Big Surf was a

waterpark A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimmin ...

located in

Tempe, Arizona Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...

. Opened in 1969 and financed by the Clairol Company, it boasted the first

wave pool A wave pool is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, large waves, similar to those of the ocean. Wave pools are often a major feature of water parks, both indoors and outdoors, as well as some leisure centres. History Th ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The wave pool was designed by Phil Dexter. At a ceremony on August 17, 2013 the Waikiki Beach Wave pool was designated as an ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. The recognition is for being the "first inland surfing facility in North America". The Big Surf Water park became the first amusement park or waterpark to receive such an ASME landmark status.

History

As one of the claimants of the first and oldest wave pool in the United States, it at one point featured surfing exhibitions and competitions, as well as regular use by patrons of the park. This was largely discontinued in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to safety and liability concerns. Daily surf sessions are held before the park opens to the general public and between 5pm-6pm. Since its opening, Big Surf has added several attractions and replaced its original sand beach with a concrete bottom. The park celebrated their 40th year anniversary in 2009. However, on September 2, 2009, it was reported that Big Surf will close indefinitely at the end of the day on Monday, September 7, 2009. Later that week on September 5, the

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

reported that Big Surf would open again in Summer 2010 under the Inland Oceans LLC rather than the

Golfland Golfland Entertainment Centers are a chain of family amusement centers, miniature golf courses, and water parks located in California and Arizona. The company was founded in 1953. Locations *"Milpitas Golfland" in Milpitas, California (1199 Ja ...

Entertainment, Inc. banner. Big Surf closed for the season in 2019, but did not reopen for the 2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2020 season had Big Surf's parking lot turned into a temporary drive in movie theater, and after staying closed in 2021, assets from the park, including the rental boogie boards, were auctioned off in the winter of 2022, indicating that the park would not reopen again.

Additional attractions

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

performed here in 1972 as part of their

Dark Side of the Moon Tour The Dark Side of the Moon Tour was a concert tour by English rock band Pink Floyd in 1972 and 1973 in support of their album ''The Dark Side of the Moon'', covering the UK, US, Europe and Japan. There were two separate legs promoting the albu ...

. A popular teen disco known as The Rock Hop operated at Big Surf on Friday nights between 1977 and 1980. Waterslides were added to the park in 1979.

References

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External links

Big Surf Water Park
Buildings and structures in Tempe, Arizona Defunct amusement parks in the United States Water parks in Arizona Tourist attractions in Tempe, Arizona 1969 establishments in Arizona Amusement parks closed in 2020