Uptown Butte

If there is one bright spot in the days following the return of Daylight Savings Time it is, well, the return of Dark. Dark Sevier, that is. Tuesday night at the Covellite Theater, 215 W. Broadway in Uptown Butte, the “Dark Nights of Winter” open mic series begins its second season after an impressive run on the soapbox in the commons last year. All ages and styles of performance are welcome and encouraged to participate.

The Science Mine in Butte is a non-profit, hands-on learning center serving not only Butte but all of Southwest Montana. Their mission? "To provide a family fun environment to make, learn, invent, craft, recycle, build, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, science, and technology in our community." They want to make science fun. They have movie screenings and family events. They dive into fun topics. Recently they had a 3D printing event, for example. And they're not just for the youngsters as they welcome kids of all ages. All you need is the desire to learn.

Here in Montana, we are very familiar with wildlife sightings within city limits, particularly if you live near the outskirts of town. Deer are commonplace. It's not even uncommon for the occasional moose to wander into town, although it will certainly raise a few eyebrows and be discussed on social media. But on a rare occasion, a predator will arrive and that's when people really start talking. That is what is happening in Uptown Butte this morning.

Have you checked out the old Stephens Hotel on the corner of Park and Montana? Well, you may have and just not realized it. The Stephens Block, on the southeast corner of the intersection was once part of a bustling Uptown urban environment with the mines in full operation, shops that rivaled those of New York or Chicago and 24/7 entertainment and nightlife just down Park Street. Today? Different, yet familiar.

There is just something about outdoor music in the second half of summer that rings true to a lot of us, and there might not be a more fitting way to end the season's "Lunch in the Park" series than with "Dinner in the Park". That's exactly what's happening tonight, and this might just be the best one of the summer, as the Butte Symphony will spread across the Emma Park Gazebo (and probably into the adjoining space) to entertain hungry music lovers of all ages starting at 5:30pm. Under the direction of Luis Millan, the Butte Symphony is in its 74th season of bringing the joy and healing power of music to Southwest Montana and tonight's performance is completely free of charge.

Well, the big weekend is finally here. The Montana Folk Festival has arrived, and we can expect three days of incredible music from all over the globe, unique cuisine, one-of-a-kind crafts and thousands of people converging on the Mining City. With several stages spread across the eastern perimeter of Uptown Butte and several street closures going into effect, parking will again be a challenge this year.

A legendary country and bluegrass singer/songwriter with over 50 years of performing under his belt will be coming to Butte's Mother Lode Theater this September.

I was not even a full year in my career with this Butte group of radio stations when the panic button was firmly pressed in our GM's office. It was 2003 and the group in charge of funding the annual 3rd of July Fireworks Show was out of money. There were not funds to cover that summer's upcoming fireworks show on the 3rd of July. It was that day, I believe, that we went on-air and started collecting donations from listeners. Soon local businesses joined in and started challenges with other local businesses in their respective fields. Donations and momentum continued to grow until the final day of the donation drive where we teamed up with our radio friends down the street from the Butte Broadcasting Group and did a citywide bucket drive on the corner of Harrison and Dewey live on all of Butte's local commercial radio stations and wound up getting enough donations to fund the fireworks show for not only that year but for the next three years. After that, Brooks Hanna Ford picked up the bill for a few years. And since then, Town Pump has been the sole sponsor of the annual 3rd of July Fireworks Show

One of Butte's most popular summer events, Lunch in the Park, returns to Emma Park this Wednesday from 11:30am until 1:30pm. Lunch in the Park is a family friendly gathering of families, community members and folks on their lunch break who want some sunshine in their afternoon along with a song or two and maybe something from the food trucks that are on hand.

Butte has proven itself as a destination city. The Butte Tourism Improvement District wants to not only support these big events that are already happening but to possible assist with funding for events that may be still in the planning stages. Are you part of an event or business that brings people to town and puts guests in hotel rooms? There may be money available for you. They are accepting grant applications right now but the deadline to apply is this Friday, June 28th at 5pm. Find out more here or call (406) 723-3177.