Turf Skatepark

Last updated

Turf Skatepark, also known as "Surfin' Turf" or "The Turf", is a former skatepark located in Greenfield, Wisconsin, United States, less than one mile south of the city of Milwaukee. [1] The Turf was an indoor/outdoor facility consisting of five sculptured concrete pools providing some of the best terrain of its time.

Contents

Concrete pools

The Turf included five sculptured concrete pools:

History

Designed by legendary Skatepark designer, California Architect Art Kent (aka Footie) in 1979 through the Foxfire Skatepark Development Group. Art is the original designer of the Three Leaf Clover and Side Entry Capsule Bowl in 1970's. The Park was Originally opened by Jerry Steuernagel in 1979 as Surfin' Turf near Interstate 894 and West Loomis Road, his unique indoor skatepark designed by Kent consisted of in-ground concrete pools for riding skateboards. The overhead warehouse side doors were open in the summertime and closed during inclement weather to allow for all year round skateboarding. The park had a unique mix of beginner, intermediate and advanced year round skate elements. As skateboarding lost popularity, it closed in 1982 and the building was repurposed as a strip club called Bell E. Buttons, though the pools remained intact under the floor.

In 1987, the original owners of the skatepark were able to reacquire the building and reopen it for skateboarding as The Turf. At that time, it was one of only a handful of skateparks left in the U.S., and the only indoor skatepark in the country. It attracted professional and amateur skateboarders from around the world.

In 1995, skating any kind of transition was considered "uncool" and people and magazines alike thought Vert skating was in its death throes. This prompted the owners to fill the bowls with gravel, take off the pool coping that was on the Clover and the Keyhole bowls and cover the entire indoor portion of the park with concrete, and built a street course, hoping to make the park profitable once again. Unfortunately, this did not work and in 1996 the Turf closed for good. The building then housed a cabinet company and a lawn and garden shop for nearly 15 years.

In 2010, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation acquired the property for use as a staging area during the construction of a new freeway ramp. It did not destroy the concrete bowls, however, which remained filled with gravel. In 2010, local skaters tried to dig out the bowls. [2]

In 2019, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation sold the site of Turf to the City of Greenfield for $1. The city hopes to revive the skate park. [2]

On February 19, 2020 The Turf Skatepark Association and Grindline (a skatepark design company) hosted a design workshop to get community input aimed at rebuilding and reopening The Turf. Currently, the plan is to investigate restoring some of the original park as well as adding new features that will cater to all types of skaters.

Turf membership

In 2010, former owner Jerry Steuernagel described the skatepark at its peak: "We had 10,000 members from all over the world. Every kid was a member. That's how I sold it." [3]

Notable Turf members

Steve Alba Tony Alva Ray Barbee
Bill Danforth Adrian Demain Eric Dressen
Aaron Draplin Dave DuncanMark Gibson
Tom GrolholskiJeff Grosso Omar Hassan
Tony Hawk Jason Jessee Craig Johnson
Lester Kasai Jeff KendallTom Knox
Al LosiKeith Meek Lance Mountain
Chris MillerJim MurphyMonty Nolder
Corey O'Brien Jeff Phillips Eddie Reategui
Rob Roskopp Mark Rogowski Steve Saiz
Ben SchroederReese SimpsonWade Speyer
Todd SwankEd Templeton Mike Vallely
Shawn StubingCyndy PendergastMichael Banta
Patti HoffmanMark Grass*

Related Research Articles

Skatepark

A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scooter, wheelchair, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, quarter pipes, ledges, spine transfers, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs, and any number of other objects.

Funbox

A funbox is a standard element of a skatepark. It generally consists of a box shape with a flat top and a ramp on two or more sides. A funbox may also include other elements that allow for more complicated skateboarding tricks.

Metro Nashville Skatepark

The Metro Nashville Skatepark is a public concrete skatepark located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It occupies approximately 22,000 square feet in Two Rivers Park adjacent to Nashville's public wave pool, Wave Country. The park is open year-round from dawn until 11 pm, and allows skateboards, in-line skates, and BMX bikes.

Freestyle BMX Cycle sport

Freestyle BMX is bicycle motocross stunt riding on BMX bikes. It is an extreme sport descended from BMX racing that consists of five disciplines: street, park, vert, trails, and flatland. In June 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced that freestyle park was to be added as an Olympic event to the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Stockwell Skatepark

Stockwell Skatepark, also known as "Brixton Bowls" or "Brixton Beach", is a concrete skatepark situated on the corner of Stockwell Park Walk and Stockwell Road in the borough of Lambeth in South London. Construction of the park was funded by the Lambeth Borough Council in 1978 and it has been used since then by skateboarders, BMXers, rollerskaters, and assorted other self-propelled wheeled vehicle practitioners. The park is unsupervised and free to use at all hours, and has remained consistently popular throughout its life, both with locals and with visitors from all over the world.

FDR Skatepark

FDR Skatepark is a skatepark located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is accessible from the Pattison Avenue stop of the Broad Street subway line. The park has long been popular with notable local skaters such as Willy Akers, Chuck Treece, Bam Margera and various other local pro skaters. The park was built on unused public land in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park beneath an overpass of Interstate 95. The park came to be through volunteer labor and donations of materials. Over time the park has expanded with additions and inclusions to the area around the original components of the park.

Penn Valley skatepark

Penn Valley Skatepark is one of the more recent additions to the park, and is also known as Kansas City Skate Plaza because of the similar appearance of a "plaza-type" Skatepark. Officially opened in late Fall of 2005, Escapist Skateboarding has hosted at least five separate skateboard demonstrations, including Zero Skateboards, Circa Shoes, and Toy Machine.

Burnside Skatepark Skatepark in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Burnside Skatepark is a DIY concrete skatepark located in Portland, Oregon, United States. Burnside was the second do-it-yourself concrete skatepark project and has spawned other similar projects across the globe. It is located under the east end of the Burnside Bridge. The project was started without permission from the city of Portland before being accepted as a public skatepark. Its features include many hips, pools, pyramids, and vertical sections. The skatepark is free-admission and requires no helmet, protective knee-pads, or elbow-pads. The skatepark receives no funding from the city of Portland. The park is regarded as an on-going project that is funded by donations.

A skateboard style refers to the way a skateboarder prefers to ride a skateboard. Skateboard styles can be broadly divided into two different categories: skateboarding to perform tricks and skateboarding as a means of transportation. Styles of skateboarding have evolved over time and are influenced by a number of factors including sociocultural evolution, mass media, music, technology, corporate influence and individual skill level.

Reedville Creek Park

Reedville Creek Park is a municipal park in the Reedville neighborhood of Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Opened in 2003, the 9.6-acre (39,000 m2) park is along Cornelius Pass Road at Francis Street in the southeast area of the city. The park includes basketball courts, children’s play equipment, a picnic shelter, tennis courts, and sports fields among other amenities. Reedville Creek was the first and is the only park in Hillsboro with a skatepark.

Lai Chi Kok Park Public park in Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong

Lai Chi Kok Park is a large public park in Hong Kong, on the reclamation of former Lai Chi Kok Bay adjacent to Mei Foo, stretching along the Kwai Chung Road motorway. The park is managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government.

Skateboarding in China

Skateboarding arrived in China in April 1986 when an American skateboarder arrived in China to study Chinese at the Beijing Language Institute. He says, "When I arrived in China, there wasn't even a word in Chinese for skateboard. People were really interested in learning to ride, and in a few years Chinese skaters started appearing in almost every city I travelled to". Domestic skate companies and retailers began to appear at around the turn of the century, bringing the average price for a skateboard of ordinary quality down from an expensive 1000 yuan to around 280 yuan as of 2009. Skateboarding has been slow to develop in China because of the lack of a strong preexisting street culture and of skating infrastructure; nevertheless, it's estimated that as of 2009 there are 40,000 to 50,000 skateboarders in China.

Grindline Skateparks is an American company that designs and builds skateboard parks. It has designed and built over 400 skateparks worldwide, including the largest skatepark in America, Spring Park Texas.

Texas Beach Skate Park

Texas Beach Skate Park, also known as Treasure Island Community Skate Park, is a DIY skatepark located within the planned Riverview Community Park in the Texas Beach riverside area on the north bank of the James River in Richmond, Virginia, United States.

Millennium Skate Park Skatepark in Brooklyn, New York

Millennium Skate Park, also known as Owl's Head Skate Park, is a skate park in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, located in Owl's Head Park, adjacent to the Sunset Park Greenway.

Andy Kessler Skatepark Skatepark

Andy Kessler Skatepark formerly Riverside Skatepark is a skatepark located in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Riverside Skatepark is notable as the first full-sized public skatepark in Manhattan, designed and built by renowned skateboarder and skatepark builder Andy Kessler.

Pier 62 Skatepark American public skate park in New York City

Pier 62 Skatepark is a public skatepark located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The skatepark, which opened in 2010, is located in Hudson River Park on Pier 62 overlooking the Hudson River. Pier 62 Skatepark is notable as it is the only modern full size vert concrete transition skatepark in New York City.

Mark "Monk" Hubbard was a skateboarder, artist, skatepark builder, and founder of Grindline Skateparks.

References

  1. City of Greenfield Street Map
  2. 1 2 Hughes, Elliot (October 15, 2019). "Greenfield buys coveted former Turf skatepark land for $1". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  3. Highway construction unearths old skateboard park - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Coordinates: 42°57′45″N87°58′02″W / 42.96250°N 87.96722°W / 42.96250; -87.96722