I’ve been staying at a ranch out in the middle of nowhere, Montana. One of the staff heard me mention wanting to travel into Missoula to check out the skatepark. Turns out I could cut my drive time down from one hour to 15 minutes. The little town of St Ignatius, population 811, has a skatepark. St Ignatius is near the Flathead Indian Reservation, and in fact Native Americans made up approximately 40% of the population in the last census. St Ignatius received a Tony Hawk Foundation grant in 2006. That grant helped fund phase 1 of the park. Phase 2 of the park was completed by Dreamland on July 8th.
Street area panorama.
So this is a tiny town. There’s not much nearby, and I can’t imagine where the locals are getting their skateboards from. There’s a community web site for the park called Skate Ignatius. Every little town we drive through in this part of the country seems to have a public arts anti-meth campaign going on. I can’t help but think part of the impetus for getting a skatepark in this town was to provide something else for the locals to do.
Here’s the clover bowl. I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not, but it’s vaguely reminiscent of the Turf’s clover in size, except the transition doesn’t seem to get near vert at any point.
The new bowl. The deep end is traditional, and the shallow end is super mellow with a ton of room to get over the stairs. Definitely more skatepark than backyard pool.
Reverse angle of the bowl.
Look at me, I’m in Montana taking artsy-fartsy photos of skateparks!
The park has the feel of something built to nurture a beginner skate population. You can argue the merits of that all day long, but accessibility is key given al the extraneous circumstances. The new bowl and miniramp provides plenty for expanding skill sets. One disappointment is that the park is located on the outskirts of town in the “sports complex” so it’s not really centrally located. When I was there it was hot as heck and sparsely populated. There’s no water and no shade incorporated as part of the park, although there are some trees across the entry road. For the younger locals, heading out to the skatepark in the summer requires a bit of a commitment. If it was more centrally located, the skatepark could be a focal point for the small community instead of an area of isolation. Still, it’s a fine park, especially for a town this size.
Local flavor, some railroad track no-doubt found laying around nearby.
One of the more interesting features of the park, this corner with natural rock incorporated.
This area isn’t in any of the designs. It looks like it was most likely made with leftover concrete from phase II.
Nice spine in the new minramp section with rollovers on either side.
8 comments
george
Kilwag,
It’s not near the Indian Reservation, it’s ON the Indian Reservation.
I grew up in Polson and we had a little DIY park for years until the land owner sold his land and tore it down. Since it was a positive impact on the community parents, cops, and every day citizens rallied to get a legit park built. Small towns can be boring and I think everyone in these small MT towns sees the benefits of keeping kids busy in a positive way.
The Montana Skatepark Association http://www.montanaskatepark.org/ has done a lot to get these towns the grants and direction they need.
And Hurton, no need for campsites. Grab an inexpensive tribal permit from any outdoor store on your way up and camp out on any old logging road in the Mission Mountains.
hurton
hey george, thanks for the tip, any suggestions for spots between poulson and st ignatius?
Tim
Hot damn…..That there is a fine looking park. Why is it that Dreamland parks just look more fun than all the rest. That natural rock corner could keep me occupied for 2 weeks. Nice pictures, Thanks.
hurton
and no bathroom nearby either. what’s nice about this place is that its between Missoula and whitefish with poulson and kalispel in between too. you get four parks along a 2 hr drive with amazing scenery in all directions. unfortunately there isn’t any good campsites except up by poulson on flat head lake and those fill quickly in the summer.
sandor
Did you ride there on your panhead?
kilwag
Haw haw, good one, but no.
kilwag
I’m leaving today actually. Bummer.
Prickly Pete
I’m heading there this Saturday with some others. Are you still around then?