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Tour Divide frontrunner Justinas Leveika, 35 of Lithuania (pictured) rode into Ovando on Sunday at about 11:30 a.m. He was followed by second place Laurens Ten Dam, of the Netherlands, at about 1 p.m. and third place Ulrich Bartholmoes, from Spain, around 4:15 p.m. The riders are racing the Tour Divide on the 2,745-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells on the Mexican-American border. Ovando is located right on the route. The frontrunners took advantage of th...
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...
Ovando’s population has hovered around 70 residents during the 21st century (71 people according to the 2000 census, and 69 people according to the 2020 census), and 61 of those Ovando citizens signed a petition requesting their area’s speed limit be reduced to 15 miles per hour. According to Powell County Planning Director Amanda Cooley, this issue has been under discussion “for a long time” within the Ovando community, which sees no shortage of tourist traffic passing through its boundaries, due to its convenient proximity to a number...
"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 yearly Ovando Town meeting was held Tuesday April 18 at the Ovando Gym. There were updates from 11 community groups. Notable updates included the Fire Department, Town Park, Blackfoot Challenge, Sheriff's Department, upcoming bicycle events and school news. Fire Chief Monte McNally reported that there are 18 active volunteer firemen and five Emergency Medical Responders (EMR). A battery-powered "Jaws of Life" was obtained as a gift from Blackfoot Telecommunications and a six wheel utility ve...
OVANDO - After cycling around 550 miles in eight days for the Tour Divide, Shawn Cheshire and her team took a much-needed rest. While torrents of rain fell outside, they sat on the leather couches and chairs in the lobby of the Blackfoot Commercial Company and Ovando Inn. Cheshire sat on the floor with her back to the wall and her probing cane by her side. She said she was craving a nap. "I didn't expect the weather to be as extreme as it has been," Cheshire said. "I just remember when I could...
OVANDO - Ovando citizens came together Tuesday, March 30 in the Ovando School gym for a community meeting to review updates from local town boards and discuss upcoming events. Events discussed were Town Clean-up Day, Fourth of July, and the citywide garage sale and farmer's market. Blackfoot Challenge Office Administrator Deb Dillree and Ovando School Supervising Teacher Leigh Ann Valiton facilitated the meeting. Organizers confirmed that Town Clean-up Day will officially take place at 10 a.m....
If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also...
OVANDO - A cycling T-shirt hung for the first time on the side of Kathy Schoendoerfer's store, the Blackfoot Angler. On a normal year, hundreds of bike-packers, racers and cycling tours would have already passed through Ovando. However, this year they are only a trickle. "It is not like they all spend a lot of money, especially in my shop, but they can pick up a T-shirt. It's just little things," said Schoendoerfer who manages the Ovando Improvement Fund. "They will visit the museum and make a...
OVANDO – The Blackfoot Angler owner Kathy Schoendoerfer was struggling to communicate - not a situation she often finds herself in being the self-proclaimed "Ovando organizer of frivolous affairs." With five fishermen from Mongolia in her shop, Schoendoerfer knew zero Russian or Mongolian and they knew limited English. She did the best she could using hand signals and drawings and helped them get everything they needed. When she checked them out, they kept showing her two fingers and saying "...
Every summer we try and reconnect with a few folks in the Swan. We stay at Evie Andersons on Charles Road. Son-in-law Lane and sister Wendy now own it. Usually try and visit with Butch Harmon. We have lots in common be'n both old timber cutters. Butch had a rough summer to say the least. Spent too many days in St. Pat's like I did some time ago. They had to tinker with our tickers. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing. But the good book sezs "to number our days that we may gain a heart of...
SEELEY LAKE - Since 2008, the Tour Divide bike race has brought hundreds of bikers from around the world into Seeley Lake's backyard. The Tour Divide is considered the most difficult mountain bike race in the world that covers over 2,700 miles, beginning in Banff, Alberta and ending at the Mexican border. Racers left with the Grand Depart on June 14, and have been trickling through the Seeley, Swan and Blackfoot valleys throughout the week. Seeley Lake is not directly on the course for the Tour...
OVANDO - Bike packers have begun to trickle through the area on the 2019 Tour Divide bike race. As of Tuesday, June 18, there are still 146 racers (originally 159) that left with the Grand Depart from Banff, Canada June 14. The winners are on pace to reach Antelope Wells, New Mexico in just more than two weeks. The Tour Divide, billed as the hardest bike race in the world, is a single-stage, self supported 2,745-mile mountain bike race on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Riders left en...
SWAN VALLEY - In upper Swan Valley the first schools were built in 1918 when a group of residents petitioned the Missoula County Superintendent of Schools requesting that the district be split at the Swan-Clearwater watershed divide. The Swan River watershed retained the School District #33 while the Clearwater watershed became School District #34. Three one-room log school buildings were constructed near three tributaries of Swan River: Smith Creek, Rumble Creek and Elk Creek. To accommodate as...
OVANDO - Blackfoot Angler Fly Shop owner Kathy Schoendoerfer visits with Tour Divide leader Richard Dunnett at 10:40 p.m. June 10 in this screenshot of the Blackfoot Angler's webcam. Dunnett took about two and a half days to ride the 542 miles from Banff, Canada to Ovando. More than 160 riders headed out June 8 on the 2,735 mile Tour Divide Race from Banff to Antelope Wells, N.M. on the Mexican border. Riders carry Spot Trackers during the race and their progress can be tracked at:...
BIG SKY, MONT. - "This is a story about a community coming together to save their town through tourism," wrote Montana Department of Commerce Industry Services & Outreach Bureau Chief Jan Stoddard regarding Ovando being recognized as Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development's 2018 Community of the Year. "It was clear that Ovando's unique community collaboration, no matter the town's size, can have a lasting impact on supporting the travelers who visit Montana and spend $3.4 billion in...
OVANDO – Owner of Ovando's Blackfoot Angler Kathy Schoendoerfer said she needed to be convinced the phone call wasn't a scam when Kevanne Campbell with the Montana Office of Tourism and Business and Development called to tell her Ovando was in the running for Community of the Year. Of the 130 communities in Montana, Ovando was one of three nominated and chosen to be recognized at the Montana Governor's Conference on Tourism and Recreation. Schoendoerfer said when she and her husband opened t...
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....
OVANDO - Leigh Ann Valiton paces back and forth down the two aisles of the Blackfoot Commercial Co. Her store, and attached Inn, is open until 7 every evening, but it's currently 10 p.m. and she shows no sign of leaving. Every few minutes she goes to her desk and refreshes the GPS tracker on her phone. She looks up, "It says she's here. Do you see her?" The woman in question is Fay Cunningham from New Zealand. Cunningham is competing in the Tour Divide Race, a 2,735-mile long mountain bike race...
SEELEY LAKE-Mountain bikers have begun to trickle past Seeley Lake. The frontrunners of the 2017 Tour Divide bike race passed the Seeley Lake airport enroute to Ovando Sunday, June 11. The Tour Divide, billed as the hardest bike race in the world, is a single-stage, self supported mountain bike race along the Continental Divide. Riders left en masse from Banff, Canada June 9 and the winners hope to reach Antelope Wells, New Mexico in just more than two weeks. Seeley Lake is approximately 523.5...
SEELEY LAKE, MONT. - Thursday evening, June 15 Gary Johnson slowly walked across Highway 83 in Seeley Lake, carrying his wrapped up leftovers from dinner at the Filling Station and shivering. He looked his 64 years of age. Johnson shuffled up to the window of the Ice Cream Place and ordered a large chocolate milk shake. "I'm doing the Tour Divide Ride," he told the girl at the window. "I need all the sugar." Typically Johnson doesn't eat sugar in his diet-he also hasn't had a drop of alcohol in...
MCT’s The Wiz of the West Audition and Performance SEELEY LAKE - An audition will be held for the Missoula Children’s Theater (MCT) production of “The Wiz of the West” May 15 at 3 p.m. at Seeley Lake Elementary (SLE). The final performance of the play will be presented Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m. at SLE. “The Wiz of the West” has been described as a fairy tale with a twang. A down-home, country telling of every cowpoke’s favorite yarn…Aw, Auntie Em, there’s no place like home on the range. Those auditioning should arrive at 3 p.m. and plan to...
Alpine Artisans' Tour of the Arts once again offers a feast for the eyes – featuring the artwork of more than 25 artists in four studios, three historical museums and two galleries from Condon through Seeley Lake to Ovando. Driving this free, self-guided tour Oct. 8 and 9, takes you through miles of Tamaracks in full color to enjoy the latest work created by our local artists. There will also be the screening of the documentary "Unbranded" Saturday evening, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Seeley Lake C...
OVANDO – The simple act of reaching out to one woman who was in last place during the 2012 Tour Divide Bicycle Race has turned Ovando into a destination for Tour Divide riders and cyclists all over the world. Ovando's motto, "What we do for one, we do for all." In 2012, Blackfoot Angler's owner Kathy Schoendoerfer got a call from someone telling her that cyclist Tracy Burge from Ohio was in last place, sick, hurting and about ready to give up. The community of Ovando responded by preparing t...
