Millions of people flocked to the 70-mile-wide path of the 2017 total solar eclipse to get a glimpse of the perfectly obscured sun, but Montana State University professor Joe Shaw and his father, Glenn Shaw, went there to answer a decades-old riddle.
 
The implications of the riddle - really a somewhat obscure scientific question - are more important today than in 1973, when Glenn traveled to Kenya to document a total solar eclipse that crossed Africa.
 
In the scorching desert, with lions roaring at sunset, he and his colleagues “trained and trained and trained” for their experiment for two weeks, Glenn recalled recently. Their primary objective was to measure how dark the sky got during the eclipse and to compare that to his mathematical models.
 
“I just thought it would make an interesting experiment,” said Glenn, who earned his bachelor’s in electrical engineering at MSU in 1963 and went on to become a professor of physics at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks.
 
When the eclipse finally came, the scientists used special motor-driven cameras to scan the sky, and found that it was about 10,000 times darker than during a normal day, which agreed with their predictions. They also measured the sky’s polarization and were surprised to find that it changed remarkably during the eclipse.

 
Polarization occurs when waves of light are aligned. The same scattering of light that causes the sky to be blue also polarizes light to varying degrees in different parts of the sky. Polarization cannot be discerned with the naked eye, although sunglasses and camera lenses make use of the phenomenon to reduce glare. Glenn’s experiment was the first time that anyone had ever measured the changes in polarization across the entire sky during a total solar eclipse.

 
“He’s pretty well-known as the guy who pointed out that sky polarization during an eclipse is symmetric about the zenith,” said Joe, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering.
 
“Symmetric about the zenith” looks like rings concentric around the center of the sky. Normally, polarization is more linear, a gradient from east to west. The change could be partially explained by Glenn’s models. But “his measurements showed a slight asymmetry,” Joe said. The rings were slightly higher on one side. That became the riddle.

 
Glenn and others had theories about what caused the anomaly: the reflectance of a nearby lake; the effects of distant clouds; the sky changing while the scans slowly happened. But nobody provided a definitive answer, in part because total eclipses are relatively rare, occurring somewhere on the planet only every one to three years.

 
Meanwhile, Joe developed a specialty in atmospheric optics and advanced his own research at MSU. Over time, his work converged on polarization, which was becoming increasingly important for detecting satellites and spacecraft too small to otherwise see, among other things.
 
“If you’re on Earth looking at a satellite in space, you have to look through the sky,” he said. To do that reliably, “the polarization that exists in the atmosphere has to be understood, it has to be predictable.”
 
In 2008, he made very accurate measurements of normal, daytime sky polarization from the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. The results, which suggested that the reflective properties of the volcano’s lava fields had influenced the polarization measurements, brought him face-to-face with the same questions that Glenn’s 1973 experiment had raised.

 
Not long after that, Joe started thinking about the 2017 eclipse and talking with Glenn about answering that riddle once and for all.
 
“Other people had looked at this issue but nobody had made a good set of measurements with all the supporting data,” such as ground reflectance and cloud distribution, he said.
 
Their goal would be to make the most well-documented measurements of the sky during a total eclipse using new, powerful cameras that Joe had developed at MSU. “We have many capabilities that (Glenn) didn’t have,” he said.
 
After four years of preparation, their plan came to fruition on Aug. 21, 2017 in Rexburg, Idaho, where Joe and Glenn together measured the polarization of the sky using both a replica of Glenn’s scanning system as well as the new all-sky imagers. And they were joined by four MSU graduate students and three undergrads from Brigham Young University’s Rexburg campus. Another undergraduate student from Colorado State University had helped develop the camera systems, but was unable to join the team in Idaho.

 
“We know enough now to know that it was a big success,” Joe said after the eclipse.
 
So, has the riddle been answered?
 
“I don’t have the final answer yet, but I’m very excited about what we’re seeing,” Joe said. The team will analyze the data in the coming months.
 
But he’s increasingly confident saying that the asymmetry that Glenn measured was caused in part by the limitations of his equipment. As the eclipse’s shadow swept across the Earth during the 1973 eclipse, the sky polarization was changing while the camera was making its scans.
 
With the specialized optics that his team developed for the darkness of the eclipse, Joe is now dreaming up new experiments to measure polarization in the nighttime sky, which perhaps would create new questions for researchers to answer in coming decades.
 
“Everything we’ve been doing in the daytime, we can start doing at night,” he said. “Nobody has ever done that. This whole world opens up to us now.”

Situated on more than a mile of Yellowstone riverfront, Sage Lodge will become a year-round destination for fly fishermen, outdoor enthusiasts, and those looking for a rejuvenating escape from the everyday. This rural resort is scheduled to open in summer 2018 and will offer 50 guest rooms, including a 34-room lodge and four stand-alone cabins. Guests and locals will be able to enjoy a Montana-inspired restaurant and bar complete with a wood-fired grill, a versatile event barn for private meetings or special occasions, and a full-service luxury spa. Located 30 miles from Yellowstone National Park and less than an hour from Bozeman, the lodge looks out at the majestic Emigrant Peak and features expansive views, unparalleled experiences and distinctive Montana hospitality.

Through a partnership with SAGE, an innovative, world-class manufacturer of performance fly fishing equipment, Sage Lodge will provide guests with a multitude of fly fishing experiences, from beginner’s casting instruction to guided excursions to the best locations in Paradise Valley. Year-around outdoor activities will include hiking, horseback riding, birding, dogsledding and snowshoeing. The resort will also include an on-site fitness center with an outdoor workout space.

Conceptualized by interior design firm Degen & Degen, the guestrooms will bring the outdoors inside with décor and materials that reflect the surrounding landscape. The spacious and comfortable rooms will include a gas fireplace and ample storage to house outdoor gear. The freestanding cabins will feature four rooms that can be booked individually, or collectively to sleep up to 16 people. The common spaces will include a full kitchen, dining room, living room, loft space and outdoor patio in each cabin, as well as a hot tub shared between the cabin cluster. Room rates are projected to start at $300 per night.

The property will have a ranch-like composition of outbuildings, with a wood-fired grill and bar housed in an event barn separate from the lodge, offering indoor and outdoor dining where guests can sip on local beers, wine and craft cocktails while enjoying cured meats and fish from around the region. In the main lodge lobby, a separate bar area will mirror the main restaurant with a more relaxed environment and limited menu.

Indoor and outdoor meeting and event spaces for up to 150 people will be available, creating multiuse rooms for a variety of occasions. These will include a 2,500-square-foot event barn, three small meeting rooms and 1,800 square feet of pre-function space. All guests will have access to the lodge’s lawn, where they can enjoy activities and games.

The Joshua Green Corporation (JGC), owner of the lodge and SAGE Manufacturing, is a large contributor to the local community and remains active in supporting area enhancements and preservation, regularly contributing to conservation efforts. “Sage Lodge truly speaks the language of adventure seekers and those looking to be inspired by the great outdoors,” said Stan McCammon, president and CEO of the JGC. “The Green family, now in its sixth generation, is comprised of fly fishing and outdoor enthusiasts, and this magnificent property will offer endless opportunities for generations of families, friends and the community to enjoy.”

In addition to Degen & Degen, JGC partnered with general contractor Northfork Builders, Inc., architecture firm Jensen Fey, landscape architecture firm ELM and developer Touchstone Corporation to bring to life its vision of an outdoor hub inspired by its surroundings. Columbia Hospitality, a Seattle-based management company, will manage and operate the lodge. Columbia also manages The LARK hotel and Rialto theater in Bozeman, MT.

“Sage Lodge will undoubtedly become a must-see destination for travelers, whether they’re looking for outdoor adventure or a peaceful getaway in one of the most beautiful destinations in the country,” said Columbia Hospitality founder and CEO John Oppenheimer. “We are excited to collaborate with incredible partners on this property and look forward to offering remarkable experiences that create an inspired getaway for our guests.”

Following the Lodge’s grand opening, an on-site spa with several soaking pools, as well as luxury amenities and treatments, is scheduled to open in late 2018.

October 1-31 marks our 3rd annual Bozeman’s Choice Reader poll where we ask you to tell us what you like and don’t like about all things Bozeman. From your favorite places to eat, your favorite bands in the area, your favorite spots and hiking trails, rivers for recreating, local celebrities, and ideas for the future, there is no shortage of people, places and things to weigh in on.

Universal Athletic is proud to announce that the company’s Bozeman retail store will be the permanent home of the Montana Football Hall of Fame. Universal Athletic will be hosting a Montana Football Hall of Fame unveiling event on October 6th.
 
The unveiling event will be from 7pm-8pm at Universal Athletic in Bozeman (912 N 7th Ave) and is open to the public. The event will include speeches from representatives for Universal Athletic and the Montana Football Hall of Fame, door prizes, and the unveiling of the hall of fame wall. Select Montana Football Hall of Fame past and future inductees will be present at the event, and the 2018 inductees will be announced during the event.

The Montana Football Hall of Fame was founded in 2016 by Big Huddle to “honor all of the great accomplishments of past players, coaches and contributors that have helped support the game we all love from across the state,” explains Rick Halmes, Chairman of Big Huddle.
 
Universal Athletic has been in the Montana Sporting Goods industry since 1971, supplying schools and teams with athletic gear and apparel, and operating retail stores across the state. Greg Miller, President of Universal Athletic, stated that “our partnership with the Montana Football Hall of Fame just makes sense. Universal Athletic is a huge supporter of athletics in Montana and we are very proud to be a part of honoring some of the greatest athletes to come out of the state.”

Universal Athletic would like to invite the public to attend the event, as well as media from across the state.

Montana State University will commemorate Indigenous Peoples Day 2017 with a weeklong series of educational and cultural events Oct. 9-13. All events are free and open to the public.
 
MSU President Waded Cruzado will open the week’s events with her participation in a traditional round dance at noon Monday, Oct. 9, on the Centennial Mall, south of Montana Hall.
 
At 6 p.m. Walter Fleming, head of the MSU Native American Studies Department, will make a presentation about Indigenous Peoples Day to the Bozeman City Commission meeting at City Hall, 121 N. Rouse Ave. Fleming will introduce several local Native American artists whose work will be on display beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, in the MSU Strand Union Building hallway near the Ask Us Desk. The artists include Ben Pease, Alisha Fisher, Casey Figueroa, Carlin Bear Don’t Walk and John Pepion.

A free chili feed for the community in celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, at Christus Collegium, 714 S. Eighth Ave. Kyle Alderman and the band NC Rez Hounds will entertain.
 
An opening for the art exhibit in the SUB will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 10. Indigenous foods and refreshments will be served.
 
Isabell Hawkins, an astrophysicist who is project director of the Exploratorium in San Francisco will speak at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11, in Room 339 of Leon Johnson Hall.  A native of Argentina, Hawkins’ work focuses on broadening access to astronomy and enhancing participation by all communities through the appreciation of the cultural roots of science. She has received eight NASA awards for her work on NASA education and public outreach.

The film “100 Years: One Woman’s Fight for Justice,” about the late Elouise Cobell, will be screened at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Hager Auditorium at the Museum of the Rockies. The screening is free and open to the public. Cobell was a Pikuni (Blackfeet) woman who attended MSU and received an honorary doctorate from MSU. Cobell was the lead plaintiff in the groundbreaking class-action suit, Cobell v. Salazar. The suit challenged the U.S. government’s misallocation of Native American land trust funds to nearly a half-million Native Americans. After a 13-year legal battle, the government approved a $3.4 billion settlement for the trust case in 2010. Cobell died a year after the settlement. A panel discussion will follow the film.

Andrea Carmen, director of the International Indian Treaty Council in San Francisco and an expert presenter at the United Nations, will speak at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, in Room 101 of Gaines Hall.
 
Later in October, Cinnamon Spear of Lame Deer will show her documentary, “Pride and Basketball,” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, at the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture as part of the Indigenous Peoples Days events.
 
Marsha Small, instructor in the MSU Department of Native American Studies and an organizer of this year’s events, said that Indigenous Peoples Day is an alternative to Columbus Day both locally and on campus. She said she is a member of a group working to have the Montana Legislature officially recognize Indigenous Peoples Day as a replacement for Columbus Day in Montana.

“We need to inform others regionally and nationally,” Small said. “We need to communicate it worldwide. The best way to do this is to bring in speakers that work on regional, national and global levels. Isabel Hawkins and Andrea Carmen both work on all these platforms.”
 
For more information about MSU’s celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, contact Small at 541-868-7000 or Francesca Rodriguez at 406-994-3881.
 

L-R: Renderings of the Rialto exterior and interior 

Renovations to the historic Rialto theater in the heart of downtown Bozeman are well under way. The venue is scheduled to open in January 2018, hosting an exciting lineup of top-tier talent from around the country.

Originally built in 1908 as a two-story storefront and converted into a theater in 1924, the Rialto has a long history of serving Main Street in Bozeman’s central commercial district, although it has been vacant for more than a decade. Bozeman’s ThinkTank Design Group, along with general contractor North Fork Builders, is refashioning the vacant theater to set the stage as an artistic and cultural hub. Honoring the Rialto’s historical relevance, iconic features will be replicated, such as the art deco–style marquee and signage at the front of the building, designed by local artist and metal sculptor Erik “Ole” Nelson of Media Station.

This major reconstruction project demonstrates ThinkTank’s ongoing commitment to Bozeman and the community. “We are excited to revive an underutilized remnant of our history that brings culture and inspiration to the city,” said Brian Caldwell, project architect at ThinkTank. “It’s an iconic theater that will become a modern and creative outlet for local and traveling artists, with an entirely new design that reflects the imaginative spirit of Bozeman.”

The reinvented venue will include a ground-floor theater called the Black Box, which will accommodate up to 400 people and feature a mezzanine level, offering a variety of options for artists, live performances and private events. The theater acoustics and sound system were designed by the award-winning consulting firm Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc. Theater programming will range from some of the country’s most sought-after bands to local musicians, spoken-word performances, movie nights and more.

The second floor will house the Burn Box, a stylish space overlooking Main Street that will serve wine, beer and a rotating menu from local chefs and food artisans, crafted around the entertainment style. The Burn Box will welcome in ticket holders and the general public for a drink and bite on days of scheduled programming. Adjacent to the Burn Box will be the Light Box, a gallery that will showcase work from local artists, host special events for the community and serve as an additional space for private events for 15 to 150 people.

“We are creating a vibrant, one-of-a-kind hub where people can experience Bozeman’s evolving culture,” said Productions and Operations Manager Drew Fleming.

“The Rialto will attract exceptional and unique acts, artists and audiences, becoming a place where artistry truly thrives.”

The theater plans to reopen with an all-ages show on January 16, 2018, by indie rock band Hippo Campus, and the Victor Wooten Trio will take the stage on January 17. The following weekend, on January 26, Car Seat Headrest will make its debut at the Rialto, followed by musician and comedian Reggie Watts on January 27. For more information and a complete list of upcoming programming, visit www.rialtobozeman.com.

Montana Shakespeare in the Schools enters its 25th season in 2017 with a tour of “Twelfth Night” to regional middle and high schools. Several public performances will also be offered.
 
MSIS will perform the comedy to nearly 12,000 students in communities throughout Montana and Wyoming as a part of its annual fall tour, which begins Oct. 6.
 
The 10-week tour is the first of two educational outreach programs offered during the academic year by Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, which is based at Montana State University. The fall tour will conclude in mid-December. Montana Shakes!, a tour designed specifically for elementary school children, will tour from late February to mid-May

 
To accommodate schools’ scheduling needs, productions are trimmed to 80 minutes. Tailor-made workshops that relate back to the play accompany the production.
 
Kevin Asselin, executive artistic director of Montana Shakespeare in the Schools, said the goal of the troupe is to bring live, professional performances of Shakespeare’s plays to middle and high schools across Montana and Wyoming, emphasizing rural, underserved areas.
 
“Shakespeare in the Schools is one of the only programs in the country to reach as extensively into rural areas, bringing Shakespeare the way it was meant to be experienced, in a live performance,” Asselin said.
 
Chicago-based Marti Lyons will direct the production. Lyons has directed for Actors Theatre of Louisville, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Lookingglass Theatre Company and Writers’ Theatre, among others.
 
“’Twelfth Night’ is a comedy, but a comedy that bursts forth from a deep sadness,” Lyons said. “In this world, like in our world, love and joy can grow in the midst of sorrow and longing.”
 
The professional eight-member cast who make up the touring company have been chosen from national auditions. They will rehearse for three weeks in Bozeman before presenting the play to 49 middle and high schools in Montana and Wyoming.
 
Montana Shakespeare in the Schools began in 1993 with two professional actors performing scenes from Shakespeare’s plays with minimal costumes and scenery. It has grown to include an eight-member professional company that offers a full Shakespearean production complete with rich, originally designed costumes and scenery, as well as a talk back session and a full complement of workshops.

 
Special performances, open to the public, will be held in Buffalo, Wyoming; Fishtail; Dillon; and Bozeman. For more information on these performances, visit Montana Shakespeare in the Schools’ website.
 
Shakespeare in the School's 16th annual Elise Event, a fundraiser named in honor of the late Elise Donohue, will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at MSU’s Black Box Theater, located on the corner of 11th and Grant Street on the MSU campus in Bozeman. The event will include a performance of “Twelfth Night.”

 
Montana Shakespeare in the Schools is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts: Shakespeare in American Communities. Additional support comes from the Montana Arts Council: Artists in Schools and Communities and Montana Cultural Trust; the Homer A. and Mildred S. Scott Foundation; the Sidney E. Frank Foundation; the First Interstate Bank Foundation; the First Security Bank Foundation; and the Applied Materials Foundation, along with generous individual donors.

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks is an outreach program of The MSU College of Arts and Architecture.
 
For more information about Shakespeare in the Schools, visit the website at shakespeareintheparks.org or call 406-994-3303.
 
Shakespeare in the Schools 2016 tour – “Twelfth Night”
 
Oct. 6 – Anderson School, Bozeman
Oct. 9 – Plentywood High School, Plentywood
Oct. 10 – Medicine Lake High School, Medicine Lake
Oct. 11 – Bainville High, Bainville
Oct. 12 – Sidney High School, Sidney
Oct. 13 – Pine Hills Correctional Academy, Miles City
Oct. 16 – Worland High, Worland, Wyo.
Oct. 17 – Cody High, Cody, Wyo.
Oct. 18 – Powell High, Powell, Wyo.
Oct. 19 – Meeteetse High School, Meeteetse, Wyo.
Oct. 20 – Arts Roundup, Big Timber
Oct. 23 – Sweet Grass County High School, Big Timber
Oct. 24 – Buffalo  High School, Buffalo, Wyo.
Oct. 24 – Buffalo  High School, Buffalo, Wyo. – public performance
Oct. 25 – Sheridan High School, Sheridan, Wyo.
Oct. 26 – Lame Deer High School, Lame Deer
Oct. 27 –Tippet Rise Art Center, Fishtail – public performance
Oct. 30 – East Valley Middle School, East Helena
Oct. 31 – Capital HS, Helena
 
Nov. 1 – Helena High School, Helena
Nov. 2 – Townsend Middle School, Townsend
Nov. 3 – Belgrade  High School, Belgrade
Nov. 6 – Hardin High School, Hardin
Nov. 7 – Roundup High School, Roundup
Nov. 8 – Sheridan High School , Sheridan, Mont.
Nov. 8 – University of Montana Western, Dillon – public performance
Nov. 9 – University of Montana Western, Dillon
Nov. 10 – Gallatin County Homeschool Group, Bozeman
Nov. 13 – Plains High School, Plains
Nov. 14 – West Valley Middle School, Kalispell
Nov. 15 – Kalispell Middle School, Kalispell
Nov. 16 – Columbia Falls High School, Columbia Falls
Nov. 17 – Columbia Falls High School, Columbia Falls
Nov. 18 – The Ellen Theater, Bozeman – public performance
Nov. 20 – Polson High School, Polson
Nov. 21 – Petra Academy, Bozeman
Nov. 22 – Shields Valley High School, Clyde Park
Nov. 27 – Belt High School, Belt
Nov. 28 – Power School, Power
Nov. 29 – Simms High School, Simms
Nov. 30 – Ronan High School, Ronan
 
Dec. 1 – Florence-Carlton High School, Florence
Dec. 4 – Frenchtown High School, Frenchtown
Dec. 5 – Alberton High School, Alberton
Dec. 6 – Loyola/St. Joes High School, Missoula
Dec. 7 – Ennis High School, Ennis
Dec. 8 – Lone Peak High School, Big Sky
Dec. 11 – Corvallis High School, Corvallis
Dec. 12 – Sentinel High School, Missoula
Dec. 13 – Whitehall High School, Whitehall
Dec. 14 – Chief Joseph Middle School, Bozeman
Dec. 15 – Manhattan High School, Manhattan

When Montana State University students watched a wall of darkness rush across the central Wyoming prairie at supersonic speed, then wash over them and bring a sudden chill to the summer day, they couldn’t contain their awe.
 
“We were all going crazy,” said Jaxen Godfrey, who was one of five MSU students on a Montana Space Grant Consortium team that included students from University of Montana, Chief Dull Knife College and Miles Community College.
 
Their experience of the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse lasted only about two minutes. But the bulk of their research has just begun.
 
“We have all this data to go through,” said Godfrey, a sophomore majoring in physics in the Department of Physics in MSU’s College of Letters and Science.
 
To study how the atmosphere responded to the sudden, midday darkness brought on by the eclipse, the team launched 19 helium-filled balloons. Each carried a small device called a radiosonde, which measured temperature, pressure and humidity as the balloons ascended to altitudes of 80,000 feet or more.

 
Total solar eclipses do unusual things to air and clouds, but the effects in the upper atmosphere aren’t well documented or explained, according to Jennifer Fowler, Montana Space Grant Consortium’s assistant director. For instance, the celestial phenomenon is thought to change atmospheric waves that affect everything from wildfire behavior to wind turbine performance.

 
“They’re like waves on water,” Fowler said. “There’s a theory that says that these waves are generated by the eclipse itself ... but nobody had measured them during an eclipse. That’s exactly what we decided to try and do.”
 
The experiment was part of a larger effort called the Eclipse Ballooning Project, which MSU-based Montana Space Grant Consortium started in 2014. The project’s main activity - involving 55 teams from across the country - was livestreaming high-altitude video of the moon’s shadow crossing the Earth using camera-equipped balloons. Fowler proposed the radiosonde experiment as a way for the project to address a significant scientific question.

 
Some of the 55 livestream teams launched radiosonde balloons, and Fowler helped recruit an additional 12 teams. In total, the teams launched 40 radiosondes, from locations that included the Oregon coast and St. Louis.
 
During the eclipse, Fowler was in Wyoming with the Montana team. For two days, starting on Aug. 20, the team launched a radiosonde every six hours from a site near Fort Laramie to record the atmospheric conditions before, during and after the eclipse.
 
During the roughly two-hour period when the moon crossed the sun, the team launched radiosondes at 20-minute intervals from Fort Laramie - which was positioned along the center-line of the eclipse’s path - as well as at two sites near the edges of the roughly 70-mile-wide moon shadow.
 
The students did all the work, Fowler said. She “got to sit back and enjoy the show.”
 
Godfrey, who was participating in the project as a summer intern with Montana Space Grant Consortium, was at the Fort Laramie site. She and a handful of other students filled the 4-foot-diameter latex balloons with helium, calibrated the radiosondes with a laptop, then downloaded the data with a handheld radio unit as the balloons took flight.

 
Godfrey will use their data, along with that gathered by other teams, to study how the lowest 10,000 feet of the atmosphere - called the planetary boundary layer - responded to the eclipse.
 
“I feel lucky to be part of something so big that happened across the country,” she said.
 
Ian Fleming, a sophomore physics major from Petersburg, Alaska, also helped launch the radiosondes from Fort Laramie. He will compare the data to predictions from computer models, which could help improve the models.
 
Currently, “simulating winds is tricky at best,” he said.
 
The data are also being made available to other researchers, Fowler said.
 
“This was great, real-world, hands-on training for students,” she said. “When they know that someone is going to use their data, they are much more engaged.”
 
The team launched five other balloons equipped with the livestream system and other cameras, including a 360-degree camera system designed by the students at Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer.
 
Forrest Oldman, a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe and a freshman at Chief Dull Knife College, helped download the video livestream and relay it to NASA’s website.
 
“It was kind of out of my comfort zone,” he said. “That’s why I did it.”

The Community Food Co-op invites you to dine at the Community Café on Monday, October 2 from 5-8 pm, where Co-op Guest Chef Kelly Walunis will prepare a special Indian inspired menu featuring local Montana ingredients to help generate revenue for the Community Café.
 
The menu will feature pork from locally-raised hogs purchased by the Co-op at the Junior Livestock Market Sale. The hogs were raised by Lane and Sage Smart and Samantha Draeger. Two of the hogs came from the Smart boys, who raised their animals without feed-grade antibiotics or growth hormones. The hogs had regular walks, a cozy shelter and a big mud bath. Earning from the sale will go towards their college savings.

The Co-op is proud to partner on this event with Pioneer Meats of Big Timber, who graciously processed the animals free of charge. The hogs yielded over 300 pounds of meat. Whatever is not used during the dinner will be donated to the Community Cafe for future meals.
 
Proceeds from the event will go directly to the Community Café, Bozeman’s only pay-what-you-can restaurant. This will be the second year in a row the Co-op and Pioneer Meats have partnered to serve a meal at the Community Café. Last year, the event helped generate over $4,000.
 
“The Café welcomes everyone from the community to enjoy a delicious, locally sourced dinner,” says Chelsea Eddy, Front of House Manager for the Community Café. “What makes it special is the unique payment model that provides an affordable and accessible meal for everyone.”
“As a community owned business, giving back is vitally important to us,” explains Alison Germain, the Co-op Marketing and Membership Manager. “It’s something we’ve always done, to the tune of about $60,000 a year.”

The Community Cafe is located at 302 North 7th Avenue in Bozeman. For those who can’t attend the Co-op’s Guest Chef event at the Community Cafe, donations can be made online, with the goal to raise $1,500 by October 2.

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The Community Cafe is part of the HRDC’s Emergency Food and Nutrition Initiative, working to improve food security in Southwest Montana. The Café was founded when an increase in families needing emergency food boxes was observed at the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. The HRDC was established in 1975 and serves Gallatin, Park, and Meagher Counties in southwest Montana.  HRDC is a non-profit community action agency, dedicated to strengthening community and advancing the quality of people’s lives.