St. Ignatius skate park celebrates its 10th anniversary

Ten years ago St. Ignatius resident Kristie Nerby was a major catalyst towards making the town’s skate park a reality.

The St. Ignatius Skate Park, which commemorated its 10th anniversary with a Skate Jam, drew an estimated 80 to 100 skaters on July 22 at the park. Nerb said she felt the jam has provided a positive outlet for kids to stay away from drugs and alcohol abuse.

“Since we’ve built our park, it has given kids an extra activity to do outside of school,” Nerby said. “This is a destination point and many people that are doing the skate park tours draw local skaters from all over the state. It gives our kids a chance to skate with them and get to know them. It’s a pretty cool thing for our kids here.”

The tourists the Skate Park attracts allows local kids to see the world.

“I think the Skate Park has been huge for our community,” Nerby said. “As I stated earlier, a lot of these kids don’t have access to travel and get out all over the world. Many people have told me that we have the best skate park in Montana. I’ve heard this repeatedly and because there are so many people visiting, it brings the world to kids that can’t go out into the world.”

One of the benefits kids receive from skating is the social interaction, according to Nerb.

“When a skater sees someone sitting on the sidelines, they may say ‘hey, come skate with me,’” Nerby said. “Little kids see older people and invite them to skate. Sometimes, the experienced skaters come bearing gifts and give out skateboards and shoes.”

With the sport of skateboarding receiving an Olympic designation in the year 2020, it will help grow the sport further, according to Nerby.

Nerby credits the popularity of the X-Games and the Tony Hawk video games to being big proponents of helping the sport grow.

“We are just a tiny, tiny part of that microcosm,” Nerby said. “I was able to raise two amazing kids and I am pretty happy with my life to be a part of the skate park.”

Pearl Jam bass player Jeff Ament, a Missoula resident along with skater Tony Hawk, were other key figures in the surge of skate parks all over Montana.

“Things happen in their own time and Ament and Hawk have been responsible for the organic uprising and making skating so wide-spread,” Nerby said. “They have built parks all over the world and are very responsible for the growth in the popularity.”

Chris Bacon, owner of Board of Missoula and President of Montana Skate park Association, said he has seen exponential growth in skate parks since the organization’s inception in 2000.

“When I first started (in 2000), I believe there was a concrete skate park in Libby and it was really small,” Bacon recalled. “There was a park in Great Falls and Bozeman but there was really nothing going on in the state. A handful of other parks starting to spring up after the first year, and one or two parks started to pop up every year after that.”

Skateboarding promotes confidence and self-esteem for several young people looking for an outlet, according to Bacon.

“I think kids learn how to fall and get right back up on their board,” Bacon said. “They have to be committed to learning a new trick. They can carry a lot of lessons learned in skating through their whole life. Skating keeps kids motivated and it is something healthy, fun and completely unique to each skater. Everyone sees skating in their own way.”

Bacon said he felt he has seen the sport grow significantly.

“I feel like the sport of skating is in a really good place,” Bacon said. “We seem to be getting a lot of younger kids involved and a lot more girls have started skating. There is an influx of these skate parks and parents are trying to get back at it to either do it with their kids or to get back into skating for themselves.”

Bacon has given significant credit to Ament for helping bolster the local interest in skating.

“He has given a little something to help piggy back and add to the overall layout of the parks,” Bacon said. “There are a lot of parks in Central Montana. A lot of those communities continue to see more parks expanding and on the rise.”

Bacon said the turnout at the Skate Jam to commemorate the 10thanniversary of the skate park was “awesome.”

“The Skate Jam was one of the bigger events that we have had here,” Bacon said. “People came from as far away as Billings, all around Missoula and Flathead County to be a part of this.”