Grand opening set for Sept. 29
By Ersin Ozer Explorebigsky.com Contributor
BIG SKY – The history of skateboarding in Big Sky is progressive, considering the sport has been around longer than the town itself.
“The Beehive-ramp [about 12 years ago] was really the start of what kicked if off,” said Chad Peterson, chairman of the Big Sky Community Corp. skatepark committee.
After that ramp’s removal from Beehive Basin, a concrete pad was built at the community park and was home to an assortment of quarter-ramps, boxes and rails; those features were replaced with a wooden skate ramp in 2006.
Now, thanks to a collaborative effort from BSCC, Gallatin Valley Skatepark Association, and Dreamland Skateparks, Big Sky now has a world-class concrete park – and it’s ready to skate.
The park saw its first day of skating on Friday, Sept. 14 – almost a month earlier than anticipated. A grand opening of the park featuring food and prizes is scheduled for Sept. 29.
“We’re all starting to get amped on skiing and snowboarding right now, but we’re going to get two solid months of skating on this before the ski season,” Peterson said. “This is going to be big for this community.”
The Oregon-based Dreamland Skateparks designed and built the new park. With a reputation for one of the best finishes in the industry and 20-plus years of experience, Dreamland has built seven other parks in Montana including Helena, Butte, St. Ignatius, Polson, Anaconda, Kalispell and Whitefish.
The completed first phase of the Big Sky park is a tribute to Burnside – an iconic skatepark in Portland, Ore. that was one of Dreamland’s first projects. Plans for second and third phase additions, to be built as funds are raised, include a street section and a snake run. The concrete park will be relatively easy to maintain compared to the wooden ramp formerly located in the community park, which incurred annual repair costs.
“That’s another reason Dreamland is involved,” said Travis Bos, President of Gallatin Valley Skatepark Association. “They know about building parks in the Northwest and frost-heaves and moisture-levels. They know where to build the cracks.”
In addition to supporting the Big Sky skatepark, the GVSA is also on a mission to build new parks in Belgrade and Bozeman.
“Our goal is to get the whole state fired up about building three new concrete skateparks in Montana,” Bos said. “[For Big Sky] we want a wide variety of features for all abilities…some big transitions, some vert, a snake run, and more of a street plaza aspect that’s going to be added on.”
The skatepark in Big Sky is a great new attraction to an area already full of big mountains to ride and blue-ribbon streams to fish.
“You can’t build those things,” Bos said. “[But] we can build the best skateparks in the world right here. They’re permanent and free to take advantage of.”
For more information about BSCC and GVSA, and to contribute or volunteer, visit bsccmt.org and gallatinvalleyskatepark.com.
