Secret Ontario bike park demolished by city reopens as oasis for mountain bikers
Two years after a secret bike park deep in an Ontario forest was discovered and later demolished, new dirt jumps are opening just a stone's throw away.
“Greenland was different for everybody,” rider and organizer Steven Lind told CTV News Toronto, referencing the more than a decade old homemade oasis for mountain bikers near the Oshawa Airport.
“Some people found comradery there. For some people, it was their home away from home.”
Some even nurtured highly acclaimed careers at the local spot. Mike Varga, an X Games Gold Medallist who grew up in Oshawa, was a regular at the community course.
“These jumps definitely enabled me to become what I wanted to become,” Varga told CTV News Toronto when word got out that the city was shuttering the park.
In 2020, the City of Oshawa found out about the unsanctioned BMX park, which happened to sit on city-owned land. Not long after, fences with padlocks blocked off the park.
At the time, a city spokesperson voiced concerns surrounding safety, the lack of access for emergency vehicles and visibility of the park, since it was located in a forested area.
A fence blocks off the original BMX park in Oshawa (Greenland). In response, Lind started a petition. “I just crossed my fingers,” he said. It accumulated more than 6,500 signatures and he began meeting with city council to find a solution that would serve the community.
“We ended up finding a new location just adjacent to the original,” Lind said. The key difference about the new space on Thornton Road North was that it was visible to the public.
The original target was to build a new bike park within four years. But just two years later, a ribbon was cut at a grand opening ceremony for the new location on Thursday.
“I got a smile on my face so big, I'm having trouble wiping it off,” local city councillor Rick Kerr said while standing alongside the new park.
“This is exactly what I saw when I wanted to get this park built.”
Volunteers help build the new Greenland in Oshawa, Ont.While the original intent of the project was to replace lost space for the bike community, it’s also serving the neighbourhood with plans for a splash pad and pickleball court in the cards.
“It’s also significant because it’s opened up a piece of land that’s been empty for a decade, if not longer,” Lind said.
“Even if it’s taken away from a previous legacy, it’s started a new one,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.