The Big Fly Out by Austen Sweetin
It started out like any other skate trip but quickly evolved into something much greater. Max, Chris, Lucey and I packed up the camper and headed east to Montana on an eight-day road trip to explore the skate scene across the state. Montana’s skate community was a mystery that I did not know a lot about before going on this trip. Read on below...
What I did know is that Evergreen Skateparks has built parks in just about every little town you can think of, some of them huge and others really small - but all of them amazing. As the trip progressed, we made our way into the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. We learned about the local community and how Jeff Ament, the Montana Pool Service and the Vitology Foundation have been involved. Not only is Jeff the bassist from your favorite 90’s band Pearl Jam but he, along with help from the MPS and Vitology Foundation, has built a community for skateboarders throughout Montana and funds parks throughout native lands.
These parks exemplify everything we love about skateboarding - being able to go skate with your friends, share the sport and have fun. And since their construction, people have come from all over to skate them. Because of this, they’ve become gathering spots for locals - from hosting rodeos next door to being the best place to camp for the night, these parks have changed the community for the better.
THE BIG FLY OUT DECK
The graphic was inspired by a week spent skating as many parks as possible, swimming in lakes, soaking in hot springs, cooking over fires, and shooting a whole lot of film. Max and I wanted to create something that would sum all the experiences we had up in once place: things like rodeos next to the park, kids skating in cowboy boots and trips with your buds. This is what we came up with.
