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
NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
BREAKING Police cordon off Iran consulate in Paris where man threatens to blow himself up: French media
French police cordoned off the Iranian consulate in Paris on Friday, where a man was threatening to blow himself up, Europe 1 radio and BFM TV.
Some Canadian families will receive up to $620 per child today
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
BREAKING Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Ottawa to force banks to call carbon rebate a carbon rebate in direct deposits
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Ontario woman loses $15,000 to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
Prince Harry formally confirms he is now a U.S. resident
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.