For details & upcoming events:
www.yellowstoneinternationalartsfestival.org/
Wheatgrass Books will host a screening of the locally-filmed, award-winning indie feature, The Year of the Dog, on July 13th at 6:00pm at Wheatgrass Books. The showing will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker and Park High School graduate Rob Grabow. The event is free and open to the public.
The Year of the Dog, was shot on location throughout Livingston, the Paradise Valley, and Bozeman, and pulls from real events and to a poignant story about two strays: a loner alcoholic (Matt) struggling to maintain sobriety and a rescue dog (Yup’ik), played by a Siberian rescue named Caleb, with an unusual athletic gift.
Rob Grabow, the film’s writer, producer, co-director, and lead actor, who hails from Livingston, Montana and is a Park High School graduate says, “It’s a Montana film, but I think it’s caught on because the themes are universal— alcoholism and recovery, healing through connection, the remarkable love of a dog, and the struggle to repair damaged relationships when we’ve hit rock bottom. It’s an uplifting message, that was filmed in the area by a mostly local cast and crew. I am still almost overwhelmed by the sense of community that we experienced making the film here and the hundreds of locals from the area – family, old friends, acquaintances, and new friends – who showed up in big ways to make this film possible. That kind of uniting to support each other is truly the film in a nutshell. It’s Livingston in a nutshell.”
The film released theatrically in 100 communities across the country before releasing digitally and has been praised by alcohol and addiction counselors for the honest, uplifting way it portrays alcoholism and recovery. Academy-award winning actor Jeff Bridges, recently tweeted about the film, saying, “I saw a beautiful film recently from a new filmmaker, Rob Grabow, about addiction and recovery, the human-canine bond, and love. Love was the big takeaway for me. I hope you check out the film.”
Wheatgrass Books’ owner, Lisa Snow who is organizing the event says, “I am thrilled to bring ‘The Year of the Dog’ back to town. The film’s themes are relevant today and it’s nice to celebrate a film that really came about because of our community. Being able to screen locally is amazing as is having the opportunity to have Rob and potentially some other cast and crew available to meet and talk afterward. I can’t wait to see everyone there!”
The film currently has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, and the NYC Movie Guru wrote in a review that, “The Year of the Dog is a triumph. It’s a warm, wise and genuinely heartfelt journey worth taking.”
In addition to the scene-stealing rescue husky Caleb, the movie features plenty of local talent including Lakota actor Michael Spears, from 1923, Reservation Dogs, and Dances with Wolves, Filmmaker, Rob Grabow, co-Director Michael Peterson, producer Heather Hanley, actor Aaron Finley, Logan Hanley, Cat Lofgren, Mick Burlington, Abram Boise, Bob Broughton, Ross Winfrey, and many others. It also features many local locations including, The Post Office, the Redeemer Lutheran Church, the Truckstop Diner, Murdoch’s, and the Yellowstone House among them.
The Year of the Dog (PG-13) is co-directed by Michael Peterson and Rob Grabow, Bozeman locals as well as Andrew McGinn. Watch the trailer on here. Production stills, cast and crew details, and theater release information is available online at www.theyearofthedogmovie.com, Instagram, and Facebook.
Wheatgrass Books is located at 120 N. Main St. in downtown Livingston. For more information, send an email to wheatgrassbooks@gmail.com or call 406. 224. 4510.
The Lean on Me Foundation presents the 22nd ANNUAL SUMMERFEST on Main Street between Park and Lewis on Saturday, July 15, 2023. Enjoy live music by The Teccas & Friends from noon until 4pm. Several local non-profits and businesses around Main & Second streets are participating and will have special offerings during the event.
SUMMERFEST is our main event and largest fundraiser which supports the Lean on Me Foundation is the non-profit organization that produces Summerfest. LOMF was created to champion and foster community. Our vision is to provide crucial resources to those in need through various formats.
The goal is to make SUMMERFEST a combination of shopping local, fellowship amongst local residents, local music, local food, local drinks, and the opportunity for local non-profit organizations to share their message. There will be no outside vendors. Main Street events, such as this, are designed to draw people together and keep our charming historic downtown “cool”!
Come down, join the fun and keep your dollars local.
SUMMER SOCCER CAMP JULY 24-28
Tot Camp ages 3-5 yrs 8:30am-9:30am OR 5pm-6pm
Trickster Camp grades 1st-8th 9am-12pm
Goalkeeper Camp ages 8-18 yrs. 5pm-6:30pm
Spaces are limited so register your space today!
SUMMER FENCING CAMP JULY 31 – AUG 3
Ages 7-9 yrs 12:30pm-1:30pm
Ages 9-12 yrs 9:30am-12:00pm
https://secure.rec1.com/MT/livingston-recreation-department/catalog
Check out this wonderful video made for us!
https://www.facebook.com/visitlivingstonmt/videos/266030112559836/
Stop by the Visitor Center now through July 29th to view this Lewis & Clark traveling maps exhibit. Visitor Center open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, Saturdays 9am-1pm. Call 406-222-0850 to confirm times.
Attend t
his book launch celebration on Thursday, June 29 at 7pm for wildlife filmmaker Brad Orsted’s debut memoir Through the Wilderness: My Journey of Redemption and Healing in the American Wild.
“When Orsted’s fifteen-month-old daughter, Marley, died mysteriously at the home of his mother, he descended into madness. Blaming himself, he plunged into an abyss of grief, guilt and self-recrimination, fueled by prescription drugs and alcohol. He planned his suicide as his wife, Stacey, searched for a new beginning. She finally found a job in Yellowstone National Park and, with their daughters, Mazzy and Chloe, the pair fled Michigan, looking for refuge and redemption in the 2.2 million acres of glorious American wilderness.
“Through the Wilderness begins in Yellowstone, five months after the family’s arrival in 2012, when, in an alcoholic haze, Brad stumbled into a field of sage and survived a face-to-face encounter with an adult male grizzly bear. For the first time in almost two years, he realized he wanted to live.
“Brad’s ten-year odyssey is about finding the wild inside the human heart. It is a journey of the spirit—a journey to forgiveness and sobriety, to love and life, to memory, and ultimately, to Marley.”
Orsted’s passion for wildlife cinematography and photography has led to work with top networks like: Nat Geo Wild, The BBC, PBS, Nature, and The Smithsonian Channel. He was the assistant director of the award-winning film The Beast of our Time: Climate Change and Grizzly Bears, narrated by Jeff Bridges and featuring Doug Peacock, Terry Tempest Williams and Rick Bass.
The Gardiner Historic Walking Tour is offered twice weekly through September by Yellowstone Gateway Museum volunteers, beginning June 20. The tour is held on Tuesday & Thursday at 5:00pm, in Gardiner, Montana. Historic research is augmented by stories and historic photographs from the museum’s collections. Tickets are $15/person. Purchase online tickets at www.eventbrite.com or pay cash at meeting place prior to departure.
The tour begins in the small park opposite the Roosevelt Arch in Gardiner . Participants will learn about Gardiner’s prehistory and history, anchored by historic buildings and structures. Hear stories about miners, merchants, hotel and tavern owners, the roles of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Yellowstone Trail, and the challenges faced by residents living on the edge of Yellowstone National Park.
These Guided Tours are approximately 1.5 hours with multiple stops along the way. Please arrive 10 minutes early. Sturdy shoes, water, sunscreen, and a light jacket are recommended. TOURS HAPPEN RAIN OR SHINE!
Join us today as we welcome landscape architect & artist, Caroline Lavoie, to celebrate her exhibit: “Crossing Borders: The Landscapes & Communities of Highway 89”. The event is free and open to the public.
For details & upcoming events:
www.yellowstoneinternationalartsfestival.org/
Elk River Books, 122 S 2nd St, Livingston, presents:
Fishing guide and author Dave Ames will read from and discuss his latest comic novel, Trout Town, Thursday, June 8 at 7 pm.
“Jake Cruz is b
ack from Afghanistan with a war-torn soul. Hardly an hour passes that he doesn’t dream of swallowing his own weapon. The sole reason Jake has to put one foot in front of the other is a tear-stained letter he’s promised to deliver to a person he’s never met in a place he’s never been—the jagged peaks of the ‘Backbone-of-the-World.’
“Nearing the end of his quest, Jake stumbles into Trout Town. He’s looking for whiskey to beat back the chill of a spring snow squall—but what he finds is Wounded Warriors, a program that uses fly-fishing to help ease veterans back into civilian life.
“In Trout Town, fly-fishing is the thread that binds people to place, and 500 million years of Montana history is the needle that pulls the thread. The implacable grandeur of the American west resonates like another character in this book, singing right along with a cast of iconoclasts that include a Blackfeet warrior who whispers with eagles, a banjo-playing exhibitionist, and a burly scientist-philosopher who lives to the sound of one tooth chewing… It’s O.K. to be a little crazy in Trout Town because you’ll fit right in.”
Dave Ames was a fishing guide for 33 years, and is decrepit enough to remember the good old days when boats didn’t have phones. He has written for many magazines and newspapers, including Big Sky Journal, The Los Angeles Times and Fly Fisherman. His books include True Love and the Woolly Bugger, A Good Life Wasted or Twenty Years as a Fishing Guide, Dances with Sharks, and Me, My Cells, and I. He resides in Montana.
