Let's face it . . . The pandemic has changed everything. What we didn't expect was the dramatic effect it would have on our eating habits as well.

There is no doubt that everyone has taken a hit financially because of Covid-19. However, the hospitality industry has literally taken a big punch to the gut. 



Some restaurants that were around for ages are now completely gone. including brand name franchises and multimillion-dollar, full-on established chains.

These days, you are not even allowed to go to restaurants (At least in most cities). If you are, you have to either sit on the patio or some other special arrangements have to be made.

The pandemic has brought some great changes for restaurant owners, and their customers alike. However, there are still certain things you can do that may help you enjoy your favorite restaurants . . . just in a different way. 

All while keeping your sanity intact in the process.

Use Food Ordering Apps
Whenever there is a sudden lack of opportunity in a certain field, there is also the opposite effect in another. Someone's gain is always someone's loss. In this case, since restaurants are struggling, food apps have now become all the rage. 



You can order your favorite food from most of the open restaurants in your city, and with the help of these apps, you can get your favorite meal right to your home. 

This allows the restaurants to stay alive and while you are enjoying your favorite food and meals.

Apps like Skip the Dishes and Uber Eats are now the norm. With new copycat apps popping up as well.

So although it’s not the best solution for restaurants or the customers, it’s not bad either.


Time For a Picnic, Covid-19 Style
Eating your favorite food at home is awesome. However, you can't stay home all the time. 

Unless you have a really amazing home (LOL). 

However, for most of us, especially people who live in apartments, you just have to get out. As human beings, we are not meant to just stay in one spot. Our bodies are designed to move. 

There is no doubt about that.



So you must go for your little walk, and get some fresh air and every now and then.

To get things going, we highly suggest that after you receive your food, why not go to your local park to enjoy it?
 

Especially if there is one close to you.



If you don't have that many parks around, just find an open area where you and your friends can sit for a while without disturbing others and enjoy some fresh air while eating your meal.

Don’t worry, nobody will judge you these days. Just do your thing.

It's just always nice to eat with your friends while keeping socially distanced. Just make sure these people are part of your bubble and you are taking all the necessary precautions. We also highly encourage that you do this outdoors. 

Not in your own or your friend’s apartment. 

That will kind of defeat the purpose of the whole thing right?

Last But Not The Least . . .  Hang In There
As time has shown, nothing lasts forever. As you may be seeing as well, the end of the pandemic is actually just around the corner. Especially with the new vaccines coming out.



Things are definitely improving but there are a whole number of Covid-19 cases that are on the rise too. This usually happens when the life cycle of a virus is about to end. When a virus is about to die, it fights really hard to stay alive. 



Hence the reason for all the mutation that is going on right now. Especially with the different Covid-19 variants. However, if you continue to practice proper social distancing, wear a face mask and just avoid unnecessary travel, we are literally not that far off from going back to how things were. 

After all, the night is always darkest before dawn.

Yes, it will take time for all the local restaurants to recover and everything, but we are on the way.

So bottom line, hang in there and don't forget to enjoy your favorite meal every now and then. 

Bozeman, MT  – MSU’s Office of the Dean of Students and the City of Bozeman’s Neighborhoods Program, and Solid Waste Division are teaming up for the third year to provide free curbside pickup of bulky items for MSU students.
 
In an effort to keep neighborhoods' streets clean and clutter-free, the City of Bozeman Solid Waste will pick up bulky items such as couches, mattresses, or other large furniture items at any time during the year for a $10 fee. At the end of the Spring semester, when many students are moving out, the $10 fee is waived for MSU-enrolled students. This opportunity is available to students from April 19th-May 14th this year. To participate, students must fill out a short form on the City’s website to confirm their enrollment, enter a description of the item, and its location.

“This is a great program” states Matt Caires, MSU’s dean of students.  “The University is proud of our partnership with the City of Bozeman.  This program is just one of the ways we work together to reduce the impact MSU students make on the community at the end of the semester.”
 
For more information and to access the online form, visit the City’s website. 
 

VIRGINIA CITY – A woman was injured Friday evening in a surprise close encounter with a moose in Virginia City.

The 66-year-old woman was walking her dogs along Cover Street when a cow moose charged at her from a patch of willow trees nearby. The woman suffered a fractured wrist during the encounter.

A game warden with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks assessed the area and spoke with the woman, who said the cow moose was accompanied by a yearling calf. FWP staff will monitor moose activity in this area, but no further management action is planned at this time.

Moose are common in southwest Montana and can be defensive and dangerous in surprise close encounters with people. This is especially true of cow moose with calves. Keep these precautions in mind to avoid negative encounters with moose:
• Be aware of your surroundings and be especially careful around creeks and in areas with dense brush.
• Travel in groups whenever possible and make casual noise to alert animals to your presence.
• If you encounter a moose, give it lots of space and don’t approach it. Always keep dogs under control.
• If a moose charges or chases you, take cover behind something solid, such as a tree.
• In some situations, bear spray has been known to be an effective defense tool in moose encounters.

Tinworks Arts has named the five artists as recipients of its 2021 Tinworks Artists Grant, which this year total $50,000. The grants are issued in support of contemporary art and craft in Montana and are aimed at nurturing the arts professions in the region. 
 
Tinworks Art received 115 applications making the grant highly competitive. Each grantee will receive a remunerative award of $10,000 each, a studio visit from the curatorial team, and a place in the public lecture series in Fall 2021. Each artist is required as part of the grant to participate in one outreach activity for K-12, or an underserved community of their choice.

Tinworks Art actively seeks to break down barriers that have historically excluded certain artists, art, and audiences from the important conversations that art provokes. This year, the grant focused on supporting Indigenous artists, emerging artists, and those working with endangered forms of knowledge. These grants were developed with the specific goal of removing hurdles to the profession, so the impact that a grant of this size might have on an artist’s career was also taken into account during selection.

The winning artists have been chosen for their demonstrated accomplishment as well as their potential for future work. The evaluators sought art that was attuned to the cultural moment, had a clear aesthetic point of view, as well as artists who made ambitious proposals.  
 
The 2021 Tinworks Artist Grantees (alpha by last name): 
 
Anne Appleby (Jefferson City, MT)
Anne Appleby was born in 1954 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and moved to Montana at age 17. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1977 from the University of Montana and embarked on a 15-year apprenticeship with an Ojibwe elder, learning to patiently and deeply observe nature. She would watch and then translate into color the cycles of leaves, stems, buds, fruit, and seeds, transforming nature’s fluid evolution into two-dimensional portraits. Her work is held in numerous collections around the world. For her project Ms. Appleby will be working, along with the staff of the Missoula Art Museum, on a retrospective catalog of her work that will help to frame it critically and historically.

 
Raven Halfmoon (Helena, MT)
Raven Halfmoon (Caddo Nation) is currently based in Helena, MT where she is an artist-in-residence at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts. Her work has been featured in multiple exhibitions throughout the U.S. as well as internationally, and was recently featured in Vogue. She is represented by Fritz + Kouri Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. For her project, Ms. Halfmoon has proposed a monumental sculptural piece, anchored in Caddo ceramic traditions, as a response to recent removals and reframing of public monuments. 

 
Tracy Linder (Molt, MT)
Tracy Linder lives in south central Montana where she continues to find source material for her installations such as bone, leather, seeds, leaves, grasses, often combined with resin and beeswax. Her work addresses our integral connection to the land, the sanctity of our food sources and the innate survival skills of all species. Yellowstone Art Museum presented a major mid-career retrospective of her work in the winter of 2020, entitled “Open Range” and her work has appeared in Sculpture Magazine.  Ms. Linder will be using her grant money to perform environmental upgrades to her studio for safer working conditions when constructing her installations.

 
Alayna Rasile (Bozeman, MT)
Alayna Rasile is a natural dyer and a handweaver who utilizes traditional craft forms and expertise that come from decades of studying fiber structures and engaging in hands-on material research with plant dyes. She is currently an instructor at Montana State University where she received her MFA. Ms. Rasile has proposed a project entitled Grand Prismatic Garden, a public dye garden as the site for a living art exhibition where she will approach the cultivation of a wide range of dye plants as a sculptural installation.

 
Paul Rowley (Somers, MT)
Paul Rowley was born in Seattle, Washington, is an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida tribes of Alaska, and a descendant of the Blackfeet and Cree of Montana. Paul received his MFA from Pacific University in creative writing and he weaves both contemporary and traditional objects using cedar bark, striving to make wearable art that reflects the rich traditions of the Pacific Northwest’s tribal history. Using his grant funds, Mr. Rowley will acquire space to make new work and to teach cedar harvesting and weaving in northwest Montana.

Tinworks Art would like to extend our deepest appreciation to the team of evaluators who lent their time and expertise to this process.

The Downtown Bozeman Partnership is excited to officially announce Ellie Staley as the Executive Director. Prior to becoming the Executive Director, Ellie Staley has most recently been the Assistant Director for the Downtown Bozeman Partnership since 2006. After growing up in Omaha, Nebraska and receiving her bachelor’s degree in Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, she moved to Bozeman in 2000. 

Ellie has over 20 years of event coordinating, sales, and management experience at several established local businesses in addition to her work managing the membership, events and marketing for the Downtown Bozeman Association, the 501c6 non-profit arm of the Partnership. She has a deep love for the Downtown Bozeman community and through her passion and hard work, continues to play an important leadership role in the Bozeman community through creative collaborations with small businesses, property owners, the City of Bozeman and beyond. Ellie is also committed to supporting social infrastructure as well as advocating for accessibility to the arts and culture.

From Ellie: "I am very excited to take on this new challenge that is beyond my scope of work over the last 14 years with events, membership, and marketing to take on some of the larger issues we are facing in Downtown and across our community. We have a wonderful organizational base within the Downtown Bozeman Partnership with over 85 years of support, 5 amazing staff members, over 21 active volunteer board members and hundreds of involved and passionate stakeholders, business owners, community members and more. I am ready to work with all of these groups and YOU to ensure we make the best decisions for our downtown community heading into the future!"

The Downtown Bozeman Association and over 25 participating downtown restaurants, pubs and cafes are excited to bring you Downtown Bozeman Restaurant Week April 19-25. This 7-day event will be filled with good eats and drinks, off-menu specials, exclusive dining experiences and chances to win some amazing prizes from our sponsors.

Start planning your date night, birthday dinner, employee appreciation brunch, or whatever excuse you need to dine in Downtown Bozeman because our amazing businesses are ready to serve you.

A list of participating establishments for the 2021 Downtown Bozeman Restaurant Week can be found below. You can find this list, as well as all the specials and fun to be found, will ALL be available online at www.downtownbozeman.org/restaurantweek2021 and by using the Restaurant Week QR code soon to be sprinkled around downtown. This will help you plan your attack for the week! Please note, event hours and specials will vary depending on the business.

Snag a Downtown Bozeman Restaurant Week Punch Card from any participating business. Fill out your contact information and take this card with you to FIVE different participating restaurants, order from their special Restaurant Week Menu and ask your server to PUNCH your card. Once you've collected five different punches, leave it at the location of your last punch or drop it in the drop box at 222 E Main, Suite 302! These will be collected the week after Restaurant Week and put into a drawing for some amazing prizes from our sponsors.

Whether you're a breakfast fanatic or someone who never skips dessert, we're sure you'll find something to tickle your taste buds at Downtown Bozeman Restaurant Week.

Participating Restaurants: 
Bacchus Pub
Backcountry Burger Bar
Blend 
Bozeman Spirits Distillery
Copper Whiskey Bar
El Camino Bar
Fabers Bakery and Deli
Fielding's
Fresco Cafe, Inc.
Genuine Ice Cream
little star diner
Lockhorn Cider House
Mackenzie River Pizza
Montana Ale Works
Nina's Tacos & Tequila
Open Range Restaurant
Plonk
Sidewall Pizza Company
Smoke, Fire and Coal
Squire House
Steep Mountain Tea House
Sweet Chili Asian Bistro
Ted's MT Grill
The Nova Cafe
Tune Up
Urban Kitchen
Wildrye Distilling

ATTENTION Bozeman and Beyond: PLEASE plan to enjoy Downtown Bozeman Restaurant throughout the week and NOT just one night! If you intend to enjoy Restaurant Week in-person by dining in anytime between April 19-25, remember to follow all safety guidelines in place by the Health Department and each individual business.

Downtown Bozeman Restaurant Week will go on rain or shine and is FREE to the public! Visit www.downtownbozeman.org or call 406-586-4008 for more information! Life is Downtown…

Montana’s spring male turkey season opens April 10. Turkey hunters can purchase a turkey license for a general area at FWP offices, license providers or online. The application deadline for western Montana’s spring gobbler season permits has passed.

The 2021 spring turkey season regulations, with details on turkey hunting in the general area, are available at FWP offices, license providers and online at fwp.mt.gov.

Hunters should remember that when transporting a spring turkey in the state on Montana, one leg and foot must be naturally attached for evidence of sex. Montana law requires landowner permission for hunting on all private land. 

FWP also reminds spring turkey hunters that all Upland Game Bird Enhancement Program enrollments are currently closed and only open during the fall hunting season. Similarly, most Block Management Areas are also closed, but some remain open for spring turkey and spring bear opportunities. No shed hunting, hiking or other recreations are allowed on these properties without landowner permission. Be sure to check the FWP website for dates and locations these properties open.

The spring black bear hunting season starts April 15.

Hunters need to be aware that black bears must be presented for in-person inspection and tagging within 10 days of harvest. The hide and skull must be presented in a condition that allows full inspection and tooth collection (i.e. unfrozen). For local tagging information, contact the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks office nearest to you.

Three Black Bear Management Units have quotas and mandatory 48-hour reporting: Units 510, 520, and 700. When the quota is reached or approached in each of these districts, the black bear season in that district will close.

It's important to know the difference between grizzly bears and black bears. Black bear hunters in Montana are required to pass the Bear Identification test to obtain a black bear license. Montana's Bear Identification Program is intended to prevent the killing of grizzly bears as a result of mistaken identity by hunters.

For more information on black bear hunting, visit https://fwp.mt.gov/hunt/regulations/black-bear.

Sweet Pea Festival is celebrating its 44th Festival! The past 44 years have brought about many great changes to our organization and its annual events. Growing from the initial idea in 1977 of a community's desire to celebrate the arts, Sweet Pea has taken great strides to bring a unique arts festival to the Bozeman community. This year, our juried art show will once again be hosted by our longtime sponsor ERA Landmark, at their Main Street Location. This exhibit will highlight great artists from our state. There will be cash awards to First ($500), Second ($250), and Third ($125) place winners. Click  to apply.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: JUNE 4
Show Dates: July 9 - August 8
ERA Landmark
9 E. Main St.
Opening Reception July 9 ArtWalk