Newberg, Oregon
Goin' Bigger and Faster!

by Ping!

The Facts:
About 20 minutes S.E. of Portland, OR is the town of Newberg; home to one of the BEST skateboard parks in America right now. Designed and built by Dreamland Skateparks and Construction (and some helpful skate dogz from Portland and Seattle), it is estimated to have cost around $600k, after totaling all the donated materials and labor. The skatepark's design changed a lot as the project progressed, and the Dreamland crew skated it and modified the plans as they went. Built by skateboarders, for skateboarders, just like the parks in Arizona. Oregon now boasts 69 skateparks in the state, for more info see: www.skateoregon.com.

Recently Newberg started requiring helmets
(but not pads!) in response to the increase in skateboard injuries at the local hospital. Steve Stachurski, the park caretaker, told us they have not had any serious injuries since the "helmet law" went into effect. I personally have seen many collisions there, due to the many lines available within the park, and the crowds of kids. Hours are: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. 7 days a week, though I hear they break out lights once in awhile for later sessions. Best time to skate there seems to be at off peak times, early morning, or late evening, the usual scene. Unfortunately, they do allow rollerbladers in the park so beware!

The Park:
Of all the skateboard parks I have ridden over the years, I think what makes Newberg unique is it's multi-level design. You can drop in anywhere and virtually ride the whole park without stopping. The snakerun has 2 different elevations, the "street" area is on another, and the bowls and takeoff areas are all either higher or lower. You can fly from one level to another, and the locals do! There is a 12 ft. vert wall, and a 10-11 ft. halfpipe (with a good 2 ft. of vert) leading into a HUGE bowl (12 ft.?) in a giant "L" shape for the hardcore vert crowd. Very few people drop into the halfpipe from up top, there are no roll-ins, and it's way burly! There are even vert walls in the street area, and steel pipe "coping" on most of the lips in the park, so the ability to drop in, roll out, and roll back in is KEY to shredding at Newberg! Definitely NOT a skatepark for beginners.

Check out this animated gif of skate action: (Click for a pop-up box) Halfpipe Bowl Carve

If there is one thing I have learned over the years,
when skating a new spot it is: WATCH THE LOCALS. Be friendly, and talk to them! Coming from a poolriding background myself, my biggest problem at Newberg was getting enough SPEED to get to the top of the BIG bowl coming in from the halfpipe. There is so much flat bottom, and the bowl is at a weird angle, it is hard to hit it going FAST. I was told by a radd local vert GURRL to bank off one of the wallz, instead of dropping straight in for MORE SPEED; things are much better now! The new school kids like to drop in off the big wall, go over a large cement "speed bump" mogul, and try to catch air into the back bowl (cursing when they bail 10 times, until they make it finally, sound familiar?). The old school crowd seems to like to drop in off the top of the small bowl, hit the big vert wall, get lots of speed, and work the halfpipe, into carving the bowl fast, and back out. Watch the other skaters, modify their best lines to fit your style/ interests, then go shred it!! Remember LOCALS RULE, give em' respect, and learn all you can from them.

I was standing up top, looking down on "Oregons Grand Canyon",
trying to figure out some lines last weekend, and someone told me "You don't need lines, just drop in and RIDE wherever you want to..." and, Damn, it works; at least at Newberg it does! There are high vert walls all around to drop in, lots of bowls and round corners (and not a kink in the whole park either), so you can get plenty of SPEED for tricks, something most "low impact" skateparks overlook nowadaze. As all good skaters know, SPEED is the key to everything, and most architects and skatepark designers don't realize that, but the crew at Dreamland does (I hear they built Burnside also). We talked with the park caretaker Steve, he told us plans are now underway for a ROOF over part of the park, although they are still deciding how much, what parts will be covered. Apparently the pillars have been designed, and they hope to get it all up before the rains start. I would like to personally THANK everyone involved for building a REAL skateboard park, not another "daycare center" for wanna-be rollerbladers. I look forward to Dreamlands next project also, rumored to be somewhere here in Washington...

ReSpecT!
PiNGmOn OuT...