Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 182
Bridger Tower Corporation's application for placing a cell phone tower near Highway 200, approximately 4.2 miles west of Ovando on the north side of Highway 200 was approved with one nay at the Powell County Planning Board public meeting Sept. 7. The project now moves on to the Powell County Commissioners for final approval. The application for the conditional use permit is for a 195 foot tall cell tower supported with three sets of guy wires. The height of 195 feet is 30 feet taller than Big...
The whispers of "Heads up, something special is going to happen at the beginning of the rodeo," floated around the grandstands, building suspense for the opening of the 59th Helmville Rodeo. Following the presentation of the Montana and Armed Forces flags, Bonnie Weaver, rodeo club secretary and Bill Baker, Rodeo Club president carried the American Flag to the center of the freshly groomed arena. Lily Boyd, a Seeley-Swan High School student from Condon climbed onto a barrel and prepared to...
Meeting under the Boot Tree outside of Ovando, tour participants looked through a forest managed for health and wildlife habitat on the Blackfoot Community Conservation Area. Abundant grass grew amongst trees with up to six foot diameter trunks and visibility up to 100 yards. Soon the tour caravaned to the perimeter of the Type One treatment unit. Visibility through the forest was limited at the edge of the road as the sunlight was strangled by a dense screen of ladder fuels. As part of the...
Some of the only known Swiss Valais Blacknose sheep in Montana live in Potomac on the ranch of Marin and Brad Hall. "I was taken with the breed when a coworker showed me their picture," Marin said. "Then my cousin and I were daydreaming about the sheep and the idea got born to develop a small flock." Margie Chritton from Seeley Lake, Marin's cousin and business partner, thought learning about the sheep business would help her transition from New York City life to rural Montana. Two foundation...
The Missoula City-County Health Board is hoping to reduce bears' access to garbage in Potomac by requiring bear-proof trash cans after multiple years of food conditioned bears visiting the area. The City-County Health Board approved a bear mitigation zone in the Potomac Valley at its Aug. 17 meeting, along with expanding the Bear Buffer Zone and related trash requirements across the Missoula Valley. "The Potomac Valley, especially in the Union Creek area, is one of the worst 'bear behavior... Full story
A French family of five pedaled into Ovando on Monday, Aug. 14 during their bicycle tour from Calgary to the Grand Tetons along the Great Divide bike route. Only three of them pedaled, as one rode in a special seat on the front of dad's bike and the baby rode in a baby backpack on mom's back. "In France, the Tour Divide is a famous bike ride," Julien Bonin said about their decision for the ride. "We are firefighters at home and like the exercise." Six-year-old Agathe sits on a Gekko adaptive sea...
A heavy-duty recumbent tricycle pedaled out of Ovando on Monday, Aug. 14. It was not to take a quick trip, as pedaler Greg Veal plans to make an 18-day, 820-mile trip to Bismarck, North Dakota, from Missoula. This is the second leg of his Lewis and Clark Trail bike ride to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer. He successfully made a trip from the West Coast to Missoula in 2022. Veal said he was an avid cyclist and jogger as a young man, but both of his knees required surgery in his...
Country music, a dunk tank and food trucks drew a crowd of almost 300 to the Blackfoot Challenge's block party Aug. 11 in downtown Ovando. Seth Wilson, executive director, welcomed everyone to the celebration of 30 years of partnerships, friendships and conservation. The Blackfoot Challenge was formed in 1993 following conservation efforts from the 1970s to build partnerships with public agencies. Early on, participants focused on working together to accomplish public access goals. In the '70s...
Jean Pocha of the Pathfinder The 12 members of the Nevada Creek 4H Club in Helmville are heading to the Tri-County Fair in Deer Lodge on Aug. 17-20. The Tri-County Fair encompasses Powell, Granite and Deer Lodge counties. Both 4H and FFA members will be participating in beef, dairy, swine, sheep, goat, poultry, rabbit, cat and dog showmanship, market animal and herdsmanship projects plus horses. There are also extensive projects in handcrafts, gardening, and cooking, with open classes for...
The Blackfoot River flows four inches lower than last year at this time, triggering river keepers to ask the public to take precaution when fishing. Water temperatures have remained about two degrees below the 71 degree threshold that would usher in hoot owl fishing hours, reported the Blackfoot Drought Committee on Aug. 1. “At this time in the season, we are asking for voluntary ethical fishing restrictions,” said Clancy Jandreau, Blackfoot Challenge water steward. “Keeping fish in the water...
"All for one and one for all!" Shakespeare in the Park performed "The Three Musketeers" to a crowd of more than 300 on the Double Arrow Lodge lawn in Seeley Lake on Aug. 2. The annual event is brought to the community through Two Valleys Stage, the performance branch of Alpine Artisans. The play began with protagonist D'Artagnan pleading for his mother's blessing to fulfill his heart's desire of becoming one of the Musketeers of King Louie. On his venture he soon started a sword fight with...
The Missoula Consolidated Planning Board approved the application for the Lazy Acres RV Park planned for Seeley Lake at its recent June 25 meeting in Missoula. Several variances to the RV Park code were discussed and agreed upon. The RV park would create 70 short-term spots for RVs and campers, with hookups, a camp store and a dump station. The RV park would sit between the Montana Gas and Stop and The Seeley Swan Medical Center. Variances in road width, RV lot size and interior walkway...
A new brick-and-mortar gift shop opened in Ovando this summer, one that plans to seasonally operate by selling local crafts and metalworks. Red Shed Gifts opened for its inaugural season in Ovando on June 15. The gift shop is an extension of the standard craft fair table the Vickie and Ben Harbour have been using at the Ovando Christmas Fest to market their craft items. “I like to create spaces,” owner Vickie Harbour said. “We needed space to sell the things we make, then decided to make a gif...
More than 20 floats whose occupants threw candy, glow sticks and misting water towards the crowd of 200 plus viewers. The floats circled the Ovando community at least three times on the Fourth of July in Ovando this year. The parade led by the Lincoln American Legion Post 9 went from Trixie's parking lot to the town square, where they stood at attention while Zia Kloetzel, from Ovando and now a Nashville resident, sang the National Anthem. Behind the color guard came Jon and Jan Farrar on foot...
The Mannix Ranch, Helmville, hosted a tour June 20-21 of their ranch and discussion of ranch practices as regional winners of the Montana Stockgrowers “Raise the Steaks” Environmental Stewardship Regional Award (ESAP) awarded for the 2022 nationwide contest. A system of values changing over time is part of the flow that the Mannix family spoke about as they shared their evolution as ranchers seeking resilient ways of tending the land and livestock they manage. “What seems right today might be pr...
In the late 1990’s grizzly bears began coming down into the valleys and coming across the ranch boneyards. Soon 20 or more bears were working the bone-yard circuit, according to research by Jamie Jonkel, Region 2 Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bear Management Specialist. “The bears had a trap line from boneyard to boneyard on area ranches during calving season,” Jonkel said. “By instituting the carcass collection program in 2003 with the help of Blackfoot Challenge, the possibility of human-b...
“People need something different than anonymous meat,” Cole Mannix of the Mannix Ranch in Helmville said during the Old Salt Festival on June 23-25. “Old Salt is primarily a meat company, and we’re borrowing a model from the breweries that have sprouted up. People go to breweries to have a good time and build relationships. That’s what Old Salt is trying to do with the festival, and have it focused on great wood-fired cooking, music and relationships.” Authentic connections with people rather th...
Riddy Arman serenaded the crowd with her folksy bluesy voice proclaiming "a cowboy hates fencing with love on his mind" against the backdrop of misty green hills, fading as rain showers threatened. People sat in clusters on rows of straw bales under an 80 foot x 160 foot tent listening to the music and chowing down on pork barbecue and beans. They were cooked low and slow overnight in cement block fire pits and 30 gallon cauldrons. Some played corn hole and ladder golf in the background. "It's...
A full-body elk mount carrying panniers helped attract 200-250 people to the Bear Fair on the Little Bird lawn June 18. More than eight organizations hosted tables with displays and information for people to learn a bear smart lifestyle. "The last Bear Fair in Seeley Lake was 21 years ago," said Patti Bartlett, organizer of the Bear Fair. "It was time to have another one with all the new people in the area so we can all be safer wherever we live." There are about 100 food-conditioned black... Full story
Cyclists Jessica Cerra and Evelyn Dong crossed Highway 200, within 2,000 feet of the finish line. The 80-ish mile race sprint finish was between second and third place. Cerra was ready to relegate herself to third place. Dong encouraged her to finish strong, and Cerra came in ahead of Dong by 0.7 of a second. The gray, drizzly morning did not stop the 200 riders from showing up to the Second Annual Dusty Banditas Women's gravel bike race on June 3 in the Ovando area. Thirty-seven women...
"Main Street, Ovando is on the route of the Tour Divide, a grueling 2,700 mile gravel bike race. It is the world's longest off-pavement bicycle race," said Kathy Thurmond, owner Blackfoot Angler and impromptu bicycle shop. "As of June 16, 156 riders have passed through town." The original 198 riders in the grand departure left Banff, Alberta, on June 9. Leaders passed through Ovando on Sunday, June 11. As of June 17, the leaders are over half-way to the finish-line in New Mexico. The overall...
The 44th Annual Father Mac Fastpitch Softball Invitational event brought teams from around the state to Helmville, Montana for the weekend of June 3-4. Each year the non-league softball tourney brings teams together for a weekend of fun and fast pitches in memory of a Helmville priest who would come up to play umpire after church services. "He loved the game and after his untimely death (in 1980) the Father Mac Invitational was created," said Dave Mannix, retired Helmville pitcher.. The Father...
Ovando Museum hosted five local citizens June 25 for recognition of being Nonagenarians, people 90-99 years old. Irene Weaver, her sister Norma Hughes, Whitey (Charles)Whitehead, Jack Hooker and Peggy Wittrock were the honorees. About 30 family, friends and community members attended. The honorees shared stories and memories from years past. "The purpose of the event was to recognize, admire and appreciate the wisdom from their experiences of life," said Barb McNally, Museum board member. "It...
Four eighth grade students finished their Helmville School career on May 30 with encouraging words from the Drummond Junior Varsity Football coach and the book "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." Graduating eighth graders Wyatt Daniels, Michael Goettle, Natalie Graveley and Lucas Spatig will all be attending Drummond High School in the fall, and per tradition they were the centerpieces of a graduation ceremony at the Helmville Community Center. The graduates shared their child...
Passers-by may notice new fenced-in areas blocking pedestrian traffic in some loacations this summer including Clearwater Crossing Fishing Access and Brown's Lake. These Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) fishing access points have been slated for habitat restoration and will see some improvements over the course of the season. According to FWP, trees need to be planted to mitigate erosion and the fences will stay up until the trees are well established enough to grow without protection....
