Music blaring, crowds cheering, boards dropping. Coming for the first time ever to the West Coast, the Jackalope Block Party skated its way to Ventura, Calif., on May 1-3, 2026.
In the early afternoon of May 1, 2026, the Block Party began with open practice for both men and women, as they perfected their routines in hopes of impressing viewers with their skills. In the early evening, the Vert Best Trick competitions began, where kids, some as young as 11-years-old, competed on the 14-foot-tall and 60-foot-wide half pipe ramp set up in the middle of Downtown Ventura.
Among the young skaters were experienced skaters and icons like Bryce Wettstein, a two-time Olympian, once in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. There were also skaters from as far as Brazil, the Philippines and Australia.
Along with the half pipe competitions, there were vendors and art made by local Ventura Unified School District students. A smaller ramp farther down on California Street was designed by Justin Lind, a design engineer at Skate One Corp., a Goleta/Ventura-based company, and constructed by students in Buena High School’s woodshop program.
Hosted by the Vita Art Center and provided by Powell-Peralta, 100 blank skateboard decks were also given to schools for their students to design. Many of Foothill Technology High School’s (Foothill Tech) own students had their skateboards featured. There were various types of designs on the skateboards. Ranging from cats to a detailed painting of Will Byers from season five of “Stranger Things,” students were allowed the chance to exercise their creativity.
Makeila Chavez ’28 painted an alligator with the words, “Later Gator,” and spoke about her experience at the event, “It’s super cool to have all the skaters down here… and to have everybody here just in general, it’s a super cool atmosphere,” she said.
On day two, there were more practice rounds, open for all ages of skaters, before the Vert Qualifiers began. After that, the Semi-Final Vert started, where skaters competed to earn their spot in the Finals the next day. Later in the evening, meet-and-greet sessions started, where attendees could purchase a pass to get a 45-minute meeting with various pro skaters. Some of the key skaters available to meet included Christian Hosoi, Steve Caballero, Bob Burnquist and Elliot Sloan. Pierre-Luc Gagnon (PLG), Bryce Wettstein and Dave Duncan were also featured among others at the meet-and-greet.
After meeting fans, the Legends Demo began, where the legendary skaters stepped up to the ramp and showed off their iconic tricks. Steve Caballero, despite being 61 years old, surprised the audience by doing his famous “Caballerial,” a trick in which the skater does a fakie backside 360-degree ollie.
“It [helps] encourage other people to continue being involved with the sport and being excited,” Caballero said. “And it’s just showing that age is just a number and it’s really about your mentality and your physical aspect of who you are as a person.”
In the afternoon of day three, the Vert Finals began, where the skaters from the Semi-Finals on the previous day competed for a spot on the podium. For the women, Juno Matsuoka from Osaka, Japan, placed first with a score of 93.9. In second came Nina Ye from the United States with a score of 88.8. In third, Elizabeth Amador from the Philippines, with a score of 83.4. Despite having a broken wrist, the Men’s Finals ended with JD Sanchez from the United States in first, with a score of 99.0. Second place was Luke Kahler from the United States, with a score of 94.4. In third place was Egoitz Bijueska from Spain, with a score of 92.2.
Another notable aspect of the Block Party was the music. Whether it was Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, or any other punk rock song, music was constantly being played and it matched the excitement of the crowd.In the evening, Wettstein even decided to sing and interact with the audience with two songs of her choosing: Taylor Swift’s Our Song, and Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams.
“I think one of my favorite parts is always the music,” Wettstein said. “It’s this funny thing, where you feel this conjoinedness with music and skateboarding, which I really love.”
In Ventura County (VC) there is a large population of skaters, with more than three skate shops in Ventura alone. Owned by Brad Spann and located off Main Street and Thompson Boulevard, Five Points Skate/Snowboards has been open in Ventura since 1985, and is one of the oldest independent skate shops in Ventura County. Tyler Spann, son of Five Point’s owner, attended the Block Party and shared his thoughts on its impact, “[Events] bring help to the whole community [and] bring help to the businesses all around, and everybody [goes] out and just [has] a good time.”
When asked about the event, many Ventura residents and non-Ventura residents alike displayed excitement in how it turned out and delight in how it brought the community together. Many also showed signs of interest in whether or not the Jackalope Block Party would be returning to Ventura in the spring of 2027.
“Events like this really bring a community together and inspire the children who are dreamers, who want to figure out what they want to do [and] who they want to be,” Hosoi, one of the Legendary skaters, said. “I think that when you give them a platform like this to look at the things that we love, [like] skateboarding, they’re going to fall in love with it. And next thing you know, we’re going to be breeding the future of professional skateboarders just by an experience.”
After the podium results, the announcer of the event, Dave Duncan, and Marlyss Auster, President and CEO of Visit Ventura, who helped plan and organize the event, let the crowd know that, as of right now, the city hopes that the Jackalope Block Party will return to Ventura in the spring of 2027. While looking forward to next spring, Ventura residents can start to get excited for the upcoming Bike the Coast Ventura on June 13, 2026.
Tyler • May 17, 2026 at 12:58 pm
Jackalope was awesome & Ventura loved it! We all had a great time & hopefully it will come back