Kent Kraft/For the Gazettte A competitor takes to the air jumping over the volcano-style feature during Jibba Jabba in Houghton on Saturday evening.

HOUGHTON – Spectators lined the sides of Huron Street and packed in along the waterfront in downtown Houghton Saturday evening to see snowboarders freestyle their way through a custom-built urban course. Cheers from the crowd erupted when boarders landed tricks, often drowning out the thumping music from the Red Bull party car.

Several features were built into the course which started with a steep drop, then a choice of different rails for competitors to grind their way down. Further down, a small ramp led them onto two buried corrugated pipes which some competitors put their board across both for a grind while others jumped back and forth between the pipes.

A large volcano-style mound loomed large which allowed many competitors to gain a lot of height in a jump, others used the momentum to do a flip, and others did cartwheels. Just beyond that mound, another snow ramp had competitors jump over a concrete barricade. Some jumped to clear it while others intentionally smacked their boards on the barrier in a variety of tricks.

The course ended with another snow ramp up to a final concrete barrier where several competitors jumped and placed their board on top, precariously close to the spectators standing behind. Others went to the side of the barrier and used the ramp to do a final flip or handstand to end their run.

Most of the competitors were invited to the Red Bull sponsored event, bringing their professional skills to the area to wow the crowd. On Friday afternoon, organizers held a Jibba Jabba qualifier event where local and visiting riders could compete for a spot to challenge the pros.

This was the first year Jibba Jabba held a qualifier for those who wanted to prove their place amongst the invited snowboarders. More than a dozen people came out for the opportunity. That group was whittled down to ten based on their performance over only the corrugated pipes section.

The pipes feature was intentionally picked out of the entire course as a lower stakes way to get people settled in to their tricks while also showing off what they could do. Out of the ten who were invited to continue impressing the judges, seven were invited back to Saturday’s main event.

More than just bragging rights were on the line. A $2,000 prize was up for grabs for the overall winner of the men’s and women’s categories, with another $1,000 prize for the “Best Stomp” trick category. Whoever had the best, hardest hitting, crowd pleasing trick of the night would win the prize.

One family from Hancock was excited the kids had the opportunity to see an event like this in person. “We’ve been watching the Olympics and they’ve really liked seeing the skiers and snowboarders doing crazy tricks, so they were just over the moon when we said they could see something like it here.”

While the course down Huron Street is no half pipe, people were still quite appreciative of what was on offer. The cheering, oohs, and aahs were constant throughout the event. One current MTU student commented, “It’s crazy that Red Bull is here with a presence at this event. They have an F1 team and travel all over the world, but here they are in Houghton with this!”