Skatepark for Seeley Lake? Lincoln leads the way

SEELEY LAKE – A few weeks ago a group of Seeley-Swan High School students put out a survey to gauge interest in a skatepark in Seeley Lake. Now that they have 125 signatures and a list of interested parties, spokesman Walker McDonald, SSHS junior, said they are excited to continue exploring the idea. The group is on the agenda to present at the Seeley Lake Community Council's September meeting, Sept. 14.

"We want to build a skatepark in Seeley Lake because it will give a lot of kids a reason to go outside and get exercise," said McDonald. "The kids in Seeley Lake don't have many activities we can do close to our homes."

As a kid growing up in Seeley Lake, McDonald said there were not a lot of things to do that didn't require travel and/or an adult. He started skateboarding in his garage.

"My garage just kept getting smaller and smaller as I got better and better," said McDonald.

When looking for outdoor options to skateboard, McDonald quickly found there were no public areas to skate and he was asked to leave paved parking lots because he was on private business property. After talking with other students interested in riding their skateboards, bikes and scooters, he felt a petition would be the best way to bring attention to the idea and start pursuing it.

The petition at change.org lists several reasons for a skatepark in Seeley Lake: get kids outside; give skateboarders and bike riders a safer place to ride; reduce illicit behavior; provide a safe and fun creative environment for the community; and skateparks are very low maintenance. 

McDonald added that it would be a positive addition to the community offering a space to host events, social gatherings, contests and would be a venue to bring the community together.

This effort is a collective effort initiated by McDonald and other Seeley-Swan High School students Will Batchelder, Eric Lorentz, Cullen Bertsch, Crystal Lopez and Oskar Murphy as well as recent graduate Sam Weisenburger. McDonald said there are a lot of adults that have also signed the petition. McDonald and his friends hope their idea will gain some momentum and become reality.

"We want there to be a nice place to skate board and have a good environment for that. It doesn't have to be super big but it would be really sweet if it could happen in the next three years. I would like to see a lot of kids and adults enjoying it," said McDonald. "I just want them to have the opportunity to do more stuff than I have had to do while growing up in Seeley."

To sign the petition for a skatepark in Seeley Lake visit https://www.change.org/p/the-community-build-a-skatepark-in-seeley-lake. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend the Seeley Lake Council meeting Sept. 14. The full agenda and location information will be included in the Sept. 10 issue of the Pathfinder.

Lincoln Skatepark – The newest concrete wave

The idea for a skatepark in Seeley Lake mirrors that of the youth-initiated Lincoln Skatepark that just hosted its grand opening July 11 in Hooper Park.

According to the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch's coverage of the skatepark, Jeff Ament, the bass player for Pearl Jam and a native of Big Sandy, took an interest in the project after Lincoln's English teacher Philip Reed contacted the Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation in April 2018 after hearing about his students' interest in the project.

Backed by Montana Pool Service Foundation and Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation, Ament partners with Evergreen Skateparks and local organizations, parks departments and municipalities to bring world-class skateparks to small communities across Montana. He has helped build more than 20 skateparks in rural towns throughout Montana. He initially agreed to provide $50,000 for the project.

After Pearl Jam's concert in Missoula in August, 2018, Ament met with Reed and Lincoln students. The Blackfoot Valley Dispatch reported that the idea of a skatepark was met with "motivated enthusiasm by a handful of students ranging in age from 10 to 16." The Lincoln Skatepark Committee "Straight Outta Lincoln" was born. Reed enlisted the help of community coordinator Karyn Good to help with organization, development and funding for the skatepark which was estimated to cost $200,000.

Lincoln High School juniors Makenzie Storey and Maya Whittenberg took the leadership roles on the Committee. They presented the skatepark proposal to the Lincoln Park Board and Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council and wrote a letter to the community to garner support. They outlined several benefits of a skatepark including increased safety for riders versus riding on the streets and graveled roads; opportunity to learn something new; mental and physical health benefits and another attraction to bring people to Lincoln.

The committee proposed the skatepark be built on Highway 200 in the northwest corner of Hooper Park. The Lincoln Park Board supported their proposal and the UBVCC wrote a letter of support.

"They have a plan, they've raised money, they're looking forward and they're going to the County," UBVCC chair Bill Frisbee said at the Nov. 2, 2018 Government Day meeting as reported by the BVD. "They are not stopping. They already have pledges of over $50,000 to build a skate board area in Hooper Park, and the Community Council is 100 percent behind that. Anytime we can throw our support behind anybody who is trying to make things better for our valley, we wholeheartedly jump in and do whatever we can."

The BVD reported the Lewis and Clark County Commissioners and Public Works were equally supportive of the students after several meetings during the winter and spring of 2019. During the meetings the Committee addressed many questions regarding the design, cost, continued maintenance and liability issues, building the county's confidence in their dedication to the project and their plan.

A hiccup in the process was the need for a Lincoln organization to serve as the fiscal sponsor for the youth organization that would contract with Evergreen Skateparks. The Lincoln Chamber of Commerce was asked but since they are a 501(c)6 not 501(c)3, it was not an option. In May 2019, Make It Happen, established in 2016 in Lewistown, Montana to support Lewistown's skatepark, agreed to act at the project's fiscal sponsor charging only one percent compared to the typical 10% fee to be a sponsor.

"In developing our own 501c3 status, one of the things we wanted to provide was an umbrella for other projects," Jason Stephens, vice president of Make It Happen Montana, told the BVD. "We're really kind of focused on the rural communities. They seem to be in most need of support, and they have a population that we feel benefits greatly from these creative projects."

A skater himself, Stephens said some of the negative perceptions of skateboarders need to be re-examined. He said the young skateboarders are actually pretty civic minded.

"What I see is a bunch of active kids outside, exercising, not playing videogames, not staring into a phone, and they're challenging themselves. They're learning about their balance, they're learning about their ability and in that process, they're developing confidence," Stephens told the BVD. "What they learn here, they're going to carry through life. Skateboarding is about balance and so is life. You can apply that to anything that comes your way."

At their June 2019 meeting, the Community Council agreed to hold the contract for the construction of the Skatepark even though it was a county park. Had Lewis and Clark County carried the contract, the project would have been subject to the county's administrative, design and bidding process.

At the end of 2019, the Skatepark Committee had raised $10,000. Good told the BVD that she was actively searching for grants in hopes of getting the project off the ground this year, but admitted in March it was tough going. The funding options would not be available until 2022 if they received the grants at all.

While Ament agreed to match another $50,000 in fundraising, in March 2020 the BVD reported that Ament increased his match amount to $100,000 to get the project going.

With fundraising plans in the works and a lot of money to still be raised, the Committee received a welcome surprise in May. In their May 6 issue, the BVD reported that Ament donated $100,000 to implement the project and they received another $50,000 donation from the Montana Skatepark Association.

Evergreen Skateparks broke ground at Hooper Park and the construction wrapped up Memorial Day weekend. Straight Outta Lincoln hosted the grand opening of the Lincoln Skatepark July 11 with Ament and representatives from many of the other partnering organizations in attendance.

"It's pretty sweet. It has a good flow," skateboarder Evan Eastep of Helena told the BVD at the grand opening "It's like a good beginner to intermediate park, which is good for the town."

"We've put a lot of hard work and dedication into the skatepark. Hours of fundraising and research and a lot of public speaking, believe it or not, to get this done," Storey told the BVD. "I'm very proud of the kids that came out and joined the skatepark club to help us, and Karyn and Mr. Reed really stepping in and helping us and mentoring us through all of it."