Montana
How to Celebrate Fourth of July in the Flathead Valley – Flathead Beacon
Fourth of July in the Flathead means a host of patriotic events, including fireworks that dot the mountainous skyline and red, white and blue parade floats. Make a plan for Independence Day by checking out the following events happening in northwest Montana over the weekend. Read more about all of the can’t-miss events happening in the Flathead Valley this summer here.
Polson Fireworks Show
Riverside Park, Polson
July 3, Dusk
Want to get into the July Fourth action a little early? Head down to Polson on Wednesday for a fun-filled night of fireworks over Flathead Lake. The city’s annual fireworks show is financed by donations from the community, and the Polson Chamber of Commerce is asking locals and visitors alike to contribute to the event. Learn more.
Kalispell Parade
Downtown Kalispell
July 4, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
The Flathead Marines are hosting the annual July Fourth parade through downtown Kalispell. The parade will begin at 10 a.m. and travel from Center Street down Main Street, past the Flathead County Courthouse. Learn more.
Old Fashioned Ice-Cream Social
Conrad Mansion, Kalispell
July 4, after the Kalispell parade
Visit Kalispell’s Conrad Mansion for a free, old-fashioned ice cream social after the July Fourth parade. There will be live music, food trucks and $5 self-guided tours of the historic mansion. The event will begin after the Kalispell Fourth of July Parade. Learn more.
Troy’s Old Fashioned Fourth of July
Downtown Troy
July 4, 8 a.m. – 11 p.m.
For over a century, the small town of Troy has thrown a free, family-friendly July Fourth bash. This year’s schedule of events includes a “color run,” an old-fashioned breakfast at Roosevelt Park, a parade, live music, a car show and fireworks. Troy’s Roosevelt Park is set on the banks of the Kootenai River, providing a scenic backdrop for the wide-ranging community events. Bus service will be available starting after the parade with pickups at Morrison Elementary, Troy High School, Troy Activity Center and Roosevelt Park. Learn more.
Bigfork Parade
Downtown Bigfork
July 4, 12 p.m.
Head to Bigfork for the town’s biggest party of the year. This year’s grand marshal is Gretchen Gates of Eva Gates Preserves, and the parade theme is “‘Preserving’ Bigfork Traditions” in honor of 75 years of Eva Gates. Judges will evaluate floats based on entertainment value, originality, craftsmanship and interpretation of the theme. There will also be a classic car category. Food trucks and live music by the Fetveit Brothers will begin in the downtown parking lot at 10 a.m. and will continue after the parade. Parking for the parade will be in the field at the intersection of Highway 35 and Highway 82. From the parking area only, free shuttle service will be available to downtown from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be no cars allowed in downtown Bigfork after 8 a.m. on the 4th. Learn more.
Polson Parade
Main Street, Polson
July 4, 12 p.m.
Each year, creative parade floats pass through downtown Polson for the lakeside community’s Fourth of July Parade. The parade will begin at noon on Main Street. Learn more.
Fireworks on Whitefish Lake
City Beach, Whitefish
July 4, 10:30 p.m.
Gather at City Beach in Whitefish for an evening of food, fun and fireworks. The annual Whitefish fireworks display is launched from a floating barge 300 feet off of the shore of Whitefish Lake, and is set to the backdrop of the Whitefish Range and Big Mountain. Food vendors — including shaved ice, mini donuts, ice cream, corndogs, and barbecue — will set up shop in the early evening and stay open until the fireworks begin around 10:30 p.m. The city of Whitefish encourages attendees to walk or bike to the beach to help alleviate traffic congestion. There will be a free shuttle from the O’Shaughnessy Center to City Beach from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. No dogs, personal fireworks, alcohol or glass containers are allowed. Learn more.
Lakeside Fireworks
Lakeside Marina, Lakeside
July 4, 11 p.m.
Watch the sparkles, booms and bangs of fireworks over Flathead Lake at the annual Lakeside fireworks show. The fireworks will begin at 11 p.m. at the Lakeside Harbor. The small community of Lakeside is asking locals and visitors to contribute to the annual tradition and help them meet their fundraising goal of $20,000. Learn more.
Glacier Range Riders vs. Great Falls Voyagers
Glacier Bank Park, Kalispell
July 5 and 6, 7:05 p.m., July 7, 1:05 p.m.
Cheer for the home team as the Glacier Range Riders take on the Great Falls Voyagers over three games this weekend. Kalispell’s Pioneer League baseball team — which is currently playing its third season — is a favorite for families and grown ups alike, not to mention mascots Huck and Cliff. Learn more.
Symphony Night at Rebecca Farm
Rebecca Farm, Kalispell
July 5 and 6, 7:30 p.m.
Join the Glacier Symphony this weekend for two unforgettable nights of music under the Montana sky. The Glacier Symphony will be playing popular patriotic tunes, including music by Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Morton Gould, Cole Porter and Aaron Copland. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on, or rent a picnic table. Food and drinks will be available for purchase. Tickets can be purchased online. Learn more.
Shakey Graves with Vincent Neil Emerson and Archertown
Scout and Gather, Columbia Falls
July 6, 6 p.m.
Indie folk singer Shakey Graves, best known for hit songs like “Tomorrow” and “Roll The Bones,” is coming to Columbia Falls for a performance at Scout and Gather. Shakey Graves will be joined by country singer Vincent Neil Emerson and Flathead Valley-based band Archertown. The concert is being presented by Outriders. General admission tickets are $45. Learn more.
The Travelin’ McCourys and Halladay Quist
Abayance Bay Marina, Rexford
July 6, 5 p.m
Nashville-based bluegrass band The Traveling’ McCourys is making trip to northwest Montana to perform at Abayance Bay Marina in Rexford. Set against the backdrop of Lake Koocanusa, the concert venue offers views of the Kootenai National Forest and the surrounding mountain ranges. Local musician Halladay Quist will open for the band. Learn more.
HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.
“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.
It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.
(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)
Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026
“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”
But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.
“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.
Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.
“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.
The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.
The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.
“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.
While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.
Montana
Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round
BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.
The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.
MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.
MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74
MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.
Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.
Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.
But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.
As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.
Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Montana Western 65, Carroll 56
After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.
Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.
The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.
Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.
Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.
Recently, I was asked to talk about what it is like to be a female rancher.
I was flattered to be asked, but I don’t know the answer.
I do know what it is like to be a human rancher and I know that I admire many women who also are ranchers.
In fact, 36 percent of the farmers and ranchers in the U.S. are women and they manage almost half of America’s ag land.
Globally, we produce more than half of all food.
In Montana, we all benefit from amazing female leaders in agriculture.
If you want to know about improving soil health or the rewards of raising sheep, talk to Linda Poole in Malta.
If you want to learn how to organize a grassroots rancher’s organization and effect meaningful change, talk to Maggie Nutter in Sunburst.
Trina Bradley of Dupuyer will look you in the eye and tell you everything you need to know about the impacts of grizzlies on her ranch life.
Colleen Gustafson, on the Two Med, graciously hosts and educates non-ranchers for months at a time without strangling them, all while maintaining every fence, buying every bull and killing every weed on her ranch.
Adele Stenson of Wibaux and Holly Stoltz of Livingston find innovative solutions to ranching challenges and then — even harder — find ways to share these innovations with hard-headed, independent cusses who want to do it our own way.
In fact, I’ve noticed that often women seek novel innovations to deal with a ranching challenge.
If a man happens to be around, she might even run it past him.
It’s rubber band ranching – stretch with an idea, contract to assess it, then stretch again to implement it.
Long ago, my friend Michelle and I promoted the One Good Cow program at the Montana Stockgrowers Association meeting.
We asked cattle producers to donate one cow to ranchers who had lost so many in blizzards and floods that year.
As we stood on stage in a room full of dour, silent men, I remember finding the one person I knew and asking what he thought.
Just as he would bid at a livestock auction, he barely nodded his approval.
We ended up gathering more than 900 cows from across the nation and giving them to 67 producers.
One Good Cow was a good idea.
Now I don’t seek approval for my ideas so sometimes my rubber band doesn’t contract to assess one before I stretch into action.
That’s how I got myself into producing shelf-stable, ready-to-eat meals made with my beef and lamb.
This is a good idea, too.
I hope.
I wonder if it is easier to ranch as a woman in some ways.
Society pressures men to know all of the answers all of the time, but If I mess up, I try to learn from my mistake and move forward.
When Imposter Syndrome hits or we can’t find a solution to an unsolvable problem – the effects of climate change, commodity markets or competing demands from family – secretly faking it until we make it gets lonely.
The downward spiral of loneliness and the pressure to be perfect can lead to suicide.
Male ranchers kill themselves 3.5 times more often than the general public.
Female ranchers kill themselves, too, just a little less often.
I’m fortunate to have good friends who love me even when I’m far from perfect.
We laugh together, they remind me that I have a few good attributes even when I forget, they tolerate my weirdness and celebrate little successes.
They stave off loneliness.
They know all ranchers try our best, we appreciate a little grace, and a warm fire feels good to our cold fingers.
Lisa Schmidt raises grass-fed beef and lamb at the Graham Ranch near Conrad. Lisa can be reached at L.Schmidt@a-land-of-grass-ranch.com.
Man killed over Louie Vuitton bag, suspect was on bond for suspected carjacking, charges say
Indianapolis Colts Player Spotlight: Tight End Mo Alie-Cox
Silovs makes 22 saves, Penguins shut out Golden Knights | NHL.com
Augusta Falls to Georgia Southwestern in Final Game of the Series – Augusta University
New AAPI-led Jaemi Theatre Company launches in DC
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Video: What the Texas Primary Battle Means for the Midterms
Dems’ potential 2028 hopefuls come out against US strikes on Iran
At least nine killed after Iranian strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh
Mass shooting at Austin, Texas bar leaves at least 3 dead, 14 wounded, authorities say
Mamdani’s response to Trump’s Iran strike sparks conservative backlash: ‘Rooting for the ayatollah’
-
World4 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts4 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Montana1 week ago2026 MHSA Montana Wrestling State Championship Brackets And Results – FloWrestling
-
Denver, CO4 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Louisiana7 days agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Technology1 week agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Technology1 week agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
-
Politics1 week agoOpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT