The local Shoot 360 3-on-3 basketball tournament is back this weekend in downtown Camas, as a site it hopes can be potential long term home.
The event, which takes place Saturday through Monday, is in its third location in three years.
It took place in Marshall Park just east of downtown Vancouver last year after relocating from Esther Short Park.
The event has just under 200 teams registered, which is similar to last year’s numbers, according to director Brad Butterworth.
Center court is located on the corner of Birch and 5th avenue in downtown Camas, with courts extending down Birch, 5th and Cedar streets.
The tournament is being put on by Shoot 360, a basketball-specific training facility with locations around the country. The event includes a beer garden, food and drink vendors and daily screenings of the movie “Hoosiers” at the Liberty Theatre.
“We knew we couldn’t grow it there at Marshall, we knew the city (of Vancouver) didn’t want it back down at Esther Short, so we started to reach out back to communities going, ‘Where can we actually grow this event?’ ” Butterworth, a Camas resident, said. “We approached the city of Camas first and they’ve been super arms open about it.”
Street parking is available, though Butterworth said to expect to walk as many as 9 to 10 blocks to the courts.
Butterworth and Shoot 360 took over the event known from 2012-2016 as Hoops on the River last year, and needed to find a new location in order to keep it running. Foreseeing the waterfront construction, farmers market and the increased fees for downtown parking, the City of Vancouver decided the tournament “wasn’t conducive to that location,” according to Sean Douglas, Park Operations Assistant for the City of Vancouver.
The group secured Marshall Park parking lot last year, which faced difficulties accommodating a late influx of registrants with no street shut down available.
Shoot 360 didn’t submit a permit application to Vancouver this year, and sought out other potential long-term homes. It explored the possibility of the City of Ridgefield and the Ilani Casino parking lot, but ultimately landed in Camas.
“The City of Camas was welcoming that we were like, ‘let’s make it a go here for at least a year.’ ” Butterworth said. “We’re hoping Camas can be a permanent home.”
