On Oct. 3, riders gathered at Norwood Town Park to celebrate the renewal of its pump track, a looping dirt course built around low rises and banked turns. Norwood Park and Recreation District invited BMX riders, skaters and families to the all-ages event from 9 to 11 a.m. KOTO News was there for the opening and met seven-year-old Ed Brown as he rode the track with friends.
A pump track is designed to keep a bike moving over rolling bumps and curves. Riders use their bodies to push and pull through the dips, rather than pedaling around the loop. KOTO’s report described Ed’s excitement about getting air off some of the jumps. He said he had been riding bikes since he was one and wanted to return to the track as often as he could.
The course occupies the site of an older pump track that had been built by local kids. Norwood Parks and Recreation District executive director Liza Tanguay told KOTO that the earlier track was created when Jon Sapp lived next to what is now the park. It eventually collapsed after years without maintenance. Its worn-down shape left room for the next generation to bring the idea back.
This renewal combined public-works equipment with neighborhood labor. Tanguay said the Department of Public Works brought a skid steer to move dirt piles already at the site. Norwood resident Colby Brown and his children, including Ed, then came by with rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows. Brown told KOTO that they worked in the evenings, clearing weeds, smoothing the hills and refining the berms. The division of work was practical: equipment shifted the existing dirt, then residents used hand tools and repeated visits to improve the riding line.
Brown is a parent and a biker. He said he wanted the unused space to become something local children and adults could enjoy without having to drive elsewhere. The district’s event notice described the gathering as a celebration of the track’s renewal and welcomed people of all ages. The finished loop is modest in scale, but it gives residents a place to ride in town and a shared project they helped shape.
The work also builds on something the community already valued. Tanguay told KOTO she can hear skaters and children at the park from her home nearby, and sees a younger mix of families and adults bringing energy to the area. She described the renewed track as part of a larger opportunity to make the park more useful for people who want a place to gather around bikes and skating.
That next possibility is still only a plan. At the Oct. 3 event, the district was collecting names and contact information from people interested in a more complete skatepark with built-in features such as ramps and rails. Tanguay told KOTO she hoped to pursue a grant from the Tony Hawk Skatepark Project and wanted to show that local residents were interested. Neither the district’s event notice nor KOTO’s report says a grant has been awarded or that construction of a skatepark is underway.
For now, the pump track is the part that is open. The Oct. 3 event notice called people to bring their bikes and gear to Town Park, and KOTO’s on-site reporting recorded riders using the course that day. Tanguay said the simple act of creating a place where people with a shared interest can meet matters to a community. The track’s return came through practical contributions: equipment to move the dirt, tools and time from a local family, and a public gathering where neighbors could see what those efforts made possible.
Ed said he wanted to keep coming back, though he and his father sometimes ended up playing soccer instead. At the opening, he said he was still learning how to pump smoothly and hoped one day to do a backflip. For now, the loops and berms give him and other local riders somewhere close to practice, ride with friends and imagine what else the park might become.
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