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Great Falls Native Opens Indoor Skate Park, Brings Steve-O to Town

Great Falls Native Opens Indoor Skate Park, Brings Steve-O to Town

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: Nov 27, 2009 at 6:35 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 27, 2009 at 6:35 PM MST

A Great Falls High graduate and professional skateboarder is sharing his passion with skaters of all ages right here in his hometown. We caught up with Ryan Simonetti at his new indoor skate park in Black Eagle. He's gearing up for the grand opening with the help of his famous friend, Steve-O.

"Ryan Simonetti and I met in Albuquerque, New Mexico in July of 1996,” said celebrity skateboarding enthusiast Steve-O. “Ryan said 'oh that's pretty cool. Let's find some buildings to jump off of into shallow pools.' And we went and Ryan got really hurt jumping into these shallow pools and we've been buddies ever since."

"It's been a whirlwind for me, I've been back a couple of months,” Ryan explained. “I've been in here building like every day. Coming back from L.A., especially Hollywood or Venice Beach, it's kind of a complete 180 as far as the culture goes. You deal with a bit of culture shock, a transition when you come back to Great Falls, you slow down a bit."

"The outdoor public park turned out really neat,” Ryan added. “It's a really amazing park. All my friends and I say it would've been nice to have that growing up, you know. We were getting kicked out of everywhere and now it's so popular, so it's nice that we're getting facilities like that and like this now."

Steve-O said this about the new indoor park, "Ryan's done a good job making this place accessible for all levels of skating, and with a cold winter getting started, this is the place to be."

"Hopefully we'll see a lot of people up here tomorrow (Saturday) and it's going to be a really good time,” Ryan said. “A fun environment, so hopefully everyone will have a really good time."

You can check out the new WildStyle Skate Park for yourself Saturday, November 28th starting at noon.

Steve-O will be signing autographs, and there will be a DJ all day, with live music starting at 6.

The cost is just $5 for three hours of skating. The park is located at 2901 15th Street Northeast. Right up on the hill, close to the TV stations.

-Reported by Andrea Fisher in Black Eagle

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Tribs said on Thursday, Jun 3 at 8:19 PM

right on Ryan... I grew up in greatfalls with the first wave of skaters... we would have loved a place like this... nicely done J. Tribs

veito moretti said on Sunday, Dec 20 at 10:41 AM

Thanks Ryan! This will be awesome. You Rock!

cj super said on Tuesday, Dec 1 at 4:43 AM

u know i think this was a wonderful idea in fact a brilliant idea because i am a skate boarder my self and most people dnt under stand how hard it is to find a place that isnt over populate and that u can skate without getting a ticket or in any other trouble so my thanks so out to steve-o and simontti

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