The Pearl Jam Bassist Who Keeps Building Skateparks

Jeff Ament, the bassist who co-founded Pearl Jam, grew up in Big Sandy, Montana, a farm town of about 600 people. As a kid he built his own skateboard ramp there. Today the nonprofit he started has funded more than 40 skateparks for rural and Native communities, and he still turns up at the openings.

A Ramp in Big Sandy

Big Sandy sits in Chouteau County and counted 605 residents in the 2020 census. Ament grew up there and got hooked on skateboarding as a teenager, at a time when only a handful of ramps existed in the whole state.

He built his first skateboard ramp in Big Sandy in 1976. His father, who was a barber, a farmer and the town's mayor, helped him turn pictures of decks and ramps into designs.

A family trip to California showed him what skating on smooth pavement felt like. He read Skateboarder magazine on the 20-hour drive back to Montana.

Coming Back With Concrete

Ament went on to co-found Pearl Jam with Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder. He never dropped the skating, and he started a nonprofit, Montana Pool Service, to build parks in places like the one he came from.

The group says it has funded more than 40 skateparks for rural and Native communities. Most are in Montana, with others in South Dakota and Washington. Big Sandy received the first phase of its own park in 2010.

The money does not come from one pocket. Partners such as Boards of Missoula, a nonprofit that helps build skateparks across the state, and Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation have backed projects.

The Openings This Year

Philipsburg held its grand opening on July 12, 2026, with free demos and lunch. Montana Pool Service built it with the Montana Skatepark Association and Evergreen Skateparks.

On September 17, 2026, the Flathead Reservation's newest park opened in Hot Springs. About 50 residents came, music played through the afternoon, and the tribes' education program served hot dogs and hamburgers. The 100 plates ran out before the event ended.

Ament was there, and the Char-Koosta News photo caption shows him and a friend tossing stickers out to the crowd. "It's a really good turnout, I'm proud for the kids to have a safe place to play," said Michael Dolson at the event.

One Park on Every Reservation

The Montana Skatepark Association says it is Ament's dream to have a skateboard park in every town and city in Montana. He has also set a goal of at least one park on every Native American reservation in the state by the end of 2026, and five new parks are rising across the Flathead Reservation with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

He has also written original music for "Paving the Way," a short film about Indigenous skaters on the Flathead Reservation that premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 7. "I think skateboarding is probably even more of an art than it is a sport," Ament said.

The kid who built a ramp in a town of 600 is still building them, this time for other kids.