who came out and made the Pocket Park Showdown 2018 a success!

A special thank-you to all of our sponsors who made this a reality. Girl, Chocolate, Royal, Lakai and Happy Hour!

Mini Ramp and Rage Recap

On Saturday, July 28th we held the 14th edition of Mini Ramp and Rage at Midtowne Skatepark. A few short rain showers rolled through during the event but overall the weather was great and the guys were ripping.

When Carter first started coming to this contest he had to push in the flats to get speed. Now he has no problem airing out over the coping.    

Russell from Almanac Coffee was there with some awesome cold brews for us to fuel up on. Be on the look out for his coffee in the Duluth Folk School, coming soon!

 After wrapping up the action, we moved on to the Vans skatepark cleanup. They sent us all the essentials to tidy up the park along with tote bags, hats, and water bottles for all that helped the cause. Thanks, Vans!

Shop rider Danny Johnson paying his dues.

Kaden and Carter put in work on and off the ramp.

1st place went to Carter for the second year in a row. This kid did some messed up tricks and seems to go bigger every year. 

 Nate dawg took home 2nd place as well as best trick for a back tail bigspin and a nollie front heelflip. Well deserved!

 Eric killed it all day with the stylish maneuvers he's known for and ended up in 3rd for his efforts. The fact that our oldest participant was doing switch grinds in most of his runs is just wild.

Thanks to all of the skaters and everyone that helped clean up the park! We raised $65 for the GND skatepark fund. Shout out to Vans, Almanac Coffee, Thrasher, Creature, Bronson, OJs, Mob Grip, and Indy Trucks for the support. See you next year for round 15!  

BAYFIELD SKATE CAMP

Last week I rounded up a group of my friends and headed for Bayfield, Wi. We worked with Element Skateboards to bring skateboarding to the small town on the shores of Lake Superior. After stopping for breakfast at the local diner "The Fat Radish" we hit the local park to put on a demo for the kids of Bayfield, Madeline Island, and the Red Cliff Reservation. After sessioning the park we partnered up with the kids and taught them how to skate. Many of the kids had never stepped foot on a board, and by the time the day was done they we're ripping around like they had been doing it for months. Carter even taught a kid how to ollie! Later we gifted the kids some awesome Element gear and presented the community center with three brand new Element skateboards. I'm very thankful that we could spark a new generation's interest in skating and plant the seeds today to ensure Bayfield is deeply rooted in skateboarding from here on.  

Group photo. 7:00 a.m. behind the shop. Let's go! 

A huge thank-you to Matt Parker from Element for getting the kids of Bayfield hooked up with this awesome new gear. These completes will help the community skate scene blossom! 

The Damage "Pros" 

This guy knows what's up. Nice shop tee dude!

With Carter as a teacher you're destined for greatness. 

This guy was able to pump the transitions like he'd been doing it his whole life. 

These girls loved their new ELEMENT tees!

Thank-You to everyone who took part in this event! A special thank-you to Emily for starting the skate camp in Bayfield and for being so dedicated to the children. You are doing amazing things for your community and I'm proud to be a part of it.