Sorted by date Results 26 - 34 of 34
SISTERS, ORE. - The drive from Portland to Bend weaves through a few towns offering a chance to pause for food and gas on your way to somewhere else. Sisters is a good place to stop. Arriving in the small town is a moment that just feels cheesy: Green Oregon forests end to reveal mountains in the distance. Leading to the view is Sisters' pseudo-western downtown with wood-shingle roofs and business names in a font typically seen on Hollywood's version of wanted posters. As more people moved to...
PHILIPSBURG - As the holiday season gets its start on a clear morning in late November, Main Street here looks like something out of a Hallmark movie. A window washer cleans down storefronts along blocks of historic brick buildings - a candy store, a microbrewery, coffee shops, restaurants, antique stores. Wreaths hang off ornate light posts. The surrounding hills are scattered with snow. Banners hung from windows and balconies celebrate the high school football team the Titans which has won a...
BOULDER, MONT. – When the Montana legislature decided in 2015 that the Montana Developmental Center would close within two years, it was a blow to the community of Boulder. For more than 125 years, the MDC had been a major employer in the southwestern Montana town of about 1,300. The state's residential facility for individuals with developmental disabilities, the MDC employed roughly 250 people at the time of the closure decision. "Not only will the community's economy suffer extensively from t...
Many small rural communities in north-central Montana — like Dutton, Conrad and Choteau — put on summer festivals that raise funds for a variety of community programs. As the population in these small towns continues to shrink, organizers are coaxing along an evolution in the way these events are run to pump more If there were a way to distill the identity of these small towns into one weekend, the summer festivals along the Rocky Mountain Front would be that manifestation. Imagine rodeos and...
RONAN - About 12 miles south of Flathead Lake, the town of Ronan is a community based largely on agriculture. With several schools, banks, a golf course and an active business community, Ronan is home to an estimated 1,871 people (according to 2010 U.S. Census information.) But while it boasts a variety of businesses, including a telephone company, a movie theatre, a café, a thrift store, a bowling alley, hospital and others, many Main Street storefronts remain empty or rundown. Roughly a...
Story & photos by Jan Anderson Editor, Boulder Monitor BOULDER, MONT – When fire destroyed two mobile homes in a Boulder trailer court and damaged two others in June 2016, it underscored what the community had known for years: affordable housing was at a premium. Calling the blocks of closely placed pre-1976 mobile homes "a ticking time bomb," Boulder Fire Chief Shane Maichel said the entire area could easily have gone up in flames, jeopardizing lives. It took five area fire departments to k...
Look at statewide numbers and Montana's economy seems to be doing well. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of jobs in the state of Montana grew 20 percent, according to a report released last year by Headwaters Economics. Personal income grew, as did statewide employment. But if you live outside a city, though, there's a good change you won't see much evidence of that growth. Just five counties - Gallatin, Lewis and Clark, Flathead, Missoula, and Yellowstone - account for three-quarters of it....
CHALLIS, IDAHO – Mining and ranching is the main economy of Challis, Idaho. When the Thompson Creek Mining Company, a molybdenum mine west of Challis, ended their mining operations in 2014 the bust in the economy rattled the community. At its peak, the molybdenum mine employed around 400 employees accounting for more than half of Custer Counties' tax roll. Today, around 50 remain. "They were the largest employer but now they are probably the second largest," said Greg Webster, owner of The B...
Leigh Ann Valiton watched a customer meander the aisles of the Blackfoot Commercial Co. in Ovando, Mont. Valiton's store, and attached Inn, is open until seven every evening, but it was 10 p.m. and she showed no sign of leaving. The customer, Faye Cunningham from New Zealand, filled her basket with frozen burritos, energy bars, chips and a Mountain Dew. Cunningham was competing in the Tour Divide Race, a 2,735-mile long mountain bike race that stretches from Banff, Canada to the Mexican border....
