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Thinking of Missoula because I’m heading back in 3 weeks — so I wrote this: “Missoula, thanks for being here!”
In 2003, I moved to Montana for grad school and the cool area code (406!). When I told people that I was headed to Missoula, the reaction was an almost uniform “Oh I love that town!”. If I asked why, I got “It’s the people!” That cryptic phrase just made me more curious. What about the people?!
This past year I’ve traveled a lot — both in the US and abroad — and although I’ve met warmhearted folks everywhere, and been fascinated, educated, shocked, concerned and charmed by the world — the journey has only made me appreciate Missoula, and the folks who live here, more. Urban planners say that the health of a city is tied to identity — “a sense of place”— a feeling of belonging to a specific, one-of-a-kind community. Missoula has many special qualities. (Sometimes I think our license plates should say “IT’S SO MISSOULA!”) Here is my top 20 list of favorite things about Missoula. What are yours?
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Geoff Badenoch was kind enough to share this post written by Karen Slobod on
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1. Lolo Peak. It stands like a guardian over the valley — Lolo inspires me to get up and get outside and climb to greater heights. The beautiful presence of the mountain, and the winter wonderland that it provides, energizes life in Missoula.
2. A million non-profits. Forbes Magazine says Missoula has more non-profits per person than anywhere else in the country. Maybe that’s why every social event in town is a fundraiser?! How good it is to live in a place where people both care and pitch in.
3. Almost as many parades as pubs. The Day of the Dead is my favorite — it’s quintessential Missoula: wild, quirky, colorful, creative and beautiful. Everyone welcome — and African dancing and fire spinning afterward!
4. Local food fetishists. With the help of our expansive farmer’s markets, which make saturdays and wednesdays a delicious hobnobbing celebration, Missoula food culture is about local, sustainable, self-reliance, and the gourmet results from our selection of fresh veggies, cheeses, bison, cattle and chickens, our local wine, cherries and apples and raspberries, wild mushrooms and huckleberries, craft beer and original ice cream flavors.
5. The bar at Snowbowl. Homemade soups and pizzas and Bloody Marys after a day on snow. Seeing folks you know with their flushed-faced afterglow. The giant fireplace. The fact that the day costs $40 or less, instead of $100. Hey, that sounds like all the downhill spots around Missoula!
6. The % of biologists per capita. Want to know what the genus of that tree is, those birds, the stats on spring run-off, or that animal track in the snow? No problem, ask the person standing next to you — from my personal experience there is a 1 in 5 chance they are a graduate of the University of Montana’s Environmental Studies Program (one of the first in the country), a student in the Forestry Department, or someone getting their PHD in Biological Sciences.
7. Guys on skateboards being pulled by their dogs. Alternately: the intrepid Clark Fork River surfers.
8. The ‘so-called’ parking tickets. After a week in Los Angeles (and the $73 tickets), Missoula’s system of a warning, then a $5 ticket, and then $10 if you do it again etc. is so reasonable! — Sending little heart icons in my mind to the meter maids right now.
9. The energy of this place — curious, world-traveled, active, volunteer-centric, dynamic, and supportive of audacious athletic and creative pursuits. A few of my favorite enterprises that bring the community together: The Top Hat, The Hive, the ZACC, the Wilma, Headwaters Dance, the MAM, the Made Fair, the free concerts, The Co-op, and the food trucks.
10. It’s not about stuff. It’s about experience. Traveling around the U.S. I found that places where the culture didn’t revolve around “stuff” were few and far between. In Missoula how much money you have does not factor into whether or not people treat you with respect.
11. How many CSA’s are there again? Did you know that Garden City Harvest oversees ten community CSA gardens — including the beautiful Peas Farm, and a number of educational projects for Missoula? And then there are many smaller CSA ventures — who knows how many we actually have!
12. Ice skating under the moon in Rattlesnake park. So quiet, so cold, so fresh.
13. Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. For ten days, in the middle of February, Missoula is the most erudite spot on the planet. The always-impressive roster of documentaries, workshops and industry insiders brings fascinating cultural energy to Missoula’s downtown and warms us up in the middle of winter.
14. The trails —for hiking and biking and cross-country skiing, and running and camping and strolling, and exploring and breathing fresh air and finding beauty everywhere.
15. The long, stretched-out hours of light in the early evening in the summer — when the vividness of color makes Missoula look like a painting.
16. Ospreys — both birds and baseball. Watching a game on a summer evening, with a view of the sunset reflecting in the Clark Fork river, and the possibility of seeing the Osprey birds nesting by the outfield.
17. The Festival of the Book. Gathering in our vintage Wilma Theater, with a glass of wine from the bar and a chocolate truffle from next-door, to hear brilliant readings and intimate conversations about writing and the life and the landscape here … ahhh.
18. Jumping into a cold Rattlesnake River swimming hole. And then screaming and jumping out!
19. Sustainable living is real here. Home Resource and Homeward and MUD and FreeCycles and Heritage Timber and the Co-op, and the many land trusts, earth-friendly farms, so many conservation groups and non-profits …
20. The niceness factor. People stop and wait for pedestrians to cross the street, and they say hello to strangers with a smile. The thing I like the most about Missoula is this feeling I have here that everyone somehow decided that being friendly and spreading a little warmheartedness around would make the world a better place — and so, for the most-part, folks interact with that MO. You can feel it at the hardware store, at the local markets, at Brenan’s Wave, at the chairlift, at any of the fundraising runs. I’m not saying there isn’t some conflict and crime and craziness, but it isn’t what people experience day to day like we do the friendly vibe. Maybe it’s the weather, or Missoula’s roots in Norwegian cooperative culture that bring out a “we’re all in this together” ethos?
With the daffodils up, and spring coming, it feels like a time to celebrate and give thanks. Missoula, thanks for being here!
