Alright this is the second in a row – VERT is back. When I was in my skate hay-day I would spend part of the summers in Virginia Beach. There were about 6 city ramps in that town in the mid-80’s. Mt. Trashmore was the tallest and the first. I heard FUD (a.k.a. John Fudala) actually designed it. It was always a heavy session after 5 o’clock every night. Every session was a jam format and he who did not bail won the right to ride the whole ramp. My friend Bone Man and I came up with a plan to get runs after 5 pm – when one of us was going to fall, we would avoid falling in front of each other and make our bodies as big as we could on the flat to take up space so no one could drop in. This plan rarely worked. Mt. Trashmore produced great riders, everyone from Scary Larry to the Guitierrez trio (all three of which still ride). There were many more that were always nice and fun to watch skate. While there for my brief visit, I pulled up to the ramp where Allen Midget and Henry were riding It seemed like old times except everybody was older. I believe Henry has learned the McTwist in the last six years. It just goes to show that you don’t have to stop learning tricks just because you’re old. I think Eddie has a family. My time was short. I didn’t have time to talk to everyone. I would like to thank everybody that allowed me to take a run in my rickety state. I sure miss having a vert ramp. I asked Henry what the average age on the deck was, and he said it was about 35.

Lots of interest in the new concrete at WIndells. You can hear about in a recent interview with Billy Coulon over on Callin on Colin. Hre’s some video footage of the park shot by KC. It looks like a heckuva lot of lines and possibilities. I need to drag my lazy ass out there. Oh yeah, also included, official Windells contest video from earlier this summer.

Bingen, Washington is a sleepy little town of 672 people (back in 2000) across the river from Hood River, Oregon. Carl Warren reported that Grindline broke ground on a skatepark there. I can’t find any design drawings for it anywhere. Maybe if you squint real hard you can see it in their hands.

This is actually almost two weeks old, but it’s still well worth mentioning. Hats off to the Tony Hawk Foundation, who has introduced a new requirement for skatepark grants; No more prefab wooden parks. Read the press release titled “If Not Concrete, Then Why?”

This week’s shot of the week comes from repeat offender Dylan Davies. Here’s a shot of his friend Jeremie at Bonsor skatepark in Vancouver B.C.. I don’t know if that’s lens flare or a light leak in the lower left hand corner, but it looks great. Check out the Shot of the Week

Guess what? It’s Turf week on Skate and Annoy. All Turf, all the time.

We have a campaign going to help save Surfin’ Turf/ The Turf skatepark here in Milwaukee, WI. We even went so far as to dig out one of the bowls last night and made it on the 10:00 news.

Details about whats going on, a video of the news story, and most importantly what people can do to help save the park are all at beercity.com.

More information and the video after the jump.

UPDATE: It’s been filled in. I don’t know how this effects the big picture.

Martin Defatte sent in some more pictures from the digging effort at the Turf. These were actually from late Wednesday, but I couldn’t get to processing them until now. Martin said the cops showed up that evening which put a damper on things, but the bright side is, there’s all kinds of positive publicity now, and what could have been just an epic session for a bunch of hard working guys may possibly evolve into a more permanent solution.

Please contact the wisco DOT, as they are currently in charge…
Here is the phone #: (608) 266-1114
Here is the email: Frank.Busalacchi@dot.wi.gov
Take 5 minutes and shoot them a friendly email, note the historical significance as well as the potential tourism dollars.

We need your help!

I may have left the Midwest for the land of amazing skateparks, it’s my home now with a capital “H” but right now my heart is in WIsconsin. Thanks again to Martin.

Polson, Montana was my last stop on my mini Montana tour. Again, much smaller overall footprint than I thought from seeing previous pictures. I almost forgot to mention in all this, when looking up all these skateparks in Montana, the first link to come up was usually NorthwestSkater.com. Want to see what I mean? Try Googling “Polson Montana Skatepark.” Polson Montana’s skatepark was built by Dreamland, and it’s a fine park. I remember somebody, somewhere bitching about the hood on that cradle, saying it was a waste of money that could have been spent on something else. I’m pretty sure that was in the same conversation that someone was complaining about Whitefish…

Midwest skaters over a certain age have a fond spot in their hearts for The Turf skatepark in Milwaukee. Covered once in the 80’s and then uncovered and re-opened only to be shut down again in the 90’s. Filled with dirt, but not destroyed. The Nude bowl has been dug out so many times, why not the Turf? Last year was the 30th anniversary of the Turf. There were rumors about the property being available, but they proved untrue. We used to be able to dream, but now the final death knell has rung. The land that holds the once beloved concrete is being repurposed into a freeway onramp (Curse you I-94!) or possibly-a-park and ride structure for mass transit. Beer City skateboards has some shots of the excavation, and reader Martin Defatte sent in his own shots after the jump. Bonus video section of the Turf From Streets on Fire too.

I spent the day at Glacier National Park with the family and made a detour on the way home to stop at Whitefish. I remembered seeing pictures of the park, and it looked kind of desolate. The main thing I recalled was some grousing about the area that has coping below another transition and some steps. It was a controversial decision, but I’ve seen it work before in Tigard. It was getting dark, and I had to choose between Kalispell and Whitefish. Not remembering a damn thing about Kalispell, I chose to check out Whitefish, and to my surprise, it might be my favorite of all the Montana skateparks I visited.