Ed Kemmick/Last Best News
During a family portrait shoot at his downtown studio, Clark Marten, left, shows members of the Dimich family, Caroline, center, Alli and Tom, an image on his camera. Behind the camera is Pam Dimich.
Rudi Marten was considering different ways of expressing his commitment to downtown Billings when he thought of the classic Christmas movie “Miracle on 34th Street.”
Reflecting on the movie was doubly inspirational. It led him to think in terms of “Miracle on Montana Avenue,” the downtown street where he and his parents decided to relocate their Columbus photography studio two years ago.
He also decided to adapt the “We Believe in Santa Claus” message of the movie to “We Believe in Downtown Billings.”
He created a logo with that statement and gave it to the Downtown Billings Alliance. Then, with photographs of the downtown provided by the DBA, Rudi created a series of posters that now are on display on sidewalk informational kiosks throughout the downtown. He said other businesses are free to use the logo in any kind of promotions they wish.
Then, he and his parents, Clark and Rachel Marten, demonstrated their commitment with two fundraisers to support Spare Change for Real Change, a DBA-sponsored program to find long-term solutions to homelessness in Billings.
Rudi Marten
They took out a full-page ad in the Gazette to announce that through the end of December Clark Marten Photography was offering family or children portrait sessions for $99—they’re normally $350—and donating all the proceeds to the Spare Change program.
Last week, the Martens hosted a $100-a-plate dinner and silent auction in their Montana Avenue studio and donated all the proceeds of that event to the program, too.
“I can’t say enough about the kind of business and property owners they are for us,” DBA Director Lisa Harmon said.
When Clark Marten Photography bought a storefront at 2606 Montana Ave. two years ago and moved into it six months later, Harmon said, the Marten family immediately got “engaged in the downtown with economic development and outreach.”
Rudi is on the board of the Business Improvement District, an offshoot of the DBA, and he serves on two committees that grew out of the recent two-day Community Innovations Summit, aimed at finding those long-term solutions to homelessness. Rachel Marten also serves on one of the committees.
On top of everything else, Harmon said, the Martens have gone out of their way to acknowledge and express gratitude for the work of the Business Improvement District’s Purple People, the workers who are literally the boots on the ground, the crew that keeps the downtown streets and sidewalks clean.
“They have supported us in so many ways,” Harmon said.
The Martens, as we have reported before, decided to move to Billings when Clark and Rachel talked about turning their successful photography business over to Rudi. As part of that transition, Rudi talked his parents into moving the business from Columbus to downtown Billings.
Rudi wanted to be here because of the arts and culture, the vibrancy of the downtown. They looked at four or five locations, Rudi said, but they kept coming back to the space at 2606 Montana Ave., because both the building and its location were so promising.
He said they liked the idea of being between Broadway, downtown’s main street, and the liveliest stretch of Montana Avenue. They wanted to be the bridge, the business that brought those two areas of downtown together.
The logo designed by Rudi Marten.
“We knew it was going to take a while to change,” Rudi said, “but we had a vision of what it could be.”
And they went into 2606 Montana Ave. with their eyes open, knowing it was next door to the St. Vincent DePaul charity office, frequented by homeless people, transients and—to use a term that has grown familiar since the downtown summit—“serial inebriates.” Rather than ignore one of the downtown’s biggest problems, or pretend it didn’t exist, they wanted to be part of the solution.
The Martens, who also live in downtown loft apartments, said another advantage of the Montana Avenue building was that it would be big enough to host dinners and other fundraising events. They used to do an annual fundraiser for Big Brothers and Sisters in Columbus, Rudi said, but it meant clearing their house of all its furniture first.
In addition to the recent event for the Spare Change program, Clark Marten Photography has hosted two wine auctions, one to support creation of a downtown children’s museum and the other to support Big Brothers and Sisters, and a second dinner to raise money for the Center for Children and Families.
They also were a sponsor of the homelessness summit, and family members were there on both days of the event. The summit gave Rudi hope. He called it “a huge step forward in getting downtown awareness and involvement.”
He’s still not sure what the best solution is for downtown, or whether the city needs anything as elaborate as a one-stop campus for transients and homeless people. The best thing to come out of the summit was the chance for service providers to learn exactly what other agencies and organizations are doing, he said.
“I think we’re taking steps forward that are mindful of the resources we already have,” Rudi said.
One of the best resources the downtown has, it’s safe to say, is the Marten family itself.
