A large crowd waits in anticipation as a competitor prepares to head down the rail in Saturday’s Jibba Jabba snowboard competition in downtown Houghton. More than 35 competitors from across the country participated in the event. (Ben Grabacz/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The 2025 Jibba Jabba took place Saturday evening on downtown Houghton’s Huron Street. More than 35 snowboarders rode down rails performing incredible tricks and spectacular landings for cash prizes and bragging rights.

Large crowds filled the area enjoying free Red Bull while responding to the exciting commentary of emcee Ryan Paul.

Attendance was larger this year thanks to couple of firsts. This year the slope had a tunnel lit with lanterns, named “the mine,” that snowboarders could ride on top go through.”

One of the snowboarders, Lilly Gnatek of Novi, Mich., said the mine was a bit intimidating but had a unique flare.

“It’s a little scary going up on it, just because of the wood bending a little bit,” she said. “But it’s super cool. I think that adds a little bit of a local touch to it.”

The other first for the event was the sponsorship of Red Bull, which had added another prize for the event.

The prizes for the Jibba Jabba were $1,000 awarded to the picks of best overall male and female riders. They were selected by the participating snowboarders themselves.

Sponsor Red Bull awarded prizes of $750 along with the title Red Bull Best Stomp to two snowboarders who each performed what was determined to be the cleanest and heaviest landings.

Minnie Farms’ Jenn Reed was the Head Coordinator of Jibba Jabba, and said that the expansion of the event has been astounding.

“Every single year the event’s gotten bigger and bigger,” she said. “Maybe stay tuned next year for a different location, bigger options, you never know, but the momentum just keeps going.”

Reed believes that snowboarding and other winter sports are such crowd pleasers for the Keweenaw region due to the amount of ski hills and the area’s wintery climate. Snowboarder Cole Solner said the area was perfect for Jibba Jabba, and had immense enjoyment of the slope. With the speed going slower for Solner, he fixated on one foot board slides.

“Stay calm, snowboard and have fun,” Solner said.

Having fun is what Visit Keweenaw wanted to accomplish for the event, with free admission bringing more eyes to the area. Visit Keweenaw Public Relations Coordinator Jess Wiederhold said the attendance was incredible.

“At least 2,000 to 3,000 people came last year, and we think this year is probably the biggest turnout,” he said. “Houghton is no stranger to these snow sports, so a lot of people really had a longing for something like this to come back.”

Jibba Jabba had returned in 2023 after a ten year hiatus, and with the continued growth it appears that the event will be a staple to the region for years to come. One of the hopeful participants, Sam Boryczka, was unable to ride due to a broken collar bone suffered two weeks prior. But, he said he’s looking forward to next year.

“I think people just like seeing live shows, and we all enjoy putting on a show for the crowd,” Boryzcka said. “So it’s a fun mix. It’s kind of like mini X Games.”

After a night of the snowboarders performing flips, going around and through the mine and grinding on the rails, the winners were announced. The Red Bull Best Stomp winners were Gabe Gilbertson and Charlie VanDemark. The winners of the best overall selected by the snowboarders were Jayva Jorndan and Nate Bujarski.