 | | A weekly look around the Gallatin Valley and beyond. | | Issue 1 - The last road into the park and who built the M |
Hey, neighbor. This is the very first Bozeman Buzz, and the first time this little newsletter network has set up shop out West. Every Tuesday morning I'll send one email about the Gallatin Valley and beyond, and that includes Park and Madison Counties. It's also Election Day, so the local ballot questions are in What's building, in plain English with no spin. If your end of these three counties feels left out, hit reply and tell me what I'm missing. |
  | What's in this one | |
| 1 | Hot picks · A trailer-park comedy in Big Sky, Shrek in Livingston and a dance-off fundraiser at the Emerson. | | 2 | Field guide · Most of Yellowstone closed to cars Sunday. Here's the one road that stays open all winter, Gardiner to Cooke City. | | 3 | The scrap · The best local posts I found this month, so you can skip the scrolling. | | 4 | What's building · What the county, Bozeman and Madison County questions on today's ballot would change. Plus Bozeman Creek's draft plan Monday. | | 5 | Makers · $5 opening bids on art at the Baxter, and a hand-cranked picture show in Belgrade. | | 6 | Deep cut · Why there's an M on the mountain, and who hauled the rocks up there in 1915. | | 7 | Season · BSF's ski swap takes over the fairgrounds, and the porch pumpkin finally gets smashed. |
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  | Hot picks | |
| This weekend's best bets around here. |
| Good weekend to sit in a theater seat. Big Sky and Livingston both have shows going, and Saturday the Emerson turns local big shots into ballroom dancers. |
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Artwork: Warren Miller Performing Arts Center | Big Sky · Thu Nov 5 and Fri Nov 6 · 7pm MT · price not posted |
Artwork: Shane Lalani Center for the Arts | Livingston · Fri Nov 6 and Sat Nov 7 at 7:30pm MT, Sun Nov 8 at 3pm MT · price not posted |
A past Last Best Stars show. Photo: The Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture | Bozeman · Sat Nov 7 · doors 5:30pm, show 6pm MT · from $28 |
  | Field guide | |
| One useful guide to living around here. |
| Gardiner · North Entrance to Northeast Entrance (Cooke City and Silver Gate), by way of Mammoth, Tower Junction and Lamar Valley Sunday, Nov 1, most of Yellowstone closed to cars for the winter. The West, South and East entrances shut, and so did nearly every park road. One road stays open year-round, weather permitting: from the North Entrance at Gardiner through Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Junction and Lamar Valley to the Northeast Entrance at Silver Gate and Cooke City. For the next few months, if you want to see the park from a car seat, this is the road. November is a good time for the drive, because the summer crowd is gone and you can see a long way across Lamar. People set up spotting scopes out there hoping for wolves. Know before you go: the park says the Gardner River High Bridge, about half a mile southeast of Mammoth, is down to one lane with waits of up to 15 minutes through Nov 24. Check road status first, keep a full tank, and pack cold-weather gear, because services are thin out there in winter. The park's rule on wildlife is 25 yards from bison and elk and 100 yards from bears and wolves. If bison are on the road, stay in the car and wait them out. Past Cooke City the road is closed to cars in winter, so it's an out-and-back. The drive home is the same valley at a different hour, and that's the best part. The full guide has the route piece by piece, plus the phone numbers and links worth saving. | |
  | The scrap | |
| The best stuff you missed in the area's social media world. |
| I scrolled through way too many local posts so you don't have to. These are the ones that got an actual laugh out of me. |
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  | What's building | |
| What's going up, getting paused, or getting fought over. |
| It's Election Day, so this week what's getting built is mostly decided at the ballot box. And Monday, the city shows its draft plan for Bozeman Creek downtown. |
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Illustration by Buzz Artist | Gallatin County, Bozeman and Madison County · today, Tue Nov 3 · polls 7am to 8pm MT |
Photo: City of Bozeman (Engage Bozeman) | Bozeman · Mon Nov 9 · 4:30pm to 7:30pm MT · free |
  | Makers | |
| Local makers nights and market tables worth hitting. |
| Friday is tiny paintings with $5 opening bids at the Baxter. Saturday afternoon, Belgrade gets hand-cranked picture shows with live music. |
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Image: Bozeman Art Museum | Bozeman · Fri Nov 6 · 5:30pm to 8:30pm MT · free, no ticket BAM's fourth annual mini auction is at the Baxter Hotel on Main, and this year it's "Minis & More," so some full-size paintings are mixed in with the tiny ones. Every piece starts at $5 and goes up in $5 steps, bidding runs online, and lots close at 8:30pm. A lot of the artists will be in the room. If you want to scout first, the preview is today, Tue Nov 3, noon to 5pm at the museum, 2612 W Main St, Suite B. I've already set my max bid, and I'm already lying to myself about it. Bozeman Art Museum |
Illustration by Buzz Artist | Belgrade · Sat Nov 7 · 2pm and 3:30pm MT · free, reservations required |
  | Deep cut | |
| One local history leftover worth knowing. |
| Bozeman · the M, on the lower slope of Mount Baldy at the south end of the Bridgers Every issue of this thing ends with "See you at the M," so on day one I figured I owed you the story of whose M it is. I care because a bunch of college kids built it. In the fall of 1915, sophomores from the Montana State College class of 1918 picked a spot on Baldy you could see from campus and town, staked out the letter, and spent a day hauling limestone up that steep slope by hand. They ate dinner around a bonfire in Bridger Canyon after. They came back on May 8, 1916, and whitewashed it with water and lime hauled up the same hill. The 1916 student paper and the 1918 yearbook both put it at 240 feet tall and 100 feet across, though MSU's own M page today says 250, so the sources differ. Students have kept it white ever since, and the full story has the frog-pond tug-of-war that came first and the helicopter that showed up a century later. | |
  | Season | |
| What's in the air right now. Farm stands, orchards, peak harvest. |
| The snow isn't here yet, but the gear is. Saturday is ski swap day at the fairgrounds, and over at Story Mill the porch pumpkin finally gets what's coming to it. |
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Illustration by Buzz Artist | Bozeman · Sat Nov 7, 10am to 6pm (special early entry 8am to 10am) · Sun Nov 8, 10am to 2pm MT · Sat $5, Sun $2 until noon BSF fills the Gallatin County Fairgrounds, 901 N Black Ave, with alpine, Nordic, snowboard and backcountry gear, and the foundation says that's more than 10,000 items. A quarter of sales go to BSF's ski programs and free community trails. Saturday entry is $5 in cash or Venmo, and kids under 12 get in free. Sunday is $2 until noon and free after that. Selling? Register your items online by today, Nov 3, for $1 apiece (it's $3 after), then drop them off Friday. All sales are final, so try the boots on. I'll be there Sunday at 12:01, acting like I'm not just there for free entry. Bridger Ski Foundation |
Illustration by Buzz Artist | Bozeman · Sat Nov 7 · starts 10am MT · free, all ages |
| Bozeman Buzz · written from around here · Tuesday mornings |
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