The volcano at the center of Northpointe Park's skate area.

There’s a fun new skate spot on Bend’s north end, located in Northpointe Park, another feather in Bend Park & Recreation District’s cap and another option for riders in Bend.

Brief history lesson: After the late ‘70s skate fad died, the private skateparks they engendered were razed. For the next 20 years, skaters either built or poached skate spots. Fortunately, around 2000, skateboarders began to make a convincing case that they, too, should be served by their communities’ park departments, and the public skatepark revolution was on.

Now, we are seeing the advent of skate spots. These are smaller, efficient places to ride — think skateparks off steroids, if you will — less overall square footage and concrete, but the same quarter pipes, rails and ledges found in larger parks.

Those are the exact features, by the way, one finds in Northpointe Park’s new skate spots, along with a central “volcano,” an entirely round transition up to a flat-top surface, perfect for gaining some momentum for hitting the next feature.

While not so much of a destination skate spot, Northpointe is a fine addition to Bend’s growing roster of places to skate and, I’m guessing, a highly welcome recreation spot for this sprawling neighborhood north of Cooley Road. But then, the quality of the design and concrete were built into the mix, thanks to BPRD’s selection of Oregon-based builder Dreamland Skateparks, which also built the skateparks in Redmond, Madras and, more recently, Prineville. Here’s hoping Northpointe will be followed by more skate spots around Bend.