Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament to help clean skatepark Saturday

Pearl Jam bass player Jeff Ament will be in Havre at noon Saturday to clean graffiti off the Havre Skatepark and a release from the Havre Parks and Recreation Department says the public is invited to come.

Ament grew up in Big Sandy and was an avid skateboarder in his youth, and often came to Havre to indulge his passion.

In an interview back in 2016 he said his passion for skateboarding dates back to a family vacation he took to California when he was 12 or 13 years old. He said he had a cousin who lived in the San Jose area who was an avid skater who made his own board.

"He actually gave me a skateboarding magazine for the ride home," he said. "It was all I had to do for the next 24 hours was read this magazine, and by the time I got home, I was sort of like all the way in, and it became a big focus of my life sort of the rest of the time I was growing up in Big Sandy."

Ament's interest perked when skateboarding was just starting to become popular. There were no skate parks back then.

"I built my own ramp," he said. "Luckily my parents were supportive enough that they let me take up a big part of the garden area for my ramp."

Much of his skating, though, was done in Havre, he said.

"So I always had a big connection because there was a lot more skaters in Havre than there were in Big Sandy. And my grandmother lived in Havre, so we were there a lot," Ament said.

Ament and his organization, Army Skatepark Support System, with the help of Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation and Evergreen Skateparks, partner with local organizations, parks departments and local municipalities to create skateparks for communities across Montana to use.

"Growing up in a small town, two things helped form my young identity: music and skateboarding," a quote from Ament on the foundation's website reads. "I want to give young people a place to call their own where they can get outside with their friends and ride."

The Havre Skatepark was originally created back in 2005, driven by an association trying to set an area where skateboarders wouldn't have to worry about being charged with trespassing or have other issues.

Ament and his foundation helped the park expand substantially with two additions.

He has also helped fund skate parks built in locations including Big Sandy, Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, Hays, Malta, Browning, Missoula and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

In 2019 Ament also funded more work on the park, placing new obstacles on the concrete slab including a mound in the center of the park.