Central Montana 
The Big Sky Corvette Club sponsored Cruisin’ The Falls corvette meet a few weeks ago at City Motors in Great Falls, MT. Even though it was raining off and on all weekend, the snazzy looking cars came out in droves. Day one was just for show. It was fun to see the cars and I chuckled when I saw one license plate that read “WhyIWork”. Day two included an autocross held at Montana Expo Park. Orange cones were … Read more
May 20-22, 2010 the 150th Anniversary Mullan Road Conference was held in Fort Benton, Montana. The conference celebrated completion of the Mullan Military Wagon Road in 1860, the first wagon road from Fort Benton to cross the Rocky Mountains to Fort Walla Walla, WA. The 624 mile long Mullan Road joined the Missouri River with the Columbia River. Parts of the Mullan Road can be traveled today and last weekend’s conference featured a field trip from … Read more
The 2010 Spring Classic Fishing Derby was held May 21 – 23 in Fort Benton, Montana. The derby was a fund raiser for Fort Benton’s rural fire department. To begin with, records were set just with registration. A total of 116 people registered for the weekend derby. Everyone received a fishing pole, 12 mountain bikes were given to kids and many other great prizes were awarded throughout the event. Now, let’s talk fish! The … Read more
Sunday, May 2nd is the 12th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls. Located along the Missouri River overlooking Black Eagle falls, the Center is a great place for families and history seekers. Theme for this year’s anniversary celebration is the grizzly bear. Bear stories will be told in the Lewis & Clark Honor Guard encampment, children can make a bear mask, presentations in the theater include bear research and management, … Read more
As I look out my window today, the Ice Breaker Road Race in Great Falls could live up to it’s name. Snow is falling heavily and we are in a beautiful winter wonderland, April style! We have a week and a half before the Ice Breaker though, so we could have any type of weather by then. Sunday, April 25th is the day for the big event with 5 mile, 3 mile and 1 mile … Read more
Here’s a different event to take in – Saturday, April 3 at Showdown Ski Area near Neihart, MT is the Great Falls Ski Club’s Mannequin Jumping contest. This is pretty serious business for those who design, construct and launch the mannequins. Well, as serious as it can get for skiing and jumping mannequins! The contest starts when the ski lifts close and it runs from 4:30pm – 6:30pm. Head to the Little Belt Mountains to Showdown … Read more
The Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center’s annual Continuing Education Series gets underway today. Held at the Interpretive Center at 4201 Giant Springs Road (on the east edge of Great Falls), the first program is Wildlife Discoveries of Lewis & Clark by Choteau-based naturalist David Shea. The Lewis & Clark expedition encountered hundreds of animals, nearly 150 that were new to science. Two additional offerings in the series are Adventures in Uruguay by Art Sedlack April … Read more
My weekend became consumed with art shows! The Great Falls Native American Art Show held at the Civic Center was on my list for Saturday’s treks. As expected, I saw a great variety of artwork. The featured student artist, Kristen Hirst, was at her booth when I stopped by. On Friday she had sold 10 pieces of her art and, to say the least, she was very pleased. She posed by her favorite painting of brightly colored horses. … Read more
I visited another art show titled Jay Contway and Friends this past weekend. Held at Montana Expo Park in Great Falls, this show had bronzes by Contway (huge detailed bronzes), woodcarvings, metal sculptures, silversmithing, leather work, paintings and more. I took photos of some of the more unusual offerings. A handmade saddle was so detailed with leather tooling, I wouldn’t want to use it for horseback riding. I looked at the woodcarvings from several different angles and still could not figure out … Read more
Blaine County, along US Highway 2 in northcentral Montana, is the location of scheduled ranch open houses during calving and lambing season. What a great effort to combine agriculture and tourism and pass along education about Montana’s ranching heritage. The Chinook Chamber of Commerce and the Northcentral Montana Cattlewomen have coordinated this interesting project. Ranchers are taking turns in hosting the open houses that will run for two months on weekends only. Contact the Blaine County … Read more