Families gathered at the MMSD Basin near 35th and Congress for Skate Night
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A pop-up roller-skating event on Milwaukee's north side drew a lot of families Thursday, especially since a longtime skating rink in West Allis shut down this year.
"They closed one down, the indoor one, not too long ago and I'm like where are the kids gonna go to skate you know?" said Ciara Newson, mom.
Since the longtime skating rink, Incredi-Roll in West Allis shut down in June, some kids have been without a place to skate. But just off 35th and Congress Thursday evening…
"It's a whole bunch of room out here for skating," said Samirra Brown, 9-year-old.
Roller skates were rolling on the pavement.
"Are you doing okay? Yeah. No falling? A little bit (laughs)," said Karon, 8-year-old.
"I picked my grandsons up from childcare and they were passing out fliers about it, so we decided to come over," said Celina Lovlil, grandma.
Community events have been held periodically at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's Water Basin as they prepare for a big project in that space.
"This was just a brownfield, you know shut off, fenced off, unusable for anybody, an eyesore in the community," said Kate Morgan, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
"Flooding was real bad in 2010. We had really, really bad flooding along Capitol Drive. So, this will be one of the three basins to help mitigate some of that floodwater," said Danitra Jones, Northwest Side Community Development Corporation.
And they wanted to add something for the community too.
"If they've got somewhere to go and stay off the streets, that'd be lovely," said Ed Hudson who lives nearby.
So, they started holding meetings and asking questions.
"Those feel a little bit more like eating your vegetables. This one is more like having fun," said Sarah Bregant, Northwest Side Community Development Corporation.
"We wanted the community to already have a sense of space and help with the design process," said Morgan.
And it's working.
"So, we've heard walking trails, open air pavilions, basketball courts, a playground area," said Jones.
"It would mean a lot because there's not really anywhere safe over here for the kids to go bike and you know skate so," said Shamika Ellis, mom.
MMSD will be holding one more event at 35th and Congress, a pumpkin fest in October. Work is expected to begin on the flood mitigation efforts there next year.