When budget shortfalls threatened school athletics, the local Colton Boosters Club raised enough money to continue the programs each year. Still, as the high school track crumbled, the community faced a larger expense than their small farming community could handle. The track was eventually closed to competitions after weeds sprouted through large surface cracks. A new Nike Grind surface laid in the summer of 2001 meant that the Boy Scouts, the Girls Scouts, the Timber Valley Youth Group, Colton-area seniors and the high school track team could run and walk safely.