Local skaters converge for Skate Ignatius spring kickoff

By Trent Makela/Leader Staff

Skateboarding in the Mission Valley has come a long way since locals had to sneak onto a handful of tennis courts and school sidewalks just three years ago.

Nearly 100 Lake County skaters gathered in the shadow of the historical St. Ignatius Mission last Saturday afternoon to watch a skate demo from some of Missoula's best, grab a free lunch and hop into the action themselves.

The event was sponsored by the St. Luke Community Health Care Network and the Mission Mountain Medical Clinic, both sponsors from the park's grand opening bash last spring.

"My nurse and I said 'let's do something again this year' and everybody at St. Luke's was really behind it. The population of St. Ignatius is about 800 and, considering the number of kids in town, we had a good portion of them out there enjoying the day," event organizer and St. Luke's nurse practitioner David Vaughan said. "I look at the success of the day and I'm hoping to make this an annual kickoff for summer."

The local skaters eventually cleared the park for about a half-hour so that Dylan Tucker, founder of Missoula's Four Season Skatepark Foundation, and the three young skaters he brought with him could display a new trick or two. The group quickly began encouraging the locals to hop in on the action, and the session continued at a frantic pace for the remainder of the day.

"We knew a lot of these kids from when they came down to Missoula to skate [indoors]," Tucker, a former professional skateboarder, said. "We wanted to come up and encourage kids to get active and try out skateboarding."

Tucker also cited a recent study from researchers at John Hopkins University that found skateboarders, rollerbladers and bikers are less likely to gain excess weight as they grow older. In fact, among after-school activities, the likelihood of being an overweight adult was reduced by 48 percent for those who skated or biked four times per week.

"We want people to view skateboarding as a legitimate sport," Tucker said. "Not just as some punks hanging out on the corner or the lawn somewhere."

The skaters also gathered in the park's bowl midway through Saturday's event to receive free handouts from Mountain Waters Recreation in Polson. Leslie Byers and Spencer Irwin lugged an oversized box of t-shirts, posters and stickers to the edge of the bowl and tossed the booty into the excited crowd of youngsters.

"We called [Mountain Waters] to see if they would be interested in selling some product down here. They said they'd love to, but they were going to give all of it away," Vaughan said. "I know those kids were pretty happy about that."

St. Luke's provided nearly 300 free hot dogs purchased from Rod's Harvest Foods in St. Ignatius and Coke supplied the concession trailer and drinks for the day. Local DJ and former skateboarder Chris Morigeau also donated his time and equipment to supply music for the event.

The event also featured booths sponsored by the Montana Brain Injury Association, Skate Ignatius, the Lake County Sheriff's office and the Mission Ambulance crew. The Mission Ambulance crew even staged a fake injury to a skater in the bowl and strapped one lucky young volunteer to a body board and towed him from the park with a series of ropes.

"That was a lot of fun to see and, if one of those kids were to get injured, maybe they'll be more comfortable knowing how they're going to get out of there," Vaughan said.

Mission Mountain Medicine's booth sold a variety of protective helmets at cost to the skaters.

"As healthcare providers, that's something we're very passionate about," Vaughan said. "Like they say - if you get just one more kid to wear a helmet …"

The Skate Ignatius Project is a non-profit program that relies completely on volunteer work to build and expand upon the free skate park in St. Ignatius. The project has entered phase two of it's fund-raising efforts, according to Vaughan, and is hoping to add an additional 10,000 square feet to the already 7,000 square-foot park.