Whether it’s an unused set of steps, a drainage ditch or an empty parking lot, if skaters can skate it, they will. But skaters aren’t just using spaces; they’re creating them, too. There’s a growing movement of do-it-yourself skateparks – complete with handmade ramps and platforms – in abandoned or ignored urban spaces.
That’s exactly what’s happened under I-94 at National Avenue on the South Side. Known simply as National DIY, this impromptu skatepark in a park-n-ride lot began in 2020 during the first months of the pandemic, says skater Dylan Shanahan.
“When my buddy Robbie said he knew a spot here, we thought about building something small,” he says. “But then we looked at it and saw we could build a whole skatepark there.”
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Over the years, Shanahan and other skaters learned to create wraparound quarter pipes, pyramid-shaped transition pieces and other elements for their kicks, tricks and flips. He says community members have donated about $15,000 for concrete, tools and maintenance, on top of money Shanahan and other skaters have put up themselves.
The skaters started a GoFundMe campaign, and a nonprofit to organize their efforts and work toward signing a lease with Milwaukee County and the state Department of Transportation, which owns the former parking lot. And late this spring, organizers scored a big financial win: $100,000 of potential funding from the city for lighting, fencing and other improvements for the makeshift skatepark.
Nonprofit board member and fellow skater Emmy Yates says National DIY is a great example of how community-oriented and inclusive skateboarding has become. “We’re seeing more people become comfortable sharing these spaces with those who may be different from them,” explains Yates, who wrote her UW-Milwaukee master’s thesis on DIY skateparks in 2022. “Skateparks represent a sanctuary for a lot of people to have that wholesome engagement with others. They always have.”
If you’re searching for somewhere to shred, Estabrook Park in Shorewood has a DIY skatepark in an abandoned tennis court. And city-run skateparks can be found in Wauwatosa’s Hart Park and Radtke Park in West Allis. For indoor skating, Cream City Skatepark and 4Seasons Skatepark both offer membership subscriptions like fitness centers.
Both Yates and Shanahan say the grassroots nature of DIY skateparks means they intrinsically appeal to skaters who would use them. And that’s why they hope their nonprofit can be involved in the first city-owned skatepark at West Rogers and South Fifth streets set to open in 2025.
Shanahan says National DIY is “listed as a stakeholder” in the forthcoming $1 million project, although they aren’t sure of their exact role quite yet. He thinks the proposed location “is a bit small,” and that’s why he wants it to be the first of more city-sanctioned or DIY skateparks around Milwaukee.
“It can be challenging for kids to have to go all the way across town,” he says. “We want to give them a place where they can congregate and have fun, and there are plenty of spaces throughout the city that would benefit from it.”
