After more than a decade in the making, the Town of Penhold is taking some serious steps in the direction of building their own skateboard park and pump track for bikes.

Fundraising for a skate park has been slow going since the local Penhold Optimist Club took over fundraising for the skate park years ago until Penhold council decided to combine the park with a pump track, a term that comes from riders using an up and down pumping motion with their bodies to ride around the track without having to peddle.

A motion to put out a tender was made at their latest council meeting for the design and cost of the skate park and pump track.

Penhold Mayor Mike Yargeau says whenever they send out recreation surveys to their citizens, places to skateboard and bike are usually high on the list, which is why the original idea of just a skate park eventually added a pump track so that bikers could enjoy the space as well.

“From the Councils perspective, the skate park morphed into a pump track/skate park concept, which opens the door up to even more users and younger age groups as well. Definitely, outdoor recreation activities are a high priority.”

Yargeau says residents wanted more recreation opportunities for more people than just skateboarders, which is where the idea for a pump track came in.

“It comes down to what the residents told us that they want... the skate park wasn’t really getting a lot of traction but a pump track had a lot of people coming up behind it with support, so this is an opportunity for us to work with the Optimists who are trying to fundraise for the skate park, sort of combine our money and resources and sort of do this together.”

Yargeau says they hope to start construction on the track sometime next year, with a tentative location for it being around the multiplex recreation area.