As many of you know this was the 3rd year for Top Shop. The concept behind it is to get as many shop teams together for a weekend of skateboarding and partying, I guess it’s a weekend for us all to make friends and come together as a community of skateboarders.
WEDNESDAY night, after we closed, we were all hanging around the park for a major sticker and bannering party. The craziest thing happened. Right as we were getting ready, the entire block had a black out. I followed the police lights down the street, and ran into a fireman. He told me a Canadian goose flew into a power line and severed it. Poor goose died on impact. Weird!
FRIDAY: Woody, Nate and Jay finished the new boomerang mini ramp just as the session for Top Shop heated up. Perfect timing! Perfect ramp! The Friday session picked up as more and more riders entered the session. By Friday evening there were about 200 skaters sessioning the street course. Outside we set up for Top Shop trivia night. We had 4 rounds. 1st round was the 50 question round. 2nd round was the Munzi’s match the skater to the music he skated to round. 3rd round was the who am I round. You had to name the skater to there add. The 4th round was our video round. I hope everyone who participated had a good time. I know I had a great time working on the questions. The trivia winners were team Mpls. Lakers (Rothmeyer, and Mulldoon). Second place was Precision skateshop from Lincoln NE, only 1 pt. behind.
The Judges: We felt that if Top Shop were to be a fair contest we had better bring in the big dogs. It would be way to suspect if we had our own crew judge our own contest If our own team won, it would only hurt the integrity of Top Shop. The Judges were as follows: Hardflip.com’s Brian Perry. From Accel wheels and residing in Long Beach Ca. Jason Rothmeyer (He Judges X-Games, World Cup, Tampa pro. Damn Am. Etc…) Vern Laird came out from L.A. Ca. to Judge, and rep. Listen skateboards. Listens are in the shop, buy one! Ames Bailey, from Project Hardware came out from Long Beach Ca. to Judge. Our 5th Judge is a native of Mankato now keepin it real in Long beach, Ca. her name Jayme Erickson. She rides for Hurley, I Path shoes, and Real skateboards. I was very excited about all are judges. I knew there was to be no playing favorites. I was very honored to have Todd “Turkey” Brown as the official Co master of ceremonies this year. He had some funny babble going all weekend. Turkey we need ya for O.U.T. He also made a big bang reintroducing ROOTS skateboards. “The Empire is back”
SATURDAY: The 1st day of competition, we opened at 9:00am and there were over 100 riders here by 9:15. The weather outside was straight up hard rain. Anyway, all 24 teams had 3 of their riders skate. At the end of the 1st day of competition it was in 1st, 3rd Lair, followed by Cal Surf, Fobia, Bad Boys Toys, MB Boardshop/Warped skatepark. The highlight of the day for me was watching Marissa Del Santo skate. She completely blew everyone away. I think we will hear a lot for this 15 year old in the future. I hope she can make it for Damn AM.
The contest went so smooth. It started on time at 11:00, and ended at around 4:30. The park was packed too. I bet 500 – 600 people were here to check out the vibes.
SATURDAY NIGHT: If you have been to either of the previous Top Shops you know the evening tradition. DJ’s, bands, skateboarding, and beverage. This year was no exception we went through an impressive amount of liquid, and the bands were great. First up were the Soviettes. If you don’t know them, it’s time you find out. www.thesoviettes.net Second up were are friends from No Charge. www.nochargerock.net The last act is our manager Mrod’s band Angelic Animosity. Check their darkness out. www.angelicanimosity.8m.com. DJ Jamming Jay brought his turntables and flowed all night long. The session was wild. Loud music and, skateboarding went together pretty good. Outside was a gathering place of sorts. It was nice out and it seemed like everyone had a great time. This is what I love about skateboarding! Great people, music, beverage, and skateboarding until 3:00am. Big thanks the N.Y. Mike and his crew Fabian, Pete, and Marty. It was great to have them there. I hope they had time to enjoy the party.
SUNDAY: Last day of the event. Each team had their last two riders skate. The level of skateboarding was great. Outside, the weather was down right hot. Well, for us anyway. Sunny and 75! The skate gods blessed us with a wonderful spring day. The first barbeque of the season, and everyone who wanted, had a chance to skate the new boomerang ramp.
In the end the top 5 were: 5th place, MB boardshop/Warped skateshop,
4th place Cal Surf. 3rd place Bad Boyz Toys. 2nd place Fobia (A 3 peat was not in the cards) 1st place 3rd Lair. Eddie Korkendofer from Fobia won best trick with Kickflip noseslide, kickflip krooks, and healflip backside 5-0. Nate Kompher from Fobia had the best run of the weekend. Big thanks to all our staff. They all busted their butts over the weekend. Thanks to all the shop owners who support this event! Good vibes! I truly hope everone had a great time! See everyone soon. Damn Am is around the corner!
Wrap up. After the contest we had a huge product toss, and gave out over $2000.00 in prize money.
We would like to thank everyone who came out.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
THE SKATEBOARD MAG
BIG THANKS TO: ACCEL WHEELS, PROJECT HARDWARE, LISTEN, SKATEPARK OF TAMPA, ROOTS, S ONE, DESTRUCTO, GIRL, CHOCOLATE, 4 STAR, ROYAL, ALIEN, REFLEX, HABITAT, ANTI HERO, REAL, RASA LIBRA, SPITFIRE, THUNDER, STEREO, KROOKED, DEATH BOX, PIG, FOUNDATION, TOY MACHINE, DEKLINE, THE FIRM, SOUTHSHORE, HOOK-UPS, BIRDHOUSE, FLIP, FURY, BAKER, BLACK LABEL, DUFFS, SPLIT, POPWAR, POWELL, BONES, ZOO YORK.
