MIKE PARZIALE
I grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and the first time I ever picked up a circular saw was in the effort to make a skateboard ramp. Without safety glasses on I had a small piece of wood put three little holes in my cornea. I had to wear an eyepatch to school for a week or two and wasn’t especially happy about it.
Fast forward a few years and I was building ramps, with safety glasses on, for a street fair that the Andover Youth Services put on called Main Street Madness. Shortly after the event there was talk of designing and building a new community skatepark, which I was so grateful to be a part of. After high school I worked on the ramp crew for Vans Skateboard Camp, which was held up in Government Camp in the early two-thousands. From there, I continued doing construction projects and remodels in Portland for twenty years and then moved to Hood River at the end of 2019.
My wife, Maegen, and I are so happy to be raising our kids in the Columbia River Gorge. As a family we like to snowboard on Mt Hood and teach our kids how to safely use power tools.
Elsa's original design for 'Snacks & Drinks'
'Snack Shack' with a little help from mom and dad
My dad has been a huge inspiration in my life and taught me so much about, not just construction, but also how to enjoy the process along the way. Here he is giving the kids a ride while we built my folks retirement house in Redmond, Oregon.
When my sister and I were kids he would pull similar stunts. He would even pop wheelies by reversing up to speed then quickly shifting to drive. I’m sure our expressions were real similar to the kids in the photo above.
Shortly after we had finished the Portland House my folks moved from beautiful Durango, Colorado to Redmond, Oregon, to be closer to the grandkids. If you’ve ever been to Durango I’m sure you can appreciate how difficult a choice that must have been.
But they did make the move and then designed and built this house in 2016/17. It was fun to spend the weekends at their rental, not far from the skatepark and pumptrack and help out on certain sections of the house. Elsa did most of the work while I just hung around and filmed and took photos.
Redmond Construction - 01:00