Our Story
Asylum Skatepark was founded in 2010 in North Chicago IL by a United States Air Force Veteran and competitive amateur skateboarder from the 90’s Jeff Conyers.
Jeff first started skateboarding at only 10 years old in 5th or 6th grade his first sponsor was at Goofy Foot Skate shop in Naples FL from 1994-1996 which was owned by Chad Miles another fellow skateboarder and lifelong friend to this day. With the opportunity to ride for the skate shop and attending his first skateboard demo at West Coast Surf shop in 1991 is what lit the spark for his absolute love of skateboarding. He went on to compete at local events in Fort Myers FL, Miami FL and Tampa FL. Traveling all over the country skating is what continued to fuel his love for skateboarding.
Jeff has been all over the world skateboarding from Florida to Seattle where he lived and skated for about a year in the year 2000 and has been everywhere in between and even skated in parts of Europe. He was originally born in Marine City Michigan near the Detroit Metro area and his family was from Chicago Bolingbrook area in Illinois until in 1983 when they moved and relocated to Southwest FL in Naples when he was only 5. Jeff was a frequent skater at the Skatepark of Tampa in 1993, Brotherhood Skatepark in Ft Myers FL around 1995-96, and Sanctuary Skatepark 1997-2005 he grew up skating with his local hometown hero’s such as Matt Milligan, Elissa Steamer, Allen Russell, Andrew Reynolds and Jeff Lenoce from 1993-2005 all who went on to become superstars in the skateboarding world.
Asylum Skatepark was a dream of Jeffs since he was 18. When he ran Sanctuary skatepark from 2000-2002 he realized that he would love to own his own shop park one day. So he sought out help and guidance from his old friend Brian Schaefer the owner of The Skatepark of Tampa. Brian had a huge part in helping Jeff get Asylum Skatepark going with his guidance and friendship along the way. Asylum Skatepark became a reality in the summer of 2010. Jeff recognized that the North shore Chicagoland area was missing a core indoor skatepark and he wanted kids to experience what he got to experience as a kid and make it a reality. So thats what we all did as a team with the help from Ben Johnson from Ramp Doctor’s Inc and some friends Asylum Skate Park was open for operation in Sept of 2010.