Mount Trashmore turns 50, and Virginia Beach wants you to share memories - The Virginian-Pilot

Mount Trashmore turns 50, and Virginia Beach wants you to share memories - The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH — This year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of Mount Trashmore, the country’s first landfill turned into a recreational area. Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation is collecting memories of the famed landmark.

To get the ball rolling, the department posted a few significant points of history for Mount Trashmore on its Facebook page, which was built atop 640,000 tons of garbage.

Remember the soap box derby races held on a paved ramp on the eastern slope of the main hill in the 1970s and early 1980s?

Maybe you were there when skateboarder Tony Hawk competed in the 1986 East Coast Assault vert competition.
Trucks work toward the opening of Mount Trashmore park in Virginia Beach, Virginia on March 18, 1970. (Bill Abourjilie / Staff File)
An entrance to Mount Trashmore Park on Sept. 29, 1998, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (David B. Hollingsworth / Staff File)
Virginia Beach’s Mount Trashmore turns 50 years old, as seen July 25, 2023. (Stephen M. Katz / The Virginian-Pilot)
People sled down the side of Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia in January of 1973. (Staff File)
Fred Blessing catches air while skiing down Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Virginia on Feb. 1, 1980. The city no longer allows skiing or sledding at the park. (Staff File)
A man walks away from Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with an injury after sledding on Jan. 1, 1980. (John Sheally / Staff File)
People head to the top of Mount Trashmore Park in March of 1980 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (Staff File)
The seal of Virginia Beach, Virginia is painted onto the side of Mount Trashmore in 1989. (Jim Bye / Staff File)
1976 Steve Rich (left) and his brother, Mike Rich, were division winners at the Tidewater Soap Box Derby at Mount Trashmore in 1976. (S. H. Ringo / Staff File)
The 27th Annual Tidewater Soap Box Derby at Mount Trashmore was held in 1984. (John H. Sheally II / Staff File)
Hundreds of people turned out to watch the Fourth of July fireworks at Mount Trashmore Park on July 4, 2004. (Stephen M. Katz / Staff File)
WNOR disc jockeys Henry "The Bull'' Del Toro, right, and Tommy Griffiths, left, stand for a portrait. An April Fool’s prank by Griffiths and Del Toro warned that Mount Trashmore was about to explode and triggered calls to 911, a police visit to the radio station, and an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission. (Denis Finley / Staff File)
Princess Anne's Antoine Young takes a spill on a muddy hill at Mount Trashmore as Tallwood's Craig Wolfe (302) narrowly avoids stepping on Young on Oct. 23, 1996. (Mike Heffner / Staff File)
4th of July Fireworks over Mount Trashmore are viewed in the lot of Holland Plaza Shopping Ctr in 1997. (John H. Sheally II / Staff File)
In 1991, former Marine Staff Sgt. Stephen Gregory and a friend visit the Moving Wall – a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach. (Staff File)
Thousands gathered at Mount Trashmore on Feb. 2, 1991, holding placards to form an American flag in an event to show support for troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm. (Bill Tiernan / Staff File)
A pagan celebration and vigil were held on Mount Trashmore in an attempt to promote religious tolerance and celebrate the Pagan New Year on Oct. 30, 1998. Audrey Mackey, a wiccan from Virginia Beach, was a 'quarter caller' at the event. (Beth Bergman Nakamura / Staff File)
Joe Gannon of the Hampton Roads AIDS Walk Foundation helps keep the colors up at the Gay Pride Day held at Mt. Trashmore on June 26, 1996. (Lawrence Jackson / Staff File)
Randy Buffington, left, of Virginia Power, places the lights atop the menorah candles on top of Mount Trashmore on Dec. 11, 1997. (Charlie Meads / Staff File)
The first ceremony of the Community Haunkkah Menorah lighting at Mount Trashmore on Dec. 8, 1996. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
Dark clouds roll past Mount Trashmore during the late afternoon in Virginia Beach, Virginia on June 27, 2006. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
Richard Douglas works the guidelines on his Large Rainbow colored kite at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on March 11, 2000. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
Godfrey Washington gets airborne as he flies his power kite atop Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Jan. 10, 2006. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
Ashley Covington, 2, fights the wind in her hair as she rolls down Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Feb. 28, 2011. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
Serge Ventura flies through the air with his skateboard at The Xgames Xperience Exhibition at Mount Trashmore on May 11, 1997. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
Officials from the Virginia Beach Department of Parks and Recreation survey the damage from a fire that destroyed the bowl at the Mount Trashmore Skate Park in Virginia Beach in August 2006. (Bill Tiernan / Staff File)
Mount Trashmore Park supervisor Harold Barkley, right, watches demolition of the burned-out portion of the Virginia Beach skate park as heavy machinery bulldozes debris in August 2006. (Hyunsoo Leo Kim / Staff File)
Mike Bedell skates in the bowl at the Mount Trashmore Skatepark on Feb. 3, 2018. (Steve Earley / Staff File)
CJ Titus, 15, enjoys Mount Trashmore skate park on May 7, 2015 in Virginia Beach. (Rich-Joseph Facun / Staff File)
People enjoy the last bit of sun shine as the sun sets at Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Nov. 13, 2020. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
Storm front moves over Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia on Sept. 28, 2004. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
Linda Herndon takes her walk in the afternoon sunshine at Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach on May 9, 2011 (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
A would be visitor is turned away from the hill by Virginia Beach Police on duty at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Virginia on Jan. 20, 1999. (Mort Fryman / Staff File)
Carlene Qualls gives her 3 old year old daughter, Kaleigh Qualls, a pull before through Mount Trashmore Park before leaving after finding out the park was closed for the day on Jan. 4, 2002.
Peter Toth, a visiting Hungarian sculptor who camped at Virginia Beach’s Mount Trashmore, works on turning a tree log into a 25-foot-tall monument to the American Indian in 1976. (Gary Ruegsegger / Staff File)
Peter "Wolf" Toth works on a giant Indian head he carved almost 30 years ago, in front of Mount Trashmore on Nov. 11, 2004. (Vicki Cronis / Staff File)
The Virginia Beach mounted police watch from the top of Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on May 31, 2022. (Stephen M. Katz / Staff File)
A crowd comes together at Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for a Light the night for Trayvon event on July 16, 2013. (L.Todd Spencer / Staff File)
About 2 dozen people join hands together at Mount Trashmore for a peaceful prayer vigil for Michael Brown in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Aug. 28, 2014. (The' N. Pham | Staff File)
Kids Cove playground is closed at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on April 1, 2020. (Kristen Zeis / Staff File)
A massive sign of love and healing painted on the slope of Virginia Beach's Mount Trashmore on May 27, 2020. (Stephen M. Katz / Staff File)
Over 6000 people gathered at Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach, on Aug. 6, 2022 for the Virginia Beach Water Lantern Festival. (Bill Tiernan / Staff File)
Sterling King looks over the lake after climbing Mount Trashmore on July 25, 1977. (David Hollingsworth / Staff File)
Glenn Hickman, 14, of Virginia Beach, goes down a skateboard track at Mount Trashmore on Dec 3, 1978. (Jim Bye / Staff File)
Lonnie Cross, above, and Glenn Berkhahn assemble a slide at the Kids Cove playground at Mount Trashmore on May 15, 1993. (Steve Earley / Staff File)
People play in the snow at Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Jan. 9, 1996. (Vicki Cronis / Staff File)
Snow blankets Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Feb. 13, 2010. (Bill Tiernan / Staff File)
Virginia Beach’s Mount Trashmore turns 50 years old. (Stephen M. Katz / The Virginian-Pilot)

Did you help form the living flag in honor of Gulf War troops in 1991?

Or maybe you fell for the the April Fool’s Day joke in 1992 when WNOR-FM 99 disc jockeys Henry “The Bull” Del Toro and Tommy Griffiths warned that the old landfill was about to explode.

Back in the day, snow on the ground meant sledding at Mount Trashmore. But in 1994, the city banned it on the north and west sides of the 65-foot-tall hill. In 2000, a full ban on sledding was implemented.

July Fourth celebrations, family picnics, flying a kite and fishing on Lake Windsor … The list goes on.

People can share their memories and photos in the comments section of the Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Facebook page, send the department a direct message through Facebook, or use #TrashmoreVB50 when posting about Mount Trashmore on social media. The city plans to share the submitted photos and stories online through social media. But it is also commemorating the anniversary in other ways.

A 50th anniversary T-shirt is available for purchase online at www.bonfire.com/mount-trashmore-park-50th-anniversary/. Or to learn more about the park’s history, free guided history walking tours will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday and July 31. Registration is available online.

The 165-acre Mount Trashmore Park was built in 1973, which was originally conceived in the 1960s by Roland Dorer, a director in the state’s health department who lived in Virginia Beach. Each layer of garbage was compacted and covered with a layer of soil taken from adjacent borrow pits, which are now lakes.

Mount Trashmore is now a popular spot for workouts, playdates and dog walks and is home to numerous events including an annual summer carnival, the Filipino cultural festival Fil Fest, and a water lantern festival.

It’s now the city’s most visited park and competes with some of the tallest dunes in First Landing State Park for the distinction of the being the highest elevation in Virginia Beach.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com