Take note, skateboarders and cyclists: Construction of a new skate park and bicycle pump track is about to begin in far Southwest Virginia, with the goal of opening in spring 2026.
It’s likely to become a regional attraction because the nearest such facilities are nearly an hour’s drive away across the Tennessee line.
The project is ready to break ground after at least eight years of ups and downs on both funding and its location.
The town of Big Stone Gap will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday in Bullitt Park.
Missouri-based American Ramp Co. will build the competition-grade concrete skate park and Union Cycliste Internationale-rated asphalt pump track.
For those who are not familiar with them, a pump track allows a skater or cyclist to move without pedaling or putting his or her feet down on the surface. “All you have to do is pump your knees up and down, following the contours of the pump track, to move forward,” American Ramp Co. explains on its website.
The facility is likely to attract skateboarders and cyclists from several communities beyond Big Stone Gap. Currently, the nearest skate park and pump track can be found in Kingsport, Tenn., at least a 45-minute drive away.
The skate park will be named in memory of Tyler Flanary. A 2017 graduate of Union High School in Big Stone Gap, Flanary died in 2018 as a result of a kayaking accident in Tennessee.
Flanary was an avid skateboarder, which led his mother and stepfather, Tracey and Wayne Jordan, to establish a fundraising campaign in 2018 to build a skate park in town.
One of Tyler’s skateboards will be placed on display in the park.
Between 2019 and 2021, the town had begun working with Friends of Southwest Virginia, a regional organization promoting live music, tourism, craftspeople and outdoor recreation. Discussions included building a pump track. Over the next couple of years, plans changed for the scope and the potential sites for the track and the skate park, driven in part by ongoing fundraising efforts and in part by the pros and cons of the various sites.
Ultimately, it was decided to build the facility on an elevated lot adjacent to the main features of Bullitt Park, which includes a football stadium, a running/walking track, a large playground with a treehouse adventure course, a splash pad, two softball fields, four pickleball courts, picnic shelters and access to the town’s Greenbelt walking trail.
The park, named after attorney and late-1800s civic leader Joshua Fry Bullitt Jr., was chosen because of its “central location, existing utilities, ample parking, safe circulation and proximity to other recreation assets and community events,” according to Friends of Southwest Virginia Executive Director Kim Davis.
Bullitt Park is located at 301 East First Street.
The project’s budget is $700,000. Funding comes from the Tyler Flanary Memorial Skate Park Fund, the town, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Anne and Gene Worrell Foundation and the Cumberland Forest Community Fund.
