2024 continues to be an exciting year for surf parks. We’ve seen new destinations open and other projects move forward. Plus, more exciting developments are being announced almost monthly. Despite all the media buzz for what’s next, Tempe, Arizona’s Big Surf water park keeps making headlines. The park closed years ago and its wave technology would seem more outdated than ever.
So why does Big Surf keep getting the media and surf park industry’s attention?
The desert destination was a pioneer in the industry and gave landlocked surfers in Arizona a place to catch waves. Unfortunately, the pandemic pulled the plug on the water park. However, it continues to impact the industry, even as we create bigger and more powerful waves than one could imagine decades ago.
Surf Park Central has highlighted the importance of Big Surf in a white paper available exclusively to INSIDERS members. The document titled “A Brief History of Surf Parks” mentions the park saying, “In 1969 the two million dollar Big Surf pool in Tempe Arizona opened, a 300 x 400 foot pool utilizing a 40 foot water drop system to create a waist high spilling wave across the pool.”
Most recently, The Arizona Republic, the leading newspaper in the state shared the history of Big Surf. They discussed the person behind the machine that generated the waves for decades, saying, “Phil Dexter, the creator of the wave-generating device, was a World War II Navy veteran who was enamored with waves. After the war, while working as a construction engineer in Southern California, he developed the prototype for what would drive Big Surf.”
Two months ago, Phoenix’s alternative publication, The Phoenix New Times discussed the park and shared some vintage images of the park from back in the 1960s and ‘70s.
Despite all the praise and fanfare around Big Surf, some have questioned the legitimacy of the destination as the first modern surf park. An article from July in Surfer Today suggested maybe an Ohio destination first brewed waves. The article says Oceana opened up eight years earlier but closed in the 1970s and most of its history disappeared with the park. In short, they question whether or not the park created waves for surfers.
Like a classic film or legendary band, Big Surf’s impact continues to influence and inspire a new generation of wave technology engineers, park operators and park developers. For that reason alone, we’re sure we’ll keep seeing stories about this original landlocked wave destination.
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