The skate park was filled with skateboarders performing ramp tricks, slides, grinds, flips and more during the first demonstration and competition held at the Riverbank Skate Park on Sunday, Oct. 11 in conjunction with the Cheese and Wine Festival, the skating event presented by D.O.H.P. (Decorate Our Home Planet) President David Galindo.

The Riverbank skate park is in close proximity to where the Cheese and Wine festival was held in downtown Riverbank.

The morning breeze and radiant sunshine set the tone for the competition that had skaters zooming around the skate park anticipating the competition that offered over $500 in prizes.

The skaters had to register for the competition that was broken down between a couple of different age groups, 15 and under and over 15.

Each person that registered received a raffle ticket for a pair of Eco friendly jeans made out of recycled water bottles.

“What really pushed us to make it happen and to put on the skate competition was our coolest fashion innovation yet: D.O.H.P. Denim Jeans,” expressed Galindo. “D.O.H.P. Denim is in essence designer jeans with a “touch of green” and liken it to the analogy of being a Tesla car, not a Prius.

“Our denim line is a pioneer in the apparel industry, made from a combination of recycled denim and recycled plastic bottles, and we are proud to share that accomplishment with the world. This is an innovative step forward in our apparel line after we started creating T-shirts that were made out of recycled cotton and felt that jeans constructed from recycled materials was the most natural transitional step in that process.”

At the skate competition itself, after registration the skaters competed in a game of “skate” which is similar to the basketball game of “horse.” The competitors were divided into four different groups and the winner of each group would compete against each other, having to match each other’s moves as part of the game.

“The skate scene in Riverbank is flush with an abundance of unrecognized talent; diamonds in the rough, if you will, and we wanted to shine a spotlight on that,” said Galindo.

There were two winners in the “skate” competition, Chance Cartwright and Devin Espinoza.

During the first three minute skate jam competition, the winners were Michael Justice, Xavier Molina, and Tyler Esparza. For the second two minute skate jam the winners were Kosal Salm, Justin San Agustin, and Riley Tidwell. The skaters that won for the Best Trick in the Bowl were Justin Hernandez, Jacob Felt, and Michael Justice.

“We are very proud of our efforts and after speaking with Sue Fitzpatrick from the City of Riverbank Parks and Recreation Department, the city was quite pleased as well, especially considering that we were asked to host the event just five days earlier, and were still able to successfully pull it off,” stated Galindo. “The execution of the skate competition is a testament to our company’s overall professionalism, work ethic, and commitment.”

To engage the younger kids that were spectators, Galindo created a shirt design competition where kids decorated a white T-shirt with colored markers for the D.O.H.P. Company that would be posted online and voted on.

“Watching the younger kids create their own designs on our Decorate Our Home Planet shirts was a lot of fun because it truly encapsulates the essence of the company, in that we’re all about the youth, we aim to beautify our environment (albeit an article of clothing, our home street, or something larger like the planet), and how we strive to nurture the creativity of children of all ages through their own outlets (i.e. skating, drawing, poetry etc.),” added Galindo.

D.O.H.P. is a hip hop themed eco-friendly company that is based in Fremont, California that creates apparel out of trash and recycled materials like plastic bottles to help the environment.

This event was not Galindo’s first event. He previously hosted a skate competition in Patterson in June and in Ceres in May as well as a pilot run in Riverbank.

Currently, Galindo is a teacher in Fremont and has created the D.O.H.P. Company on his off time.

For every shirt that they manufacture there is a tree planted somewhere in the world, he added.

“The skate competition went flawlessly and without a hitch,” said Galindo. “There was a pretty big turnout of what looked like well over 100 kids plus a large number of spectators enjoying the event.”