Arts & Entertainment

Atwater Surf Event Celebrates the Great Lakes

A group of passionate surfers have organized surf lessons and film screenings for an event on Aug. 17 at Atwater Beach.

Ken Cole and his friends are used to people calling them crazy for going out in the middle of winter and surfing Lake Michigan.

That's why the Shorewood resident and his friends are organizing a daylong surfing event on Aug. 17, to share their love of surfing with others and help the local community understand why the Great Lakes are so important to them. 

Cleverly called "Surf @Water," the event's highlight is a film festival on Atwater Beach that features five Great Lakes surfing films produced in the Midwest. Cole said the movies are an artistic representation of what surfing is and why it is growing in popularity in the Milwaukee area.

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"For a lot of people, the beach is just a picture on the wall," Cole said. "They see the lake, but they don't use it. For some people this might be their first time sitting on the beach."

Surf @Water is the first-ever surf event of its kind in the area and has attracted sponsorship from Lakefront Brewery and the Shorewood Men’s Club. The organizers will raffle off a special Lakefront Brewery surfboard to raise money for Surfrider Wisconsin, a surfing organization dedicated to protecting and maintaining the Great Lakes.

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Activities at Surf @Water range from a sunrise opening ceremony and beach clean up, to the main event beginning at 5 p.m. featuring surf lessons, information on water safety as well as fun instructions on surfing technique, etiquette and the history of surfing the Great Lakes.

"Learning to surf is the toughest thing you will ever learn how to do, but it's also the most fun you'll ever have," Cole said.

Festivities conclude with a Surf Camp AfterParty at Camp Bar. Cole said he was happy to see organizations like Lakefront Brewery, Shorewood Men's Club and Camp Bar rally around the first-of-its-kind event, and he's excited to see how the community responds.

"I think it's going to resonate with a lot of people," Cole said.


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