The First Old Salt Festival is coming to Helmville June 23-25, 2023. Aromas of food cooked over an open wood-fired pit from renowned chefs, music and conversations will fill the air at the old airstrip southeast of Helmville on the Mannix Ranch."It's meant to be a celebration of Montana land stewardship," said Cole Mannix, event chairperson, in a phone interview.
"We're trying to engage people in our urban areas with rural communities and celebrate what ranching can do for maintaining an intact landscape, maintain wildlife habitat, and, of course the food system. "There will be three stages, a general Store with animal-based products (leather, wool, soaps, hides, hats), 40' cinderblock cook fire, authors, poets and land owners sharing about working lands and conservation. Thirteen regional headliner and local bands as well as authors and poets, will be interspersed throughout the programming.
"The festival will be food first," said event chairperson Cole Mannix. "It's first and foremost a food festival, meals are included in the ticket price. "The three stages will trade off between Americana music, conversations about conservation ranching methods, poetry and storytelling. Saturday night there will be Native American ghost stories told around the campfire/ fire pit. "The aim of this event is to bring together the rural and urban sectors of Montana," said Mannix.
"Usually events in Helmville require the work of all community members, we want this event to be hands off for local people so they can come and enjoy the festival," Mannix said. "For that reason we are hiring private EMS and fire services.
"Thursday night will be the kickoff with a band at the Copper Queen, Old Salt Co-op food truck outside and CQ drinks and food inside. Friday night will be a hog roast on the 40' cinderblock firepit with guest chefs from the Pacific Northwest doing a hog charcuterie.
Saturday night will be a beef and lamb roast by Jarret Foster from Portland.
Sunday will be a brunch by Eduardo Garcia, serving traditional Mexican barbacoa with goat meat.
"Given that Hwy 200 is only getting busier, the river and river accesses are as busy as they've ever been," said Mannix. "It's safe to say that the Blackfoot Valley is not a secret anymore. Ranching is one of the things that is happening in this community and this valley that matters and should be supported and appreciated."
The main challenge will be getting people to know about the festival since it's a brand new entity. The ticket price may seem high, but there are 3 delicious meals included. There will be food trucks with other meals to purchase from 11 am – evening. Lewis & Clark Brewing and Dark Side Fermenters (kombucha) will be on site. Ticket sales will be capped at 2,000 participants with tickets available for only one day or the whole weekend.
The primary motivation for the festival is to build relationships and common ground between rural and urban communities, in addition to introducing Old Salt Meat Company.
Old Salt Co-op is a group of ranches in Montana with similar goals of land sustainability, animal husbandry and community. Their goals are to be productive while maintaining land fertility, using livestock as the central tool in responsible agriculture and using livestock handling skills and techniques to work with an animal's mind and perception rather than by force.Old Salt Meat Company hopes to increase the scope of meat that doesn't leave the state and is sold to Montanans. Currently four Montana ranches are the suppliers and owners of Old Salt Meat Company. Old Salt has a small meat processing facility and are working to expand their processing capabilities for other ranches. In addition the Old Salt Restaurant has been operating in Helena since 2021, and they will be opening another restaurant with a meat counter in Helena soon.
"Ranching and what it does for our food system and rural communities are important to everyone in the state, not just the ranchers," said Mannix. "This festival is a way to build appreciation and understanding for that."
Tickets and information are online http://www.oldsaltco-op.com
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