Big Sky Blog

On Sunday, September 2, the small community of Reed Point will host the annual festival known as the “Running Of The Sheep!”

The Reed Point Community Club’s annual ‘Great Montana Sheep Drive’ features hundreds of sturdy Montana bred woolies charging down the six blocks of the main street in an event some say is matched only by the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. The event also has a parade including the Shriner’s Band, floats, antique cars, covered wagons, horse groups and more. First, Second and Third place prizes are always awarded to parade entrants. Our parade has been written up as ‘The World’s Largest Small Town Parade.’ Let us not forget, during the day there are over 70 vendors lining the main street and a special area of Children’s Rides and Petting Zoo. To end the fun filled day, don’t miss the evening ‘Street Dance’ with live music.

The annual event was originally conducted in 1989 as an homage/parody of the Great Montana Centennial Cattle Drive (celebrating 100 years of statehood), and has continued in fluffy form ever since then.

One of the best-loved and most widely-read Big Sky Bloggers, Sarpy Sam, has moved to a new location! Go visit him, check out his new digs, and be sure to update your blogroll (such as the Big Sky Blogroll!) and/or RSS feeds!

In case you hadn’t heard it over at my place, this week’s edition of Small Town, Long Streets will be featuring Bozeman Mayor Jeff Krauss.

The call-in number and other details can be found here.

We’d love to have you join us!

This is not strictly Montana — but may be of interest to Montana bloggers. There are a couple of intriguing global events coming up.

First, from Listics:

OneWebDay: September 22

The Web is worth celebrating.

OneWebDay is one day a year when we all – everyone around the physical globe – can celebrate the Web and what it means to us as individuals, organizations, and communities.

As with Earth Day – an inspiration and model for OneWebDay – it’s up to the celebrants to decide how to celebrate. We encourage all celebrations! Collaboration, connection, creativity, freedom.

By the end of the day, the Web should be just a little bit better than it was before, and we’ll be able to see our connection to it more clearly.

Then, via problogger:

Blog Action Day: October 15

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future…

Both of these look challenging, fun, and possibly even worthwhile. I’m giving them some thought.

[More at Watermark]

Information about the $400 property tax rebate, from the official Montana state website:

* $400 per-household property tax refund applies to real estate property taxes paid on a homeowner’s principal residence in 2006. If less than $400 was paid in 2006, homeowners can sum their real estate property taxes paid on their principal residence owned and occupied for at least 7 months in 2005 and 2004 to reach the $400 total.
* Applications will be available in late August. Applications will be mailed to homeowners, will be available online on the State of Montana’s website www.mt.gov, and will be available in public places such as county courthouses and public libraries.
* The Department of Revenue will begin processing applications September 1, 2007.
* Homeowners must apply for the refund by December 31, 2007.
* Homeowners must have owned and occupied the home as their principal residence for at least 7 months in 2006.
* The refund applies to real estate property taxes paid on a person’s home including multi-unit dwellings, manufactured homes, mobile homes and trailers.
* The refund does not apply to renters.
* Only one claim may be made with respect to each principal residence.
* The refund is not considered to be taxable income if you used the “standard deduction” for the 2006 tax year. The refund is considered to be taxable income if you reported your personal property taxes as “itemized deductions” for the 2006 tax year. In that case, the refund should be reported as income for the year in which you receive the refund check (either 2007 or 2008).

So what are you going to do with YOUR $400 rebate?

Last night my husband, Henry, our 6-month old, Anders, and I went to the Park County Fair. This must be one of the smallest Country Fairs in the country, but it was still pretty fun. The barns hold pigs, cows, horses, rabbits, goats, sheep and chickens, there are few rides and a handful of carnival games with the requisite stuffed animals lining the tents.

We got there during the 4H livestock auction. The 4H kids buy baby animals in the spring, raise them and then sell them at the Fair. A teenager I know made a couple thousand dollars off her hogs last year, so it is a profitable venture. The hogs we saw last night were going for $3-$4 a pound.

The auctioneer vomits out a sting of words, urging the folks in the stand to bid, while four cowboys stand in the ring and point out the bidders. The kids, wearing black jeans, a white shirt and a black tie around their necks, walk around the ring with their pig. Some of these kids were so small! The pigs could have easily sat on them and squished them flat.

After the auction, we walked around the barns, looking at the animals. We missed the petting zoo, so we let Anders pet the sheep and goats. He was pretty mesmerized by the animals until a horse whinnied in his face and scared him to death. It was simultaneously hilarious and heart breaking. He howled for several minutes, then regained his composure.

Like most County Fairs, at least in the west, the rides look rusty and questionable. I’m sure they’re safe, but you have to wonder about something that gets disassembled and reassembled every few days. It sure would be easy to miss a bolt…

A requirement of a visit to the Fair is to sample Fair Food. I went for a caramel apple, (which was delicious) and Henry and I both sampled a friend’s funnel cake. Yum—fried dough and sugar.

In addition to the animals and rides, the 4Hers displayed their projects in one of the buildings. It looked like a science fair—posterboards filled with hand-written explanations of a cat’s intestinal system, how to grow a cow and other livestock-related subjects.

Tonight we hope to make it to the pig wrestling!

Just the Facts
Cost: $1 to enter, $5 for pig wrestling, $10 for the Demolition Derby and other entrance fees for additional events. Rides cost extra.
When: Second week in August
Where: Park County Fairgrounds, Livingston, Montana
Contact: 406.222.4185, fair@parkcounty.org

If you know some Montanans who are having difficulty paying their Medicare approved prescription drug insurance premiums, let them know about the following program administered by the State of Montana:

http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/prescriptiondrug/bigsky.shtml

Couple of developments in the world of Montana sports: first, there is a forum for people to discuss the world of high school sports, located at Montana Prep Sports. Second, the schedule for the 2007-2008 Continental Basketball Association is now available at the CBA Hoops site. Of course, I’m partial to my home team – the Great Falls Explorers!