When Gary “Ice Cold 3000” Morgan—a member of Oakland’s globally recognized dance crew, TurfFeinz—was growing up, he would attend the Boys and Girls Club on 85th and E.14th in East Oakland.
There, he met Stick, an OG community mentor who looked out for Morgan and his friends, encouraging the young men to use the basketball gym and dance room despite not being members. For years, Morgan jokingly told Stick that he would one day donate money to the Club so that other young Oaklanders could benefit from it, too.
Over a decade later, Morgan is keeping his word by hosting a one-of-a-kind event: Turf Skate Brewski. Not only will the evening feature a special-edition beer release from Ale Industries, but the TurfFeinz are also throwing a turf battle featuring dancers and roller skaters. Each turf dancer will pair up with a skater in a team-elimination style dance-off—something Morgan says has never been done. It’s a function that Morgan and his crew hope will merge Bay Area communities that don’t often overlap: turfers, roller skaters and beer drinkers.