A common loon glides on Lake Alva on Friday, July 21.
Pete and Rachel Feigley play for a crowd at the Loon and Fish Festival July 22. Their band name is Mixed Bag, because they play a wide array of songs.
A lamp completely made by hand. The base is clay, while the glass shade is from discontinued glass.
Big Blackfoot Riverkeeper Jerry O'Connell shows an audience how to cast a fly rod. his tip: you don't need power, but grace, to get a good cast.
The theme of the annual Loon and Fish Festival hinges on its artists, and this year brought one of a kind items and old favorites to the Seeley Lake Foundation Building.
The two day festival on July 21 and 22 brought scores of residents and visitors to look at and buy art, hear from a loon expert and get versed on all things fishing. The festival is sponsored by Alpine Artisans and use the profits raised by the art and ice cream sales to fund student scholarships.
"It's a huge thing for artists here," Kris Gullikson, president of Alpine Artisans. "There's not a dedicated art gallery in Seeley, so this is our opportunity to let our artists flourish."
The pieces were highly anticipated, as Gullikson said a mad rush of people bought out items at the start of the festival on Friday. More than $4,000 in art sold on Friday, which Gullikson said was the highest-ever.
The items that Gullikson said did the best were 3-D art like rock tower lamps and wooden tissue paper holders. Other pieces were one of a kind, like a lamp shaped like a swan using old wood.
Naturalists like Loon Ranger Bay Noland-Armstrong educated the public on the very rare bird that calls the Seeley-Swan home.
"These birds are very territorial," Noland-Armstrong told an audience in the foundation building. "Generally they don't even like to share lakes during the mating season."
Loons can be found all over Canada, but only a select few choose to stay in the northern U.S. Montana is home to at most 180 Loons, according to Montana State Library research. They are hardy birds, having a life expectancy of 35-40 years.
Noland Armstrong said some loons hanging around this summer have been recorded coming to the Seeley-Swan since the 1990s.
Outside, Big Blackfoot Riverkeeper Jerry O'Connell showed onlookers some basic fly casting techniques.
Huckleberry ice cream was also up for grabs. There was an option to purchase a ceramic bowl made by Seeley-Swan High School students last year.
"They made 80 of them," Gullikson said. "We sold 20 of them last year, which was great, but we still have them and might have them for years to come."
The poster design for the event also featured a Seeley-Swan Student. Junior Cheyenne Gifford made the last two posters, winning both open contests for the festival. She said this year's design was much different than 2022.
"I went the opposite way with it," Gifford said. "I made it on my Ipad. I feel like I definitely did a bit better with my color theory and proportioning."
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