Vert Skateboard
Street Skateboard
Mississauga, ON, June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — JACKALOPE Festival, North America’s only action sports festival, is returning to Mississauga for a second adrenaline-fueled event that’s bigger and bolder, with two new sports added to the mix: roller skating and trampoline. From July 11 to 13, Mississauga’s Celebration Square and Square One Shopping Centre will transform into the ultimate urban playground, welcoming world-class global athletes, gravity-defying stunts and family-friendly fun over three electrifying days of skateboarding (street and vert*) competition, bouldering, BASE jumping, breaking competition and more.
More than 500 athletes will compete for more than $70,000 in total prize money, split equally between male and female competitors in their respective categories. JACKALOPE Festival is a free event, made possible by Visit Mississauga, which drew crowds of 60,000 last year.
“Fresh off our epic JACKALOPE Fest in Virginia Beach, we’re thrilled to bring that same incredible energy, talent and mind-blowing competition back to Mississauga for a second year,” says Micah Desforges, Founding President TRIBU and Producer of JACKALOPE. “Thanks to our partnership with Visit Mississauga, the festival is more than a competition — it’s a celebration of community, culture and the adventurous spirit that drives action sports.”
New in 2025:
- Freestyle Trampoline demonstrations by Freestyle Trampoline Association, featuring gravity-defying aerial tricks
- Roller Skate demonstrations
- Kids and adults can try trampolining and rollerskating, guided by an expert
Returning Festival Highlights:
- Skateboarding (street and vert) competitions with top global and local talent
- Bouldering competitions
- BASE jumping from a 300-foot crane — a first in Canada in 2024, returning this year
- Breaking Battles and Moto X demos
- Live music, beer garden (19+), food trucks, athlete meet-and-greets, and more!
“We can’t wait to welcome even more people this year to downtown Mississauga as JACKALOPE transforms Celebration Square and Square One’s exterior lot into the ultimate urban playground! We’re proud to be a major sponsor of this event and invite everyone to bring the whole family to experience the thrill of watching top athletes compete live over three action-packed days. It’s going to be an unforgettable weekend of fun—and if you missed it last year, you definitely won’t want to miss out this summer! said Victoria Clarke, CEO of Visit Mississauga.
“JACKALOPE is back in Mississauga for its second year, and we couldn’t be more pleased to welcome the elite athletes and, of course, spectators from near and far as we once again transform Celebration Square into a world-class action sports stage! Thank you to Visit Mississauga for bringing this fantastic spectacle back to our great city. We love seeing our downtown bustling with people taking full advantage of this great outdoor venue and enjoying our many diverse, one-of-a-kind events like JACKALOPE. Mississauga truly has something for everyone. Come join us – you’re going to love it!” said Mayor Carolyn Parrish.
ATHLETE HIGHLIGHTS: Hundreds of top skateboarders from Canada and around the world will be putting on a show and showcasing their best tricks throughout the weekend:
- Sophie Grant, Street | age 25 | member of the Canadian national skateboarding team, actively training for the upcoming Olympic Games
- Samantha Secours, Street | age 23 | Canada’s top-ranked woman in street skateboarding
- Ben Paterson, Street | age 31 | representing Canadian talent on both national and international stages
- Rony Gomes, Vert | age 33 | Brazil – An X Games medalist, currently ranked #3 in vert.
Golden Ticket Winners:
Following hundreds of submissions and a month-long digital search for the world’s best undiscovered, up-and-coming skaters, winners have been selected to take their skills to the next level in competition. They each receive paid trips to throw their best tricks at three JACKALOPE festivals: Virginia Beach, Mississauga and Montreal. The winners, selected by a panel of esteemed judges: PLG and Amelia Brodka for the Vert competitions and Manny Santiago and Christiana Means for the Street competitions include:
- Men’s street: Jair Urbano | age 24 | Colombia
- Women’s street: Secret Lynn | age 17 | USA
- Men’s vert: Ema Kawakami | age 9 | Japan
- Women’s vert: Shuka Kawai | age 13 | Japan
Plus, TheSkateNomad Mike Boisvert traveled the world to hand-pick Golden Ticket competitors from skate parks:
- Alisa Fessl, Street | age 24 | Austria – She took first place in Red Bull Skateburg 2023.
- Mazel Paris, Street | age 11 | Philippines/USA – At the age of nine, she placed 7th in the 2023 Asian Games. She has travelled the world to represent the Philippines in international skateboarding events.
- Daniel Zapata, Street | age 25 | Colombia – Medalist and strong presence in Latin American competitions.
- Deyvid Anderson, Street | age 23 | Peru – Gold in men’s street at the South American Games.
Additional competitors will be confirmed later this month. For full event details, competitor updates and competition schedules, follow @jackalopefest on social media and visit jackalope.tribu.co/mississauga-jackalope.
“The community response to the JACKALOPE festival was beyond what we could have hoped for, and we’re looking forward to hosting this action-packed event once again,” said Stephen Gascoine, Director of Square One Shopping Centre. “This is an opportunity to celebrate the talent and courage of local athletes and bring mind blowing performances to Mississauga spectators.”
JACKALOPE MISSISSAUGA is made possible thanks to Visit Mississauga and our climb partner Arc’teryx, with the support of Haribo, Electrolit Canada, Jarritos, Arizona and Tech Deck. The competitions are sanctioned by Canada Skateboard, World Cup Skateboarding and Breaking Canada. Media partner is SBC Magazine.
THE JACKALOPE SERIES
JACKALOPE, a TRIBU property, was founded in Montreal (QC, CAN) in 2012 with the mission of shining a light on action sports by creating opportunities for communities to come together and celebrate their passion. Since then, thousands of Canadian and international athletes have participated and made the festival on their own. Stars have been born and its main disciplines have recently been added to the Olympics (skateboarding, bouldering, breaking). Within the last decade, JACKALOPE has been conducting introductory action sports tours across Canada and has recently exported its concept to Virginia Beach (VA, USA). The festival has also been sponsoring international skateboarding events in London, Miami, New York, Prague and more. It also has a window on the world with its TV platform and BLOG.
JACKALOPE Festival
- Virginia Beach, Virginia – May 30-June 1, 2025 – and back in 2026: May 29 – 31
- Mississauga, ON – July 11-13, 2025
- Montréal, QC – September 12-14, 2025
JACKALOPE Block Party
- NEW: Newcastle, Australia – November 14-15, 2025
- NEW: Ventura, California – May 1-3, 2026
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ABOUT TRIBU
TRIBU builds solid relationships thanks to the power of adrenaline. It helps organizations forge stronger ties with youth and adults who are young at heart by creating daring, integrated experiences that get the adrenaline flowing and forge indelible memories. TRIBU is making sure that its generation will always have ways to have fun, celebrate and get inspired. www.tribu.co.
ABOUT VISIT MISSISSAUGA
Visit Mississauga is the official destination marketing organization (DMO) for the City of Mississauga. The organization is industry-led and responsible for developing a tourism strategy and leading tourism marketing and development efforts for the destination. The organization’s mandate of implementing the City of Mississauga’s Tourism Master Plan Tourism Mississauga is committed to promoting local businesses and coordinating large-scale events within the city. To learn more about Visit Mississauga, or check out other exciting events coming to Mississauga, go to www.visitmississauga.ca.
PRESS KIT HERE. See here for more images.
MEDIA ACCREDITATION
JACKALOPE invites the media to attend the event, explore the facilities and meet the athletes competing. Since the site is open to the public, media can explore freely without accreditation. Press must contact Sophie Des Marais for authorization to access interview zones and take exclusive photos.
Contact:
Sophie Des Marais, 514-234-4736
sdesmarais@communicationactive.com
OR Andrea McLoughlin, 416-407-4321
andrea.m.mcloughlin@gmail.com
Laurie Weir / Will Lamont, Next Public Relations Inc.
416-735-6919 / 647-382-7882
laurie@nextpublicrelations.com / will@nextpublicrelations.com
*Vert ramp: short for Vertical ramp, is a type of half-pipe structure. The top part of each side transitions into a vertical wall, and the ramp curves up gradually from the flat bottom into the vertical section. JACKALOPE FEST features an Olympic-sized Vert structure.
Street course: a course that mimics urban environments: stairs, rails, ramps, etc.
Attachments
- Vert Skateboard
- Street Skateboard
CONTACT: Sophie Des Marais Communication Active 514-234-4736 marais@communicationactive.com Laurie Weir Next Public Relations Inc. 416-735-6919 laurie@nextpublicrelations.com
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