Events

Here comes a party for the pages

Just in time for reading season, the Northwest Montana History Museum welcomes book writers and lovers from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, for a program of speakers and exhibitors focused on Northwest Montana.

Featured speakers include Debra Magpie Earling, Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, Melissa Barker & Stewart Wilson, and Leslie Budewitz.

We also welcome writers and publishers to exhibit and sell their books; please submit interest to participate at nwmthistory.org/programs/northwest-montana-book-festival/. Help us present a wide range of subjects and genres by spreading the word!

Festival mission: Gather Northwest Montana readers and authors to promote, celebrate, and inspire regional writing and writers.

Thank you to Humanities Montana for the support.

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Come meet the new “Lumberjacks, Tie Hacks & River Pigs”

Join us for the grand reopening of the oldest exhibit at the Northwest Montana History Museum.

Months in the making, the wholesale renovation of the Northwest Montana History Museum’s “timber room” will be unveiled 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. In one of the biggest undertakings since the opening of the Kalispell: Montana’s Eden exhibit, the museum began the redo in spring of its first and oldest permanent exhibit, which had opened in 2003.

Volunteers and vendors from all over the valley, along with students from Kalispell Public Schools, worked to install a model train layout featuring the Somers tie plant and other past and present Flathead Valley landmarks. Renowned Columbia Falls muralist Clark Heyler painted the backdrop.

A new timeline of events in the history of the Northwest Montana timber industry brings our understanding up to date and includes innovative wood products made here.

Volunteers also took a deep dive into the museum’s collection to create displays of historic tools, clothing, and even what grub got served in a logging camp. Learn what it meant to have hot cakes nailed to your door if you were a camp cook.

The museum’s rich photographic archive yielded dozens of images showing the various methods of logging over 150 years, in places that many Flathead Valley residents know well. These were enlarged, printed, and mounted in the windows and along the walls.

For the Oct. 18 open house, adults in flannel will receive a free pint glass while supplies last. Kids can enter a drawing to win a wooden toy train.

We look forward to seeing you soon among Lumberjacks, Tie Hacks & River Pigs!

Details:
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, 2024
Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 2nd Ave. E., 406-756-8381; nwmthistory.org

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Nov. 17 event is one for the books

We’ve got some big events in store this fall, starting with a new exhibit of paintings by Valentina LaPier, the grand reopening of Lumberjacks, Tie Hacks & River Pigs, the Montana Antiques Appraisal Fair, and then the first-ever Northwest Montana Book Festival, set for Nov. 17!

Check back here for more details to post soon. In the meantime, enjoy a last look at Ray Weaver’s photography (above), which comes down this week in our north changing gallery.

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Kalispell’s culture core celebrates the community it serves

The Conrad Mansion Museum, Hockaday Museum of Art, and Northwest Montana History Museum will offer discounted admission to all three institutions 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, to celebrate Locals Day.

Visitors who show their Montana driver’s licenses can buy a “passport” to the Conrad, Hockaday, and the Northwest Montana History Museum—all located within a nine-minute walk of one another in downtown Kalispell. The passports are available for purchase at all three locations.

The passport costs $10 for adults; kids 18 and under are free.

Locals Day is a chance for community institutions to extend their reach, introduce missions and offerings, and gather residents to celebrate Kalispell’s culture core.

Details:
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14
Conrad Mansion, 330 Woodland Ave., 406-755-2166; conradmansion.com
Hockaday Museum of Art, 302 2nd Ave. E., 406-755-5268; hockadaymuseum.com
Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 2nd Ave. E., 406-756-8381; nwmthistory.org

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Put on your poncho

Directed by Sergio Leone, the low-budget A Fistful of Dollars was the first of three movies featuring Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name. After its release in 1964, it was followed by For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad & the Ugly and took Eastwood from a relatively unknown television actor to movie stardom.

The classic spaghetti western screens 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27, at the Northwest Montana History Museum.

Doors open 6:30 p.m. Admission and popcorn are free, but donations are accepted to help defray the costs of Movie Night. Soda, water, beer, and wine are available for purchase. Seating is provided, but viewers are welcome to bring their own cushions or seating.

Marking its 25-year anniversary, the Northwest Montana History Museum brings the past alive through exhibits, artifacts, educational programs, and events. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays (and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through August) at 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. Call 406-756-8381.

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The Great Fish Community Challenge is off and swimming

The Northwest Montana History Museum is honored to be selected to participate in the Whitefish Community Foundation’s five-week fundraising blitz that benefits 80 nonprofits doing great work in the Flathead.

Thank you to the organizers and all the past donors! We hope to make this year our must successful run yet, netting the match that kicks in once we reach the $10,000 mark and raising funds that help us present and preserve more Northwest Montana history.

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Love and money get a long look

On Tuesday, July 23, Movie Night at the Museum will feature the comedy How to Marry a Millionaire starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall. The 1953 film tells the story of three New York models who share the same dream: to find and marry a millionaire. To accomplish their goal, they move into an upscale New York apartment and begin their quest. They quickly discover that having money doesn’t necessarily mean having good character or good looks.

However, some excellent possibilities do enter the picture including William Powell, David Wayne, Rory Calhoun, and Cameron Mitchell. As relationships develop the three women all face the same dilemma: Does a life of luxury trump a life with true love?

The film was the first film shot in CinemaScope at Twentieth Century Fox. But the film’s release was delayed until after Fox released the biblical epic “The Robe,” the second film produced by the studio using the process.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission and popcorn are free, but donations are accepted to help defray the costs of Movie Night. Soda, water, beer, and wine are available for purchase. Seating is provided, but viewers are welcome to bring their own cushions or seating.

Marking its 25-year anniversary, the Northwest Montana History Museum brings the past alive through exhibits, artifacts, educational programs, and events. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays (and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through August) at 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. For information call 406-756-8381.

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Southern Gothic plays out onscreen

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, Movie Night at the Museum will feature A Streetcar Named Desire, the film that turned a Broadway actor into a movie star. The 1951 Southern Gothic drama was adapted from a play by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tennessee Williams. Under the direction of Elia Kazan, the black and white film features Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden.

Brando, Hunter, and Malden all reprised their original Broadway roles, but Jessica Tandy, who had played Blanche DuBois on stage was replaced by Leigh to bring more star power to the film. The film moved Marlon Brando from relative obscurity to prominence as a major Hollywood film star. He received an Academy Award nomination (the first of four) for Best Actor while Leigh won her second Oscar for playing DuBois.

Doors open 6:30 pm. Admission and popcorn are free, but donations are welcomed to defray costs. Soda pop, water, beer, and wine are available for purchase. Seating is provided, but viewers can bring their own cushions or seating if they choose.

Marking its 25-year anniversary in 2024, the Northwest Montana History Museum presents a wide range of exhibits, artifacts, educational programs, and events. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. Call 406-756-8381 or visit nwmthistory.org.

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What’s it worth? Find out this fall

In October, people from the Foundation for Montana History come to visit, bringing with them their distinctive fundraiser for a day of engaging information and entertainment as experts take a look at individuals’ standout treasures and give a ballpark value.

According to the foundation, “This event allows participants to bring their fine art, collectibles, toys, heirlooms, and other interesting/valuable items to a select venue for verbal evaluation from our expert appraiser and auctioneer.”

On Saturday, Oct. 26, that “select venue” is the Northwest Montana History Museum for this year’s Montana Antiques Appraisal Fair. Foundation for Montana History board members Tim Gordon (pictured) and Grant Zahajko will serve as the consulting professionals set to come to Kalispell to check out our stuff.

Missoula-based appraiser Gordon specializes in art, celebrity collectibles, and items of Western history. Auctioneer Zahajko leans to sports cards, comic books, and toys and collectibles. Both, however, are open to looking at any and all interesting, valuable objects. Both call themselves “expert generalists” and have appeared on television providing expertise and values.

Keep an eye out for details to come, but for now please alert us to an item or two that the foundation’s appraiser and auctioneer can consider and publicly give a value for midmorning and midafternoon of the Oct. 26 event. Contact Margaret at the museum to nominate your item.

At last year’s event in Helena, for example, one of the publicly appraised marquee items was a saddle made of silver.

The appraiser and auctioneer will do their work on the second floor of the museum, so space is limited and items must be easily loadable using the building’s north side ramp and elevator. The event welcomes treasures of all kinds except for firearms, chemicals, or jewelry.

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