Arts & Culture

  • Go To The County Fair!

    By Todd Klassy
    The carnival rides, food, exhibits and games at the county fair were something you looked forward to every year. In the winter, you longed for Christmas. In the summer, you yearned for the county fair. 
  • Visiting Jim's Horn House

    By Joseph Shelton
    I asked him, "how many antlers are there in here?" "No clue," he shrugged, but after a chuckle, he specified, "16,304, but I add some every year."
  • The Bad Luck Boys On Powder River

    By Dorothy M. Johnson
    Two or three weeks after the setting forth of two groups of gold seekers, with their belongings on pack horses, a smaller party, only three persons, rode off in the same general direction, toward the Yellowstone River, but for another purpose. They were going to mark the way that became known as the Bozeman Trail.
  • The Distinctly Montana Interview with Michael Punke

    By Lindsay Tran
    "Here, we owe a great debt to past generations – people like George Bird Grinnell whose vision and tenacity protected places like Yellowstone and Glacier. But protecting these places did not happen by accident, or without great opposition."
  • Shin-Plasters and Brass Checks

    By Lyndel Meikle
    The mine’s employees were often paid in “shin-plasters” and “brass checks.” A shin plaster was a derogatory name for paper scrip. Often of absurdly low denominations, they had the reputation of being as worthless as any slip of paper the men used as padding in their socks to keep their boots from rubbing on their shins.
  • Montana Baseball History

    By Skylar Browning & Jeremy Watterson
    Never mind that Frank James Burke — most often referred to as “Brownie and best known for standing just four feet, seven inches — started out as a mascot. Despite his small stature, the Marysville native ended up making a big impact on the national pastime.
  • Our Interview With Craig Johnson, Author of the "Longmire" series

    By Joseph Shelton
    "When they first started entertaining the thought of the TV show Longmire, the executives floated the idea of taking the Walt from my books and making him younger, but rapidly came to the conclusion that the world-weary twenty-six-year-old might be more than viewers could bear."
  • Our Interview with C.J. Box

    By Zuzu Feder
    I grew up reading every book I could set in the Mountain West, specifically Montana and Wyoming settings. Although often beautifully written, I found many of those books to have an outsider’s point of view. (There are plenty of books written today that have the same problem.)
  • Living History: 120th Year for State Capital Band Concerts

    By Aubrey Irwin
    If you're in Helena on a Thursday night, you might hear music and a roar of applause. The State Capital Band is in its 120th consecutive year of playing for the Helena area. The band plays in Memorial Park at 8 pm on Thursday nights - weather permitting.
  • Black Timber Custom Furniture: Delivering Montana Heirlooms

    For all that, they're still very much a Montana company which means that buying a piece of furniture from Black Timber Furniture is buying local. There are obvious benefits to buying local, like keeping money in the state and helping to support Montana's working families.
  • An Old, Broke Montana Rancher's Thoughts On "Yellowstone"

    By Gary Shelton
    I’m old enough to remember the golden age of TV Westerns, when shows like The Rifleman, Have Gun, Will Travel, and Gunsmoke filled the few channels we did get. Hell, I’m old enough to remember getting our first television, an enormous humming Philco...
  • Our Interview With Author James Lee Burke

    By Joseph Shelton
    Burke has lived in Missoula for decades now, and both Robicheaux and the Hollands have found themselves in the Treasure State. His most recent novel, Another Kind of Eden, tells a searing story of violence and mysticism among the changing times of the 1960s.
  • Montanan You Should Know: David Mirisch

    The thing I love most about Montana is: the warmth and friendliness of the people no matter if they live in a small town like where I live (Superior) or Missoula (where we lived for four years)