Professional Grade

“We could add money to the purse, but what we really want to focus on is giving something back to the community,” he says. “We built a $1.8 million skateboard park for New York City [for the inaugural New York City Maloof Money Cup, held June 5 and 6], and to put something permanent in a place where the world’s greatest skateboarders live would be much more impactful for us—and the sport—than just raising the prize money.”

The Fair is hosting five days of Maloof-related shenanigans: On Aug. 4 is a legends-of-skateboarding event, followed the next day by an all-comers contest, which allows just about anybody to skate on the two mammoth structures built for the event. Both events are free with Fair admission.

Brett Simpson at the 2009 U.S. Open of Surfing

The real action takes place Friday through Sunday, with preliminaries the first two days and finals on Sunday. Tickets begin at $15 for prelims and $20 for the finals, which begin at 10:30 a.m.