News Tips Letters to Editor Subscriptions Classified Ads Legal Notices Contact Info

What started a few years ago as a fun way to bring in the winter and invoke snow gods has grown into a full-fledged, USA Snowboarding Association contest on the streets of downtown.

Thought up by a couple small-business owners, the first Pray for Snow Party in 2007 wasn’t much more than a small rail, a narrow strip of snow trucked down from Timberline, a campfire and a local band on the sandbar. The concept was modest, but momentum and crowds grew considerably with each repeat of the event. To organizers Pepi Gerald and Wally Inouye, it was clear the timing was right for the event to move to a higher-profile location.

“When we started the event, it was sort of tucked away at the sandbar,” Gerald said. “I brought the idea up to Wally (Inouye), who I knew was really connected with the skate and snowboarding scene. We thought it would be cool to have something fun in town to showcase the talent of our local riders. We sort of threw everything together the first year and didn’t really know what to expect. To our surprise, people came from all over to participate.”

Gerald, who owns 2nd Wind Sports, explained that after a fourth rail jam at the sandbar in July 2009, he was at a Downtown Business Council meeting when someone suggested bringing the event into town.

“It was great; everyone at the meeting seemed to support the idea, so we ran with it,” he said.

“I had wanted to bring a snowboarding event to the streets of Hood River for a while,” said Inouye, founder of IPS Skate Shop and IPS Academy. “So when it finally all came together it was awesome to see and be a part of.”

The first Downtown Showdown was held that year on a section of Fourth street between State and Oak. Volunteers trucked in and shoveled snow to make a strip on the street just wide enough for a single skier or snowboarder. Participants built up speed, hit a single straight rail in the middle of the run and a small quarter-pipe at the end. Parents, friends and spectators lined the runs on both sides and packed the parking lot of the British Pub.

“We really didn’t know what to expect,” Gerald said. “We didn’t do any marketing for it, and it was just a small group of us putting the thing together. We put in a lot of personal time and money to get it going, so to see that many people show up, and to see the event go so well was a huge relief.”

“In the past it has only really been a demonstration, not a competition,” Inouye said.

Inouye is modest about his accolades, but along with being a world-famous skateboarder, business owner, coach and mentor, he is also the USA Snowboarding Association Mt. Hood Series director.

And with his connections, the event is taking a huge step forward this year.

As a USASA contest, the Downtown Showdown will allow snowboarders and freestyle skiers to earn points toward qualifying for the national championships later this winter in Colorado. That means people from around the United States will look to put Saturday’s event, as well as Summer Showdown planned for June or July, on their must-do lists.

“The USASA is a stepping stone for skiers and snowboarders looking to compete on the national and world levels,” Inouye said. “So it’s a pretty big deal for Hood River. One thing that makes this event unique even on the USASA calendar is that it will still be accessible to local riders.”

Inouye explained that anyone not part of the USASA can pay a one-day fee to join and participate in the contest.

As a USASA-sanctioned event, the course be improved dramatically and the competition will be ran to a higher standard and judged by professionals. A local company, Crestline Construction, has been enlisted to truck in enough snow from Mt. Hood Meadows’ parking lot to cover the entire street, from the corner of Fourth and State into the Oak Street intersection. The company will also bring in snow for Santa Land in front of Mike’s Ice Cream.

An improved course means contestants will be able to choose from several rails of different difficulty levels, and in the center of Oak Street (which will be closed all day for the event) a wall ride will finish off the course.

“Only in Hood River would you find Santa Land and a rail jam happening at the same time,” said Tracy Kaiser, downtown business coordinator. “You gotta love that Hood River has a style all its own.”

“It really is classic Hood River style to have a wild and crazy sports event right downtown,” said Kerry Cobb, Hood River County Chamber of Commerce executive director.

Cobb said the chamber is happy to back the event, and this year they have helped with a lot of the leg work and marketing that Gerald and Inouye had taken on in the past.

“The support of the City, the chamber, the Downtown Business Council, local businesses, sponsors and the community as a whole has been amazing through each event,” Gerald said. “Without all the support it would have just been Wally and I standing in the street with our hands in our pockets. Instead, this weekend we will see a street filled with snow. Skiers and snowboarders and their families and friends from around the country will be here to take part in the unique fusion of a mountain sport in an urban setting, and this year with the endorsement of the USASA. There are only a handful of places in the U.S. where this could happen, and we’re lucky to have Hood River be one.”

Info box

Join the fun

Registration: 8 a.m.

Practice: 10 a.m.

Event start: Noon to night

Location: Fourth and Oak streets.