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.

Seeing this made me wish I could afford to take the rest of the week off and fly back to be a part of this. Josh Ellis has a bunch of photos up on Wiskate.com that are going to give you a warm fuzzy. So it’s the Shot of the Week here on Skate and Annoy, but all the action is in Wisconsin. Beer City has another installment too.

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.

Grindline is set to work on a new design for a public skatepark in Cleveland Ohio. There’s a public forum today, Wed. April 28th at Speakeasy, (under Beir Markt) on 1948 West 25th Cleveland, OH. Public Square Group has the lowdown, and it looks like the local two-wheeled community is gearing up to get their pegs in the door. F-Word. I can’t believe ESPN pays people to write about BMX and Skateboarding. How did I miss that job posting?

My apologies to Eugene skaters closer to home here, I slipped up on posting about the event last weekend.

– Thanks to Matt Jamison for the tip.

In the Saint Louis area, creatures come out at night, armed with trowels and shovels. What are they building on King’s Highway? Check it out. This picture is f-ed up. I love it. UPDATE: more pics over here.

– Thanks to Bob Mechtly for the tip.

Well folks, sadly, the rumors were unfounded. You can read the bad news here, but the current tenants of the Turf Skatepark’s burial ground aren’t going anywhere. Why can’t the lousy economy do something nice for skaters outside of California? Turf Locals, now you’ve got time to set a plan in motion.

Peter DiAntoni has a show opening tomorrow in Milwaukee (I assume) titled Salad Days: Turf 30th Anniversary. It’s all photos of Milwaukee’s Turf skatepark that also has an earlier run as Surf & Turf, before taking a brief rest while serving as a strip club. I guess they build wooden platforms covering the bowls. Sadly, it’s been permanently destroyed now. Pete D. was the proprietor of Clueless Zine, of which I have a couple issues, but haven’t yet added to the 80’s zine archives. Dang, I need to get on that. If you skated in the midwest in the 80’s you went to the Turf at least once. A lot of people travelled there from other parts of the country. It also appeared in some Santa Cruz and Gullwing videos, possibly others as well. For some it was a travel destination, for others it was more like a home. Mr. DiAntoni will be screening Turf shirts on site at the opening, and if you have your old park ID you can get one for 1/2 price. I wonder if that works via mail order? – Thanks to Matt Grasser for the tip.

April 10th 7-10pm
Vetter Denk Building 161 s. 1st (corner of 1st & Pittsburgh) Milwaukee, WI

[Source: WiSkate]

The last stop of the min tour of Chicagoland parks was the Waukegan Illinois skatepark. I believe this was the last of the Chicagoland concrete parks that I hadn’t been to. I was excited by the prospect, and it looked like it had potential (ie. height) as we drove into the parking lot.