Rainbow Skateboard Park - Tallmadge OH

Indoor concrete park

Though Wally Hollyday's  Apple Skatepark is one of the most well-remembered second generation parks, it wasn't Ohio's only indoor concrete park. Two hours north in the suburbs of Akron was Rainbow, and it predated Apple by a year.

Built inside of a former furniture warehouse, Rainbow featured a 15 foot deep bowl, a vert pool, 4 foot deep snake runs, and two banked freestyle areas.  It was run by two local businessmen -Mike Lampers and Dan Detweiler- who estimated the park's cost to be in excess of $400,000.

The park almost made it a full year, but closed for good in February 1979.  Detweiler told the Akron Beacon-Journal that approximately 150 regulars went to Rainbow, but that it didn't have anything to offer people who weren't "really hooked on skateboarding."