Last week Milwaukee DOT crew unearthed several large forgotten skate bowls while excavating for a new highway project. It turns out the bowls are the only remains of the once famous indoor skatepark, The TURF. After the park shut it doors for good in the early nineties the bowls were filled with gravel, a concrete slab was poured over them and buildings were built on top. After the buildings got knocked down for the highway old timers saw the rims of the bowls and immediately recognized them as the the long forgotten Turf. Within a few hours of their uncovering skaters had spontaneously congregated and began digging out the bowls with shovels and buckets using their cars for light. With an ever expanding crew of young workers (and a FOX news team) they were able to dig out one of the bowls and get a few runs in before it all came crashing down.

Stoked out of their minds almost everyone from the night before showed up the next morning ready to dig, only to find that in the night DOT crews (alerted by the news coverage) had filled the bowl back in! With quick thinking and determination the skaters instantly contacted the city council and the mayor and began putting pressure in the right places. In just a few short days they have created a Milwaukee Skaters Association to represent them, a Save the TURF website, and a Face Book e-petition that upon writing this has 7,880 signatures and counting. Keep in mind this all started less than a week ago. Not bad for a bunch of “no good skate punks”. Please take the time to sign the petition (just click the “like” button) and read up on the history of this place, its truly an historic landmark for skateboarding and its up to us to save it!

Photos: Peter DiAntoni