Ocean Bowl Skate Park
From Ocean City Wiki
3rd and St. Louis Ave
Ocean City, MD 21842
410.289.BOWL (2695)
Contents |
Features
Designed by Tim Payne and molded by Omer Windham, the 17,000 square foot concrete based park is a pool bowl with deep and shallow end, a large vertical ramp and a mini ramp, along with the 13,000 square foot open concrete street course with hit walls, hips and small bowl. It provides skating for skaters of all abilities.
Non-skaters, for safety reasons, are not permitted into the skating facility, however, a spectator observation deck gives a view of the park for parents and other interested onlookers. Annual memberships are available for residents and non-residents. Weekday, weekend, and weekly passes are also available.
History
The Ocean Bowl Skate Park is the oldest operating municipal skate park in the United States. Following the rise in popularity of skateboarding in the 1970s, the Ocean City Council banned skateboarding on the streets within City limits. This prompted many skaters and their parents to attend the next Council meeting to ask that a space be provided for them to pursue their sport.
By the first week of June, 1976, the park opened. At that time, the facility consisted of a four foot deep asphalt bowl which proved so successful that a larger bowl was quickly added. In 1984 this "big bowl" was structurally weakened by successive tropical storms and was removed the following year. It was succeeded by an eleven foot high, twenty eight foot wide metal-surfaced halfpipe which served not only to replace the lost bowl, but also to respond to the changing demands of skateboarding and the huge popularity of vertical ramps at the time.
The ramp and the small bowl stood for another ten years when finally, in 1997, due to time, wear and the current needs of skaters, the park was again in need of renovations. After long hours of planning and many meetings, the City Council together with a Skate Park Committee composed of local skaters, business people, politicians and parents, came up with the resources to build the park that exists today. The old bowl and ramp were torn down in the Fall of 1997 and the new park opened in July of 1998.
