In a brief yet complete ribbon cutting ceremony this afternoon at the new Flushing Meadows Skatepark, New York Parks and Recreation Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe led the crowd through the process that everyone involved with the Maloof Money Cup went through to get to this monumental moment. With introductions and brief speeches by Steve Van Doren and Joe and Gavin Maloof, and well-deserved thanks and recognition to Rodney Torres, Steve Rodriguez, Tim McFerran and others, the whole event was a painless fifteen minutes, followed by the actual cutting of a green ribbon, representative of the Parks of New York City. To cap it off, a group of skaters, including close-as-you-can-get local Rodney Torres, barged down the bank and into the crowd of photographers for a few close calls, which always make for great shots.

The rest of today is practice, and the heavy hitters are showing up Dennis Busenitz, Chris Cole, Billy Marks, Anthony Van Engelen, Chris Pfanner, and tons more are out there ripping right now.

More later.