Summerfest, known in Milwaukee as the Party of the Century, began June 24 to great weather and an enormous crowd. A good number of theh Summerfest audience enjoyed the Amature Street/Vert competition on Friday and the pro Vert on Saturday. Skaters and spectators were also impressed with the two ASA 'mobile halfpipes' joined to form the forty by eleven-foot compeition ramp. These trucks are the first of their kind. The largest crowd turnout was at the Men and Women's Pro Street competition all day Sunday.

The innovative and creative tricks attempted and landed by some of the pros were sick. One of the early suprises was Jeremy Pennacchinis'first place qualifying run. He had a great run with impressive lines and was extremely consistent on the course. If he had stuck all his tricks in the finals he could have come away a winner.

Blake Dennis, who was the 1998 rookie of the year on the tour and has been placing consistently low, finally broke out with a third place finish during the event. This is very good for him and he has the potential to place in the top three at every event he skates. Much of the top talet is from Australia, and Dennis is certianly talent.

Shawn Robertson came out after a mediocre preliminary run. After Pennacchini's run Robertson stepped it up and impressed the crowd and judges in the finals. According to Robertson, "The crowd was great, the weather was great and the judging was done well." So with such a solid run this Dallas native of 19 years easily walked away with second place.

The least suprising of the top three had to be Aaron Feinberg, who came away the champion. He was ranked number one in street in 1998 and could continue that streak in 1999. Although he has only competed for about three years now, he has achieved more than some professional skaters can hope for in a lifetime. He can claim titles such as 1st overall 1998 ASA Pro Tour (Street), 1st 1998 Naples Florida (Street) and first 1998 Stockholm, Sweden (Street).

The fans, who enjoyed a festival of beer, music and skating were great for the skaters. Taig Khris recieved much applause for his 900-flat spin on the vert. This is a very new and impressive trick, according to Jason Hines, ASA Competition Director, it lets us see how innovative the sport is becoming. "Yeah, Khris nailed that trick, but Shawn Yost tried it after the comp and had it nailed in a hour." It shows the level of competition the pros face and the innovation they use to stay on top.

The womens pro street competion brought cheers from the ladies. Fabiola da Silva was once again consistent and creative, winning Women's Pro Street and Vert. Robin Miller put in a good showing as well as Stephanie Tolle. Fabiola was mobbed by the crowd for autographs after the event.

Many big name skaters were well recieved during the autograph signing and the events. With pros like Sam Fogarty, Mike Budnik, Matt Lindenmuth, Cesar Mora and Jon Julio all putting on great shows, the sharpie pens were going fast at the merchandise booth.

Summerfest is a perfect venue to host the ASA Pro tour because of the audience it is directed towards. With bands such as the Violent Femmes and the Dave Matthews band as well as Citizen King and Local H, plus many more, the younger generation was drawn to the ASA event as well.

The Diversity Tour was also here with ASA. There was rollersoccer, Industry demos, breakdancing and Soap and Rollerblade demos. Chris Edwards hosted the Diversity tour as well as the ASA events, keeping it very interesting. To see the Milwaukee stop on ESPN or espn2, check out our television schedule listing on the front page of this site.