After years of passing it on the Gardner, I packed a bike and a board and checked out Sunnyside. There's a drop-off loop with parking across the street. Thankfully I was there during Free Parking hours.
First issue was I'd left my backpack at home so I had to figure out how to carry a board and water on my bike to the park. Thankfully, a reflective belt/vest did the trick and I carried the water bottle.
Then, just as I arrived at the park, my break wire slipped out of the fitting. Guess I'm going 'No Breaks'!
The Bike Park has a modular pump track I planned on skating. It turned out to be in pretty rough condition. It's a wooden modular track with a grippy plastic surface but there's a lot of gaps and uneven joints. I couldn't ride it counter-clockwise due to one of the seams.
But I skated it. Count it! 586.
Then I hit the dirt pumper, the skinnies and the dirt jumps on my bmx.
Water bottle station/fountain on site but not bike repair station.
The old park's not going anywhere, the new addition is just as large and a pump track is on the way. Is it a new skatepark or just a Phase 2? I put that question to the online community and they've allowed me to call this PARK 585!
The new stuff is right next to the old park so there's been a few park to park transfers. This is literally like the dreams I used to have that led to the title 'Spott Dreams of Skateparks'
Local Advocates have been working for years to bring this project to life.
The design was done by CRC.
The build was done by Drop-In.
Clips.
Review and Tour.
This QP and the other lone quarter on the edge of the park appear to be last min additions by the builder. Great move as it made the park better with a corner to hit and something to gain speed for the ledge section. The preliminary design is below.
There's a great variety of rails and ledges. The quarter pipes are smooth with great transitions and you don't feel any of the seams.
Landscaping desperately needed. Til it's done, bring a broom.
Compared to Waterford, the coping reveal is much better, the coping size is perfect and the coping material is perfect.
Nice Corner Hip.
Curved Slappy Curb on the Bank.
Nice bank to ledge with a step-up gap.
Long QP wall with pocket and hip.
Nice little corner QP.
Rainbow ledge with rail and low ledge/manny pad.
This is the concrete work I'm most critical of. The last park I hit (McDuffe - built by CRC) had some wonky finishing lines. The other side of this feature has much cleaner finishing.
The Kicker to Kicker gap feature.
It sits parallel to the Bank to Ledge.
Stoked that the rails are all fixed in the concrete.
There's a good amount of space between features so I felt the rail could have been about a foot further from the kicker without affecting the bank to ledge. I'm not a fan of planters in skateparks. The trees drop leaves/seeds and the mulch often gets into the park, especially when it pours. Yes, I'm picky. When you've been to 580+ skateparks you can be.
The Ledge was a perfect height and the peak in the middle is a unique feature. The Local Advocates have let me know it's inspired by the Peterborough Lift Lock metal work. The Lift Locks are a National Historic Site
The Ledges Feature. Multiple out ledges, banked ledges, down rail and a rainbow rail. This section alone would make a dope spot.
It sits next to the Rainbow Ledge feature.
This rail. I personally would rather have a double barrel rainbow rail because I'm old and don't grind rails that well. Hippy Jumps it is!
So that's it. I give it an E for excellent. Not perfect. 8.5/10.
Here's a good way to judge a skatepark.
Would you be bummed if it was Your local?
I would not be.
There's plenty to love, ride and progress on.
This is the concept. The Pickleballers came out on top, sending the tennis courts to another park under revitalization. Here you can see where Drop-in made some tweaks (the 2 QP's) and the future Pump Track.
Near 6th line & Burnhamthorpe Rd East on Settlers Rd East.
This smaller skatepark was completed in 2024 (the park was supposed to open spring 2025 but is now delayed to late-summer 2025) and is a design/build by Canadian Ramp Company. There were no public consultation as far as I know(it's also in a new neighbourhood). Additionally, this park, known as NP9 in city docs, wasn't supposed to have a skate spot so I'd been looking for NP8.
Anyways, here's a honest review with constructive criticisms and suggestions for improvement.
Overall, the park looks good with a variety of rails, stair set, QP wall, ledge, 'A' frame with rail and hubba.
There is no drainage as with a lot of small parks so the spot was built with a bit of a grade so rain runs off the grass.
Here's what I got up to at McDuffe.
And here's a critique and tour.
The 'Grading' is pretty noticeable when you look at it head on but it didn't affect my riding. The rails are a good height and I was able to ollie the stairs but found it a quick throw down and pop.
At the other end of the park is a large QP wall. It's about 42" high with an ~6' radius. After riding several CRC qp's and being less than trilled I was surprised how well rode. The coping reveal was good with no sections on 'No-ping'. There are some imperfections in the transition with some bulges just under the coping but nothing that stopped me from doing tricks (Belleville's mini bowl had bad bumps that screwed me up).
An issue that comes up again and again with CRC is the seams between pours. Seams should feel SEAMLESS. The seam before the tranny felt like going over a sidewalk crack and this seam between to QP sections is the same. It's not as bad as Innisfil where the seam what so bad I'd loose contact and slide out.
The beveled end on this ledge was a blast to wallie on. I feel this ledge could have been made twice as wide and functioned as a manny pad. I, personally, don't have manny skills. Maybe you do?
Another on-going issue with CRC build and these wonky lines. I feel like this shows a lack of pride in their work. Yeah, it's good enough but do other companies finish concrete work like this?
This rail (flat and down) was the tallest at 20inches and ending at 22". There was an opportunity to created a neat bank to bank here but all the banks are rounded into the flat making it harder to hit your pop into the high rail.
'A' Frame with rail and Hubba.
Great flat bar.
This Ride-on ledge section was what drew me to the design. Hitting it down meant having to go from backside to frontside (Goofy foot). There were some bails. It's also fun to ride up to the top of the park or pop off into the bank
It took a while but I rode its full length.
The one design flaw is this Ride-on section straight in into the stair feature. whoops.
Much better stair set. The stairs are a consistent size and there's no big crack/seam at the top.
My biggest issue with this build is the seams, which, as I said before, should feel SEAMLESS!
On my EGAD Scale (excellent, good, acceptable, despicable) this park is an upgrade to CRC's past construction and gets their highest score yet of a Good.
Canadian Ramp Company
If you are reading this, I (& other users) would love to have a discussion on how to improve your minor but consistent construction issues that skatepark users have noticed and are frustrated with. Attempts to reach you on social media have failed. We just want top quality parks and feel some feedback and consultations with users would help you hit the mark.
