Big Sky Blog

Montana author Laura Munson is holding a fun barn-themed contest! Check it out:

I’m holding a contest here on my blog from now until September 12.
To enter the contest, simply send in your best shot at naming the above barn in the comment section here on this post. Is it a celebrity? A concept? A country? A kind of sandwich? Let your common sense go and dream a little. It’s good for you.
The winner WINS A SIGNED FIRST EDITION copy of my book THIS IS NOT THE STORY YOU THINK IT IS. This contest will be judged by a team of highly skilled professional out-of-the-box thinkers: my two kids.
Additional opportunity for the extra outside-of-the-boxers: A signed book will also be sent to the person who sends in the best original barn photo and name…

There’s lots of pictures of other barns from across Montana, too!

Never imagined the escaped Arizona convicts would wind up in Montana: MT residents discuss sighting of alleged AZ fugitive

Adam Richman of “Man versus Food” stopped in Butte recently to attempt the Jumboli Stromboli. Any other MT locations he should visit?

Bozeman school using Facebook to try to win $500K.

Billings prepares to host John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan.

Grizzly bears spotted near Brady.

Wanna go for a helicopter ride over the Crazy Mountains in central Montana? Marnee Banks, a reporter for KXLH in Helena, did a story on the Montana National Guard, and she got to ride with them in a Blackhawk helicopter – and kept the camera rolling while airborne – cool!

The husband and wife team at Glacier County Honey are doing it right. They’ve got a website, an active blog, and are engaged on Twitter.

From the About page: “Welcome! We are tickled pink that you’ve stumbled across our little blog. We are the Glacier County Honey Company, Greg and Courtney Fullerton, a pair of commercial beekeepers who live on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, just south of Canada, and just east of Glacier National Park.”

Go say hi to this neat couple/business!

I’m not sure exactly what the LG Report is (think it’s the blogger’s initials – Lazarus G____?), but he’s started a 50-State Interview series, and in today’s installment he visits with a Montanan:

Today we move on to the second installment in The LG Report’s 50-State Interview Series (collect ‘em all!) After starting with Dannie in New York, we’re packing up the wagon train and heading out West to meet Patty from Gardiner, Montana. Giddyap little doggie!

The stereotypes and jokes are rampant in the interview, but I think it’s relatively harmless, good for a few chuckles. Go say hi.

MONTANA’S (thx bob! how did i turn that into alaska?!) most famous part-time resident, David Letterman, finally tied the knot! He got married to his long-time girlfriend (and mother of their 5-year old boy) Regina Lasko, and they did it right in Choteau (near his ranch). The official who married them was Teton County Justice Of The Peace JL “Pete” Howard. I guess after 23 years of dating and one child, Dave was finally ready for a commitment :-)

Congratulations to David & Regina Letterman! ALSO: check out this nifty look at Choteau!

Previous Letterman/Montana tidbits: Cold Hard Cash on Letterman show; Tim Montana on Letterman show; and other Letterman news.

One of my blog-buddies in Washington is looking for some online help to get the playing field at the school in Busby refurbished:

My mother-in-law is teaching at a reservation school in Montana. They need their playing fields refurbished- and Kellogg Foods is ready to help.

Vote here for this school:

N.C.T.S. Eagles Field
Busby MT 59016

It would make a huge difference to a very at-risk group of kids.

Use the Search box, narrow it to Montana, and then choose the Busby field; once you “support” it by passing a captcha test, you get a coupon for Kellogg’s cereal! Go vote and make a difference!

If you’ve ever enjoyed the best steak in the world at the Highwood Bar, tucked between Belt and Fort Benton, this will come as sad news: Jack Earl “Piano Jack” Myllymaki, the man who pounded the keys at the Highwood Bar, has passed away at the too-early age of 57. The Trib did a feature on Piano Jack not too long ago, highlighting his love of piano playing, his roots in Great Falls and Belt, and other quirks about this unique man.

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Part of the charm of the Highwood Bar was, of course, the piano-playing of Jack – hunched over the keyboard, wearing his hat, and pounding out all sorts of tunes. And I do mean pounding – he was so enthusiastic in his playing that sometimes you had to nearly yell to talk with someone sitting right next to you. And I mean that in a good way. Here’s Piano Jack, doing what he did so well:

Jack, thanks for being part of a unique experience. You will be missed. My condolences to the family, friends, co-workers, and admirers of Jack’s music.

Last Saturday, I stopped by the Farmer’s Market in downtown Great Falls and happened upon a booth operated by Brent and his family, where they were selling their Manly Man Candles, their home-based business located in Power, Montana. I loved the scents, bought a few, and asked Brent if I could promote his business on my site. Despite his modesty and shyness (ha!), he said sure. So I posted an entry the next day praising the manly goodness of his scented candles. And then a bolt of lightning struck…

…The crew at local CBS affiliate KRTV noticed my blog entry and figured it would be a neat story – local man with an unusual business. They did a brief feature on Brent and his biz. It was scheduled to air on Wednesday, but got bumped to Thursday.
Friday morning, the folks at CNN Headlines News picked up on the story. Then it spread to CNN and onto Fox Business News.
The result, as reported by Brent on his Manly Man blog:

I can’t even begin to tell you what the past 24 hours have been like. It’s been amazing. Last night I went to bed smiling, having just watched a two minute segment on my little candle company. I woke up to nine emails and a few orders, and I was quite pleased. My wife and I went off to work thrilled.
The news kept coming in as the day went on. Emails started pouring in. I learned that the segment aired on Headline News. Then went to CNN. Then went to Fox Business News. People from all over the country started emailing saying that they had seen us on their local news programs. People from other countries started emailing, saying they had seen it and wanted to sell them.

Excellent — couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!

And continuing with the blog angle to this lightning strike: earlier today, I noticed that my site visits were pretty high; I checked the referrals, and a large number of them were results of Google searches for “manly man candles,” presumably from people who had just seen the news clip on TV. Here’s a screen shot of what Google looked like around noon today:

Notice that my blog entry actually ranked higher (#3) than the actual Manly Man Candles site.

The other part of this is that I signed up to be an affiliate of Brent’s company, and look at the last 24 hours:

More than 360 people have clicked through to Manly Man Candles from GreaterFalls.com. Some of those clicks (double-digits) resulted in immediate sales; others may have bookmarked the site for later purchases.

So, what’s the lesson here? A few come to mind: first, free publicity is awesome – Brent didn’t have to spend a dime on this week’s free advertising. Second, you never know when lightning will strike; in this case, a chain of events cascaded into a modest avalanche. Third, every business needs a web presence. Brent is smart – he’s covered all his bases, with a business site, a blog, and profiles on social media sites.

The bottom line: everyone wins! I got some awesome candles and great traffic to my site, the KRTV team got a great story that was picked up by the networks, the Manly Man folks got worldwide publicity, and folks who buy Manly Man Candles for the first time are in for a treat!

(this entry was originally posted at GreaterFalls.com)

How about starting off in Cascade? Cute town, and for such a small community, it sure has some good parks. And right on the Missouri River – beautiful. Lunch at the Badger Cafe – delicious! Then a bumpy ride a few miles west towards the old ruins of St Peters, which I believe was built in 1855 and (mostly) burned down in 1887.

Next stop: Augusta, near the Rocky Mountain Front! Tiny community – population about 300 or so, I think – with one main street that takes you back in time. One general store, one “bunk house” hotel, a unique gift & art store, a Western clothing store, a diner, a library, and a couple of bars that double as restaurants. Friendly people (duh). On the side streets we found another hotel with a cool retro sign, the public school, and a few parks, houses, and old buildings.

(click to see full-size pix)

And let’s finish up with a drive up to Chester on the Montana Hi-Line. Small community; about 1,000 people, and the seat of Liberty County. It’s amazing how different the scenery is when you drive north versus south (or southwest). Both are beautiful drives, in their own way; I know that some people don’t consider the flatter, more barren region north of Great Falls to be “beautiful,” but it really is awesome. The highlight of the trip was the Sugar Shack – a way-cool retro diner. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open; some of the locals told us that it closed a couple of summers ago, and they’re not sure if it will re-open. Here’s some pix of the trip; click to see ‘em all and in full-size:

There you go: three amazing day-trips in Central Montana. Do you have any favorite day-trips or small communities that you like to visit?