One Skatepark at a Time
GRIT to GRIND: Shaping Montana Communities One Skatepark at a Time | By Poser Staff
At first glance, Grit to Grind is a beautifully produced skateboarding book, hardcover, photo-rich, and packed with imagery that captures motion, youth, and momentum. Spend a few pages with it and it becomes clear this is less a book about skateparks and more a book about how communities get built.
The story traces the origins and growth of the Montana Skatepark Association (MSA), beginning with a group of Montana teenagers who loved skateboarding but had nowhere to do it. In a state defined by distance, weather, and limited infrastructure, skating often meant long drives or improvised spots, until a core group of friends decided to change that reality for good.
Founded by longtime Missoula residents Chris Bacon, Andy Kemmis, and Ross Peterson, along with a growing network of volunteers, the MSA set out to do something ambitious: bring permanent, well-designed skateparks to communities across Montana. What followed was years of fundraising, navigating bureaucracy, convincing skeptical city councils, and pushing projects forward in towns that had never built anything like this before.
Grit to Grind documents that journey with clarity and heart. Through interviews, testimonials, and profiles of skaters whose lives were shaped by these spaces, the book shows how skateparks function as more than recreational amenities. They become gathering places, creative outlets, and safe havens for young people. A foreword by Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament helps frame the story within a broader cultural context, while more than 100 full-color photographs bring the people and places behind the movement to life.
The result is an inspiring, deeply Montana story about persistence, grassroots organizing, and the quiet power of building something that lasts. Whether you skate or not, Grit to Grind reads as a case study in what happens when people stop waiting for permission and start doing the work. -DP
