News & Updates

The Flathead Valley Celtic Festival stages its annual event this year Sept. 8 and 9, but the gatherings started much earlier, first with our co-hosted screening of “Waking Ned Devine,” and now a showing of “Belfast,” set for 7 p.m. Friday, April 14.

Come on out to the museum for the free award-winning movie and Celtic-themed raffle prizes. Refreshments, including beer and wine, will be available for sale.

Festival co-founder Rob Eberhardy (shown with daughters Katie (left) and Anna), who with his wife Shelley Eberhardy founded the festival in 2015, says the screenings “are a great way to gather the community, aid in enrichment, and, of course, have fun!”

See you here!

Maritime archaeology explorer Kyren Zimmerman gives us a tour of fascinating objects at the bottom of Flathead Lake and other area waterways. He uses ROV and other technology to render images of sunken boats, rail cars, and other treasures. See for yourself at the last of the talks in our 21st annual John White Series at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26.

With just a couple of dozen tickets left, which you can purchase online or at the museum from 10 to 5 weekdays, we expect this event to sell out as with other talks in the series.

See you Sunday!

Writer and former wildlife biologist John Fraley appears Feb. 5 in the third installment of the museum’s 21st annual John White Series.

For the first time, popular Northwest Montana author John Fraley, who usually turns his pen to historical figures of Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and other wild spaces, has turned his attention to himself. His newly published fifth book, My Wilderness Life, tells of the inspiration and sometimes tragedy of giving into the risk of exploring remote places.

“I didn’t want to write a self-indulgent memoir,” Fraley says, “so instead I basically followed the template of my other books. Each chapter features the challenges and rewards of adventuring in the wilderness, except this time they’re adventures I experienced firsthand.”

Always an engaging speaker and an inquisitive researcher and observer, Fraley takes us along on the trail of his life and where reflection and wilderness intersect.

The John White Series is named for longtime custodians at the former Central School, who encouraged Kalispell learners for decades.

The 2023 series wraps Feb. 26 with Kyren Zimmerman talking about marine archeology photography and what lies beneath the surface of Flathead Lake and other waters.

Movie Night at the Museum begins the year with a showing of the 1955 romantic thriller “To Catch a Thief” starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. The film screens 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the Northwest Montana History Museum. 

John “The Cat” Robie (Cary Grant) no longer steals for a living. The former jewel thief is happily living on the French Riviera, tending his vineyards and enjoying the good life when a string of burglaries cause the police to suspect that Robie is up to his old tricks again. Facing arrest for crimes he did not commit, Robie realizes that the only way he can prove his innocence is to find and catch the actual thief. 

Thinking like a burglar once again, Robie identifies the individuals and families living and visiting the area whose wealth and possessions make them the most lucrative targets. That list includes a rich American tourist Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis) and her daughter Frances (Grace Kelly). Robie strikes up an acquaintance with both ladies and from there, the story moves through plot twists and turns that only writer-producer Alfred Hitchcock could create.

When he was offered the role of Robie, Grant, like his character in the movie, had retired. But after accepting the role, he continued to remain active in the movie business for 11 more years. 

This film is the third film in which Hitchcock featured Kelly as the leading lady, citing her “elegant sexiness” as a reason he selected her for the role.  

Admission and popcorn are free, but donations are accepted to defray costs. Soda pop, water, beer and wine are available for purchase. Seating is provided, but viewers can bring their own cushions or seating if they like.

Located in the former Central School in Kalispell, the Northwest Montana History Museum brings the past alive through exhibits, artifacts, educational programs and events. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. Call 406-756-8381 or visit nwmthistory.org for more.

Author, radio co-host, and sustainable-food practitioner Amy Grisak will present her years of research on fire lookouts of Glacier National Park and Northwest Montana as part of the museum’s 21st annual John White Series.

Grisak will cover fire suppression efforts and events starting with the Big Burn of 1910, which consumed 3 million acres and 87 lives, prompting creation of the lookout system. In Northwest Montana, with its predominant logging industry, such measures were critical to the economy and livelihoods of the area. “It’s one thing to learn about the number of acres burned,” she says, “and another to learn the personal stories.”

“I’m a fire-lookout nut,” says Grisak, who has hiked into many existing lookouts, such as trekking the 11 miles to Huckleberry Lookout in Glacier National Park. She also will present information and images of fire lookouts that have been lost along with ones such as Hornet, which marked a century this year up in the North Fork.

A former resident of Coram, where she built 220 raised garden beds out of stone on her property, Grisak now lives in Great Falls, where she co-hosts the radio program Front Range Outdoors and writes books and articles. She will sign copies of her Nature Guide to Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks and Found Photos of Yellowstone at the event.

The John White Series is named for John Whites Sr. and Jr., whose friendly faces warmed up Kalispell and area learners for decades. 

Details:
2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15; half-hour social time and refreshments after the presentation.

Tickets for individual events are $15 (members)/$20 (nonmembers).

Visit nwmthistory.org/programs/john-white-speaker-series for tickets and more info. Tickets also may be purchased by stopping in or calling the museum and talking with Terri or Margaret, 406-756-8381 option 5 or 6.

Regular museum hours:
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday
Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 Second Ave. East, Kalispell, MT 59901; 406-756-8381; nwmthistory.org