Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/category/billings/page/30/)
True story: In the early 1980s, when I was living in Butte, I was in Billings one weekend to play hockey. I was driving down Montana Avenue with a couple of other players, at a time when the avenue had probably never looked worse. The Rex restaurant was there, as it is now, and there were a handful of other businesses, mostly secondhand stores, but not much else. (more…) Continue Reading →
Eight years ago, Mike Uhrich opened Carter’s Brewing in downtown Billings. The craft brewery was named for his son, Carter, then 6 months old. This Thursday, he’ll be pouring a brand-new beer, this one named for his 3½-year-old son, Mason. He’s starting with one batch of 10 barrels, or 326 gallons. If it does well, he might make it a couple of times a year. Continue Reading →
A park along Five Mile Creek northeast of Billings might not be open to the public for a few more years, but striking progress has been made since work began there four years ago. Most striking of all is a 210-foot-long suspension bridge over a coulee near the top of the park, just east of where Mary Street turns into Five Mile Road southwest of Pioneer School. (more…) Continue Reading →
Nearly 200 people gathered in the Babcock Theatre Wednesday to hear how other cities developed innovative programs to ease two of the biggest problems in downtown Billings. Representatives from San Diego, Calif., talked about their Serial Inebriate Program to help alcoholics finally kick the habit, and the president of Haven for Hope in San Antonio, Texas, talked about what has been described as the largest single effort in the country to do something about homelessness. (more…) Continue Reading →
A fiction writing workshop held Tuesday evening a couple of blocks from McKinley Elementary School got off to an enthusiastic start. Local author Carrie La Seur was waiting at a conference table as those attending the session filed into the room. The first person to enter, a woman, exclaimed, “I heard ‘book seminar’ and I hopped to it!” (more…) Continue Reading →
At the fifth annual Billings Grand Slam poetry event next week, you can expect to encounter high sentiments, lovely words — and fierce competition. “People are there to see the blood sport,” said James Hickman, one of the organizers of the slam. (more…) Continue Reading →
If you want to hear author Sherman Alexie speak next week at Rocky Mountain College, Steve Germic suggests you get there early. Germic, an associate professor of English who is helping organize the event, said there is likely to be a full house, even though the speech will be in the biggest indoor space on campus, the gymnasium of the Fortin Education Center. (more…) Continue Reading →
Like a lot of people born and raised in Billings, Matt Blakeslee was used to looking to other cities for arts, culture and entertainment generally. Billings was a good place to make money and it was the biggest city in Montana, “but it had never felt like the most cultural or vibrant community,” he said. (more…) Continue Reading →
Standing in the kitchen of his brand-new restaurant, Jason Corbridge said his life has come full circle. “This is where I fell in love with food,” he said. (more…) Continue Reading →
Marcasa is out and the Big Dipper is in. Marcasa Clothing, the popular upscale clothier on the northwest corner of First Avenue North and North Broadway in downtown Billings, was closed Tuesday, with signs in the window announcing a going-out-business sale that will start Wednesday. (more…) Continue Reading →
