(Mt. Hood, Oregon -- February 26, 1998) -- The Casio Vegetate '98 Snowboarding for Native Wildflowers at Mt. Hood Meadows, presented by MLY Snowboarding, including Arnell Snowboards and Ridewear, will be held April 29 - May 3. The event, which was originally slated for April 15 - 19, features snowboarding competition in four disciplines: Half Pipe, Slopestyle, Boardercross and an invitational Big Air.

More than 300 riders are expected to compete for the $30,000 purse in cash and merchandise.

The reasoning behind the date change is twofold. "We have a lot of fresh powder at the mountain. Moving Vegetate to the final week of April gives us a great late season attraction," said Mt. Hood Meadows Director of Marketing Dave Tragethon. "Because Vegetate is one of the premier events in the Pacific Northwest, we want to be sure the cream of the crop in snowboarding have the opportunity to participate and help a worthy cause. The original weekend is booked with a variety of high-caliber events; we don't want there to be any conflicts in getting the world's best in snowboarding to Mt. Hood for Vegetate."

The Casio Vegetate '98 Snowboarding for native wildflowers, presented by MLY and Arnell, is a five-day snowboarding event supporting Mt. Hood Meadows award-winning native wildflower revegetation program. Meadow's revegetation efforts improves air and water quality, enhances wildlife habitat and improves the bio-diversity of the eco system at Mt. Hood. The first two Vegetate snowboarding events guaranteed $12,500 for the program.

More than 12,000 people are expected to visit Meadows during the five days of Vegetate. The event will be televised nationally on ESPN2 in November and will air regionally in 14 markets on ABC throughout the Fall of 1998.

For more information or for rider registration, please call 1-800-SKIHOOD.

Sponsorship and demo opportunites at Vegetate are still available. Current sponsors include Casio, MLY Snowboarding, Arnell Ridewear, Berger Bindings, Bula, Pro-Tec Helmets, Smith Sport Optics, Stagg Chili and Convert. For more information on sponsorship & demo opportunities, please contact Tony Pulicella at 503/872-8470.