Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 152
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley Adventures Operations Manager Heather Myre said she is looking forward to helping customers and staff explore the natural area in and around Seeley Lake with her new motorized recreational vehicle rental business venture. The service operates out of Kurt's Polaris on Highway 83 even though Myre considers it an entirely separate business. Myre is the daughter of Curtis Friede, owner of Kurt's Polaris since 1989. Myre grew up recreating with motorized vehicles. After...
POTOMAC - Jennifer "Niffer" Stackpole owned her catering service The Balsamroot Catering Company for around a decade before she opened her new food truck the Copper Cliff Cafe last summer. She loves sharing her love of food with her customers and welcoming the community to her outdoor venue in Potomac Thursdays and Saturdays and serving patrons at the Seeley Lake Market on Sundays. Stackpole said she grew up around cooking quite a bit as her grandmother was a "great cook" and her mother was a Fr...
SWAN VALLEY - Hailey Loudon and her husband Jesse Arno are bringing back Swan Valley Café for the first time since it closed in 2016. They are excited to bring in another active restaurant to the Condon area. "I always just wanted to own my own business and ... it seemed like a good opportunity," Loudon said. "It's been for sale forever and I would try to convince him to do this for about 10 years now. He finally just gave in." Loudon is originally from Aurora, Oregon but she graduated from Seel...
SEELEY LAKE - Potomac resident Sherri Housley has been selling her collection of various jam and jelly flavors at Seeley Lake Market for around a decade. She learned how to make jam at an early age when she would help her family pick strawberries and make jam out of it. "That's how we ate, we were really poor," she said. She finds the jam-making process "relaxing" and says that describing it is like describing art. She said while some may freeze the fruit in their jars, she prefers to leave...
SEELEY LAKE - After its building was purchased four years ago by Jason Moe of Moe Opportunities, LLC, the Moe-asis bar and hotel is now on the brink of being fully operational this upcoming summer. Located on Highway 83 just north of Seeley Lake, the bar opened Wednesday, May 12 and the hotel will hopefully be open around the beginning of July. Named after its owner, Moe-asis Manager Katelyn Lewis said the goal for the bar and hotel is to have an inviting environment for both visitors and...
Seeley Lake area business owners (or anyone interested in starting a business!) are invited to come meet your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Business Advisor on Thursday, May 13 in the West Wing of the Foundation Building. There will be two, one-hour sessions, for the convenience of busy business owners, one at 10 a.m. and another at 5:30 p.m. Pastries from Bernice's Bakery and coffee will be provided for the morning session. Pizza will be provided for the evening session,...
SEELEY LAKE - Chelsea Cahoon is hoping to offer Seeley Lake residents and visitors a unique recreational service with her new business venture - Big Dog Dad's Indoor Golf Simulator. Along with offering leagues in the fall and spring, golfers of any level can keep their skills polished during the offseason. Cahoon officially opened the virtual experience Jan. 28. Her father Wayne purchased the simulator last year. Wayne was the head coach of the Seeley-Swan High School golf team who allowed team...
SEELEY LAKE – This past January, The Resort at Paws Up (Paws Up) purchased The Wilderness Gateway Inn and the Seeley Lake Motor Lodge on Highway 83. They are excited to use both properties and the RV Park behind the Motor Lodge to provide a high-quality living space for year-round managers and seasonal employees and enhance their long-term investment in the local community. While the current plan is employee housing, they are contemplating seasonal public availability as long as it improves t...
OVANDO - Ryan and Tiffanie Zavarelli are ecstatic to be entering into a new phase of their lives as they take ownership of Trixi's Antler Saloon from Ryan's parents Cindy and Ray Francis beginning April 1. Tiffanie said come April the couple will be jumping right into their new positions with no transitional break in between. The couple recently moved back to Ovando in preparation of the change. They will be taking this on as an opportunity to "step out of city life" and be closer to Ryan's...
OVANDO - Trixi's Antler Saloon will venture into a new phase as co-owners Cindy and Ray Francis pass the bar and restaurant to their son Ryan Zavarelli and his wife Tiffanie April 1. Cindy said they are excited for Ryan and Tiffanie to take over because it will allow the business to stay in the family for the third generation in a row. The saloon has been operating in Ovando since 1960. The building was originally an old barrack from Fort Harrison that the original owner Trixi McCormick paid $1...
SEELEY LAKE – Riding a snowmobile before he could walk and driving his own at age three, Kyle Huestis was hooked on horsepower at a young age. After opening Freshies Built with his wife Lee in 2016 and moving to Seeley Lake in December 2018, they have grown from a mechanic shop of favors to shipping customized snowmobiles across the country to now offering guiding, clinics and a vacation rental for their guests. They strive to offer the best, all inclusive snowmobile and backcountry service t...
SEELEY LAKE - Massage Therapist Michelle Dunn is hoping to offer her clients relieving therapeutic massage services as she opens the extension of her massage clinic in Missoula, True North Massage, in Seeley Lake. Her techniques include trigger point therapy, myofascial release, soft tissue release, cupping, deep tissue massage and Swedish massage. "My mission is to give my community a way to manage pain relief and stress to keep active so you can adventure in the great outdoors," Dunn said....
SEELEY LAKE - Dr. Michela Reese will become Seeley Lake Chiropractic's new chiropractor towards the beginning of next year. She said she has not yet finalized the date she will begin but she intends for it to be sometime after Jan. 6. Her goals for her patients are to provide them with healthy biomechanics to eliminate their pain and discomfort as well as provide them with rehabilitation plans to prevent future injuries. For herself, she strives to consistently use evidence-based research to...
SEELEY LAKE – After serving as the Seeley Lake Area Chamber of Commerce executive director and on the board since the summer of 2017, Lisa Hayhurst and her husband Eric feel it is time to pass the torch. They are hoping to fill the executive director and board chair position before their last day, May 1, 2021. “It takes a lot of time and it is a lot of hours,” Lisa said. “I’m very thankful to everybody for the opportunity to serve as the executive director and volunteering for the past four years. It allowed me to meet people in the community a...
MISSOULA COUNTY - Local businesses have been affected on a spectral level since restrictions were implemented in March to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. Some saw an initial hit and began to recover throughout the summer tourist season while many others continue to struggle with coronavirus' ongoing financial impact. In an effort to capture the perceptions of tourism-related business owners and managers through the pandemic, the University of Montana's Institute for Tourism and Recreation...
SEELEY LAKE – The Filling Station sign on Highway 83 "The days of zombie apocalypse" has been a source of entertainment for nearly 200 days of the coronavirus pandemic. While they updated the sign daily before they reopened May 26, the owners and staff are struggling to maintain their sense of humor. "Even the nicest people have their limits," read the sign on day 176. With all the state and county COVID-19 requirements, The Filling Station is doing their best to follow the rules and serve t...
SEELEY LAKE - Stageline Pizza's Seeley Lake location will transfer ownership to Kyle Zumwalt beginning Oct. 1. Zumwalt purchased the pizza restaurant from previous franchisees Patrick and Cheryl Sheridan. Since 2018, Zumwalt has owned It's Ah Wrap before deciding to consolidate both restaurants' menus into the Stageline location. Because It's Ah Wrap was located on leased property, it will close permanently. Currently Stageline offers pizza, breadsticks, wings and calzones. Once Zumwalt takes...
SEELEY LAKE – As of July 20, Gallery 83 is under new ownership. Seeley Lake resident Brandy Wyckoff looks forward to continuing to provide a space for Montana artists to feature and sell their work. She hopes to offer a diversity of art, keeping things fresh and interesting for customers. Gallery 83 opened this past May in the south end of the Lazy Pine Mall on Highway 83. The new gallery was owned by Chris Larabee and operated by his father Brian. After selling their home in Seeley Lake, B...
SEELEY LAKE - When she started her first coffee shop in 2005, Jackie Callison did not think her business would be where it is today. Now, she has three coffee kiosks in small towns in western Montana, the most recent addition located in the parking lot of the Bison and Bear Center. Her goal is to consistently be there for her customers, always offering great coffee and a place for employment to locals in the community. "It just happened to come up a couple of months ago and I jumped on it and I...
SEELEY LAKE - Jenifer Flannery has been helping her family, friends and neighbors run errands, organize, clean and manage their home and businesses. After helping a few of her close friends and seeing the needs that people have in the area, Flannery decided to put her passion for helping others to work. She opened Artarose, a professional, affordable, customized service for house management, personal assistant and concierges services, to meet the demands of everyday living. "With everything...
SWAN VALLEY – For the past 23 winters, Mike Holmes has been starting a fire every morning at the Hungry Bear Steak House at 6:30 a.m. Every winter he brings in 30 cords of firewood for the Hungry Bear and the Gordon Ranch. This winter he can relax a little bit after he and his wife Sue sold the Swan Valley restaurant and retired July 1. The Holmes agreed to be successful business owners in the Valley, they had to invest a lot of time in the restaurant, working it and being there. While Mike won'...
SEELEY LAKE – With the COVID-19 regulations limiting vendors at farmers markets and closing fairs and festivals, craft vendors have been "left in a lurch." However the restrictions did not stop local craft businesses Montana Girl, Obsession Pottery and The Stubborn Moose from finding a creative solution. They opened a new cooperative named "Handcrafted in Seeley Lake" in the Filling Station Mall. They offer a fun, unique selection of locally handcrafted items and classes for the community and v...
SEELEY LAKE - After decades of working for others, Lynda and Kevin Mickelson decided it was time for a change. The newly retired couple opened Trail Creek Merc on June 28, a one-stop-shop for gifts, in the Bison and Bear Center. "I think that our personal mission on this is to be doing something that we want to do and enjoy," said Kevin. The Mickelsons grew up together in Missoula and in the summer they spent time in the valley with family. They both graduated from Loyola Sacred Heart in 1979....
SEELEY LAKE - Terry Antonich spent his youth on Lake Inez, and hoped one day he would be able to find a career in Seeley. So when Dick Lewis decided to retire from Rent-All, Antonich took over. "Having always wanted to own my own business and putting myself in a financial position to take advantage of a business opportunity, I jumped on the opportunity to purchase an established business in Seeley Lake," said Antonich. Antonic graduated from the University of Montana in 2000 with a degree in...
SEELEY LAKE - "This was a dream come true but a dream I never knew I had," said Sarina Gilpin, new owner of Deer Country Quilts. "If you would have asked me 10 years ago, I would not have thought this is what I would want to do with my life." Gilpin, who has worked at the quilt store since 2014, looks forward to carrying on the legacy of quilting in the valley and continuing to be a destination quilt store. Her mission continues to revolve around customer service and providing a safe place for...
