It's come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1950s. The first commercial board was called the Roller Derby Skate Board and it has become a multi-billion-dollar sport.
I was sitting there, in a borrowed chair on the elementary school lawn listening to the excitement of the participants. As a man reached down to pick up a bottle of water he said hello and I asked him where he was from. He told me he was from Portland Oregon and I asked why he would come to Big Sandy. He told me he has come every year to support skateboarding. "It is a form of expression. It is something you can do for yourself. It's like art, where you are painting something it's just you and the canvas. In this case the skate is the brush and the environment is the canvas. You can be as creative as you want to be. It's all about how much fun your having and what you are doing. It's all about self-expressions."
As he left he thanked me, and I said I'm just a reporter. He said, "well then thank Josh and everyone else for all the work. It's a wonderful event." There was a lot of people helping that day and others who cooked the pulled pork, made the baked beans, cold-slaw, and macaroni.
There was also merchandice--hats, T-shirts, and a Barry Ament graphic designed skate board to purchase. There was a raffle too with money raised going to help with the maintenance of the skate park. The Grocery Store donated all the pork and Evergreen Skate parks, Montana Pool Service, Northstar Athletics, Triple Dog Brewing, Havre Distributing, Gusto Distributing, Big Sandy Pharmacy, and Big Sandy Organics, and Ma's cafe and Pa's quick stop in Loma also donated to the activity. Dave Louvar donated money for best trick.
There were a lot of young men, boys, and older guys doing their tricks in the two bowls. While I was there I didn't see any women riding their boards, but I'm sure they were. There was an understood system, each would drop down over the edge while standing on their boards and go for two trips around the bowl before they would exit. A lot of admiration was expressed for those whose tricks were obviously difficult.
Rain had left much of the playground area under an inch of water. The tents had been set up south of the grade school.
Cow Patti's Cook Shack was there as well, so good food was prevalent.
