The Wilsonville Skate Jam returns to Memorial Park this weekend. (Staff file photo)

The Wilsonville Skate Jam is back for the fourth year in a row. That means that everything that the community has come to love about the event is back as well. 

The event will take place from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, July 19 at the Memorial Park Skate Park. There will be “jam sessions” for beginning, intermediate and advanced skaters. Admission is free. 

So what exactly is a skate jam?

“A skate jam is a skate contest that’s not a contest,” said Wilsonville Skatepark Association co-founder Austin  Barnes. “It allows different skill levels to be all intermingled on the same feature. It’s kind of a no-pressure situation and kind of mimics skating with your friends and feeding off all that energy.” 

The contest element involves participants earning prizes for doing tricks at the different features of the park. 

After hosting skate lessons throughout last year, Barnes said he hopes the event continues to bring skateboarders of all ages and skill levels from around Clackamas County to Wilsonville. 

“It’s kind of like a logical progression, right? You get taught how to skate, you get some time during summer to focus on your skills, and then, maybe, come to the skate jam and see what you got and go out there and skate in front of a crowd and get some prizes,” said Barnes. 

Barnes graduated from Wilsonville High School in 2015 and hoped to bring a community skate park hub to his hometown after graduating.

“Growing up next to Memorial Park, we grew up with the skate park there that was a bunch of donated wooden ramps,” said Barnes. “We all just wanted a place where we could hang out after school, we could call our own, we could have our own little crew. We could make it our own place. We wanted something to call home and take care of.”

In 2022, the Wilsonville Memorial Skate Park opened and the first skate jam was held. 

Although the jam isn’t a formal competition, plenty of apparel and prizes will be given out  during the two hours. At the end, there will be an ollie contest and a hippie jump contest, when a skater jumps off their board and lands back on while moving forward. 

“This is all a dream come true for little skater kids,” said Barnes. “We wanted a place where kids could be kids, have a place that was safe, have a place they could call their own and have a really fun amenity for the city because Wilsonville has got great parks.”