STORY IDEAS FOR WESTERN MONTANA + GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Be Inspired: Tell Your Montana Story

You’ve got a story to tell and we’re here to help you discover it. The jaw-dropping beauty, captivating mountain mystery and vibrant character of Western Montana beckons adventurers, vacationers and writers, each on a quest to find their own Montana moment.

Here you’ll find story ideas to help you uncover your Glacier Country Montana experience.

MUSIC IN MISSOULA

This funky little city moves to the beat of its own drum, touting one of the fastest-growing music scenes in the country. Missoula attracts intimate and unique venues, like a picturesque amphitheater on the banks of the Blackfoot River, iconic bars, historic theaters, award-winning breweries, large stadiums and intimate mountain stages. This music mecca is an orchestra of rivers and trails, arts and culture, mountains and melodies. In Missoula, there’s never a bad seat in the house.

BIKE TO THE SUN

Before traffic hits its peak at Glacier National Park this summer, there’s a window when the snow is nearly clear and before vehicles are permitted on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. This road may be closed to drivers, but it is wide open for cyclists who wish to ascend the epic road and delight in the quiet beauty of the park as it comes back to life after a long winter. Waterfalls, wildflowers, green mountain vistas capped with winter’s remaining blanket: It’s all-pleasing to the eye and to the soul.

CELEBRATE WINTER IN WHITEFISH

Whitefish celebrates the cold season every year with a Winter Carnival. The festivities kick off with a Penguin Plunge, where a hole is cut into Whitefish Lake and participants take a dip. The fun continues with an old-fashioned Main Street parade, ice sculpture contest, kiddie carnival, pie social, torchlight ski parade, and more. Whitefish also hosts the World Invitational Skijoring event—a winter extreme sport done Montana-style, involving a horse and rider pulling a skier around a race course at high speeds over jumps and around slalom gates.

CAT SKIING, DOG SLEDDING, HORSE-DRAWN SLEIGH RIDES AND FAT BIKING, OH MY

Jump in a custom snow cat and venture out into deep, untouched powder. Get cozy for a dogsled ride or try your hand at mushing a pack of dogs through a winter woodland scene. Glide through the snow on a horse-drawn sleigh with a warm blanket, a mug of hot chocolate and homemade cookies, or try a dinner sleigh ride. Rent Specialized Fatboy fat bikes, and discover your new favorite winter adventure.

DOWNTOWN KALISPELL: HISTORIC + HIP

Kalispell’s vibrant downtown is a place where historic character converges with contemporary culture. Mercantiles, saloons, saddleries and an opera house are now home to eateries, artisan shops and three craft breweries. The city’s rich history always lies just below the surface, offering a captivating sense of what it was like in the days when Kalispell was a new outpost on the Western frontier. A walk along Main Street will take you to a modern art gallery, a bakery with espresso and sweet potato sticky buns, and to Montana’s largest seller of cowboy and cowgirl hats, boots and bling.

FARM TO TABLE FOOD + DRINK

From food trucks, festivals and award-winning breweries and distilleries to fine dining a la James Beard-nominated chefs, plus steakhouses, cafés and coffee shops, this culinary hot spot has a little bit of something for everyone, whether it’s a bison burger, sushi, elk tacos, huckleberry pie or bearclaws. With a culture and heritage rich in agriculture and ranching, there’s a solid dedication to sustainably raised, locally grown and lovingly crafted. The landscape is dotted with community gardens and farms, and the farmers markets, restaurants and grocers that support these local products. Authentic Montana flavors abound here, too, like Flathead cherries, wild huckleberries and morel mushrooms.

ARTS + CULTURE

The beauty of Montana isn’t just the mountain landscape; it’s the thriving arts and culture scene inspired by the natural setting and the robust history. Our communities are alive with dreamers and doers. Makers come here to create, perform, play, sing, dance and display. Galleries and museums line downtown streets and event calendars are filled with art walks; concerts and theater performances; renowned farmers markets; and annual festivals celebrating the best of food, craft brew, distilled whiskeys and spirits, books, and music. Experience the history infused, locally minded, nurtured by nature vibe of living the good life in Montana’s small-town communities.