Tucked away in a valley a little over an hour east of world-class ski area Big Sky sits Ennis on the banks of the Madison river — a quaint Montana town of roughly 1,000 people known specifically for its fly-fishing. Regarded informally as a Mecca of fly fishing, fly fishers from all over travel to Ennis for its abundance of brown and rainbow trout. But now Ennis is attracting another crowd: skateboarders.
Erin Leonard, Project Coordinator for the new Ennis Lions Skatepark, was instrumental in organizing the funding from local organizations and generous donors for a brand-new $300,000 park constructed in the shape of a trout. In a video call interview with SnowBrains, Leonard shared that the idea originally sparked about two years ago through her teenage son and fellow board member Kristen, whose high school sons had moved from the East Coast and found deep solace in skateboarding during the pandemic. Looking for a way to give local kids a dedicated outlet, Leonard reached out to the Montana Skatepark Association to learn the ropes of building a park from scratch. “I just reached out to the skate park association, be like, ‘Hey, what’s the protocol on getting a skate park started?'” Leonard recalled. “And less than two years later, we have a trout bowl.”
That outreach quickly connected the project with Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, a Big Sandy, Montana native who has championed the construction of more than 40 skateparks across the state. Ament provided the first major financial injection to get the ball rolling, spurring a momentum-building campaign across the valley. Rather than facing skepticism or pushback about skateboarding, Leonard was thrilled to find that the town immediately embraced the vision, donating the land right away. “Quite honestly, I thought there was going to be some resistance because, you know, skateboarders get a certain rep,” Leonard admitted. “The kids being involved were huge — presenting at town councils and local events. They’ve been the face of the project basically from the get-go, and I think that helps a lot with community.” Local youth stepped up alongside organizers, delivering door-to-door presentations to local businesses, selling t-shirts and stickers, and securing $5,000 to $10,000 contributions from area sponsors alongside grants and auctions. “Selling T-shirts and stickers, and that’s really all that it came from, you know, just grinding,” Leonard said.
The project also forged an unexpected, heartwarming collaboration between two seemingly different subcultures: fly fishermen and skateboarders. Once Leonard’s team pitched designing the park’s main bowl in the shape of a trout, local outfitters and angling guides rallied behind the cause with donations and auction prizes. “It’s been really cool to collaborate with local outfitters,” Leonard noted. “Once we threw the fish idea for the bowl, that just kind of helped tie everything together, and they felt honored and respected. It just so happens that a lot of fly fishermen like to skateboard too.” Through incorporating the town’s iconic identity into the park’s concrete artwork, Leonard was effectively able to bring the entire community together.
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After two months of watching builders sweat in the summer heat, the trout bowl was finally completed ahead of its official debut on Saturday, July 25. “I’m probably going to be an emotional wreck because it really has been a lot of work and emotion tied up into it,” Leonard said. She confessed that she kept the construction fence locked until opening day just to build maximum anticipation among local kids. “I’ve been adamant about not letting anybody use it. I want everybody to be anticipating it intensely,” she laughed. And while the park was created to serve the next generation, Leonard said she fully intends to drop into the concrete trout bowl herself — late at night when no one else is around. “I’ve always been in love with the culture since I was a kid,” she shared. “When it’s later at night and no one’s around, yes, I’ve got to do it a few times by myself. It’s not gonna be beautiful, but I’m gonna try it.”
In a town historically defined by the quiet currents of the Madison River, the Ennis Lions Skatepark proves that deep tradition and vibrant youth culture can seamlessly share the exact same space. As the ribbon is cut on opening day, Ennis isn’t just unveiling a concrete trout bowl — it is establishing a lasting legacy where fly-fishers and skateboarders can carve out their own lines side by side for generations to come in the heart of Montana.
