“It’s a lot of shoveling dirt, wheel-barrowing dirt and dumping dirt.”
That’s how Christian Sawyor spent his day as a volunteer at the under-construction Edmonton Bike Park.
The city is soon to be home to a brand new mountain bike park that centres community-building — literally — as Edmonton mountain bikers pitch in to construct the space.
“I always want to help like my neighbors. If they need help, I’ll help,” said Sawyor. “It’d be nice to bike down the trails and say I helped.”
Located in Queen Elizabeth Park on the site of a former wastewater treatment plant, the first-of-its-kind park is scheduled to host its grand opening on July 25.
Josh Nowochin, a park organizer with the Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance, said work on the park is roughly halfway finished. He says a group of volunteers has put in more than 3,000 hours of work into the park and expects that to reach 5,000 hours within the next two months.
LISTEN | Volunteers on why they want to build the park:
The park cost $1.2 million to build. The Alliance’s website says funds were collected through donations and grants.
Building the park has been a rewarding experience for volunteers like Kathy Lee, a long-time enthusiast of mountain biking.
“I am the best assistant when it comes to the journeyman, who tries to tell me what to do and keep me on track,” said Lee. “I love doing woodworking and building … so I think this is fun.”
Volunteers, like those pictured, have provided around 30,000 hours of labour as of June, Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance spokesperson says. (Submitted by Blake Dahl)
The opening is a step in the right direction to address the need for bike parks in the city, said Nowichan. He thinks there needs to be a push to create even more cycling spaces.
“There’s a lot of mountain bikers in Edmonton,” he said. “This has been very, very highly demanded for a long time. It’s taking a long time to get here, mostly because it’s the first one.”
The mostly volunteer-led bike alliance has worked with the city on the park, Nowochin said, noting it’s Edmonton’s first “fully community-led project to this scale.”
In 2013, city council first approved a master plan for Queen Elizabeth Park that included a bike skills park. Since 2018, the Alliance has been planning the park, which Nowichin said convenes already well-established trails into a community space.
But last summer, Edmonton cyclists and conservationists clashed over the park.
Kristine Kowalchuk, the president of the Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition, said at the time that the park’s site should be left alone so it can “rewild.” This means to return land to its natural state by removing human management.
The Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance said in 2025 it would work with groups to help protect the environment. The group’s website states it will follow city rules on development and construction to ensure it follows environmental regulations, including the River Valley bylaw.
This new park is a game-changer, said Lee, who noted she and her husband travel to Devon or Hinton, Alta., for parks similar in function and size to the new Edmonton space.
“I am hopeful that people will just love it and use it and we will continue to grow this community,” Lee said.
The Edmonton Bike Park’s grand opening is on July 25. (Submitted by Blake Dahl)
Sawyor expects he will bring his family of avid bikers to the grand opening. The day prior is also his five-year wedding anniversary.
“We bike in the River Valley all the time. This is in our backyard,” he said.
“Maybe … we will come and celebrate with the rest of Edmonton.”