04/01/2024
Helena welcomed back the Bighorns hockey team after it won its first North American Tier III Hockey League championship and celebrated with a parade through downtown on Thursday, March 28.
The Bighorns beat the Northeast Generals from Attleboro, Massachusetts, 2-1, in the Fraser Cup on Sunday, March 24, at the tournament in Missouri.
The team, which has been around for the past three decades, made it to the semifinals in the two previous tournaments but came up short.
This year was different.
“[The past losses] obviously didn’t sit well with any of us. So this year we were too close not to go for it,” Bighorns coach Damon Hanson told Montana Free Press. “So we had a lot of obviously great talent on our roster and not only great hockey players but good human beings that wanted one thing and that was to win.”
The coach, who started as a player for the team in 2010, left and came back to take the position of head coach in 2018.
Hanson said that he and the team owners, Mike Greene and Jed Snyder, accomplished their five-year goal in three, which was to bring a championship team back to Helena.
The season may be finished, but for the coach and the rest of the Bighorns, this is just the opportunity to begin working towards the next season.
“We’re already back at it,” Hanson said. “We’ll take the weekend, take a couple [of] days I’m sure to kind of just unwind, but we’re still working.”
Public Notice
The Helena City Commission will discuss the general overview of the city’s budget for the 2025 fiscal year at a meeting this week.
The overview includes the city manager’s budget priorities, the city’s general fund balance, revenue projections and a look at proposed projects.
From the city’s presentation, among the city manager’s priorities is supporting a pay increase for city employees from a cost-of-living analysis that will be shared with the commission at a later date. In addition, the city has about $1.15 million of the general fund remaining from the 2025 preliminary budget.
The overview will be presented by the city’s manager, budget director and other staff and will also provide a schedule for budget meetings for the remainder of the year.
The meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3, at the City-County Building at 316 N. Park Ave.
5 Things to Know in Helena
And the winner is: The city commission has selected local artist Elise Perpignano to paint the Lyndale tunnel after asking for proposals last winter. Her mural, “Wildfires,” pays homage to the 13 smokejumpers who died during the Mann Gulch Fire in 1949, Perpignano wrote in a letter that accompanied her submission. Work on the 11-week project to paint the tunnel begins on Monday, April 1. Perpignano will be paid $15,000 for the work.
Caption: Local artist Elise Perpignano’s winning submission titled, “Wildfire” honors the 13 smokejumpers who died during the Mann Gulch fire in 1949.
ADA ramp makeover: The city commission on March 25 also approved a contract to pay Rod Tabbert Construction $350,000 to provide concrete throughout the renovation of ADA ramps around the city. This project is in conjunction with the city’s plan to bring its streets and sidewalks into compliance with federal standards. Locations set for renovation are at Boulder Avenue between Montana Avenue and Washington Street, and 11th Avenue between Fee and California streets. The commission also approved a $617,203 bid to Helena Sand and Gravel for work on city streets this summer.
The KinderSprouts are sprouting: Helena Public Schools is looking for incoming pre-schoolers for its KinderSprouts program. The goal of the free program, which was created under the guidelines of House Bill 352, is to help build literacy at the early stages of education through the end of third grade. The school district will begin screening for new sprouts on Monday, April 1, and students must be at least 4 years old by Sept. 10. Parents and guardians interested in having their child screened for the program can visit the district’s KinderSprouts website.
New Narcan vending machine: Helena has received from the Lewis and Clark County Health Department a third Narcan vending machine, which is located at the Lewis and Clark County Criminal Justice Center at 228 E. Broadway St. Narcan, also known as Naloxone, can be used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and is free at the three vending machines. Helena’s other two locations for the vending machines are at Our Place, at 631 N. Last Chance Gulch, and at the city’s law and justice center at 406 Fuller Ave.
Comedy at the Windsor: Comedian Rodney Norman will perform in Helena on Friday, April 5. The comedian has gathered more than 700,000 followers on TikTok and over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. The self-described philosopher was a winner at the Rhode Island Comedy Festival and was featured in the Boston Comedy Festival. His show is at the Windsor Ballroom at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased on Norman’s website.
3 Questions For
Mariah Gladstone, Blackfeet, Kainai and Cherokee, is the creator of Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform that provides lessons on how to prepare Indigenous-based meals. Repping Indigikitchen, Gladstone participated in the Helena School District’s Cooking Up Family Fun Day at Bryant Elementary on Friday, March 22. There, she demonstrated how to prepare two-ingredient cookies for around 200 elementary students. Montana Free Press spoke with Gladstone about Indigenous food education. Her comments have been edited for length and clarity.
MTFP: What is Indigikitchen and what do you do with it?
Gladstone: Indigikitchen is a teaching tool dedicated to sharing information about Indigenous foods and Indigenous food systems.
I do different events, especially around the state of Montana with Indian Education for All, which of course is predominantly in K-12 schools. I’m also really lucky I get to work with colleges and universities. I get to work with nonprofits, I get to work with businesses and teach cooking classes online for different business organizations, lunch breaks and things like that. So I get to work with a lot of different folks, but ultimately we’re all connecting and learning food information together and getting to share in that community space, whether it’s online or in person.
I came down to Helena for the Bryant Elementary School Cooking Up Fun Day. So I ran a station that was focused on traditional Indigenous foods, the first foods of Montana, that sort of thing. We talked a lot about Native foods and what kind of plants and animals and foods we have around us. Then we closed out with a hands-on activity where the kids were able to make no-bake sunflower maple cookies.
MTFP: Why do you do school-based events like this one?
Gladstone: I love doing work with kids because it’s obviously such a foundational time, but also I think that whenever we talk about traditional Native foods or foods around us, then it immediately makes kids feel more connected with their landscape. That’s really important because it makes them feel more at home wherever they are.
Also, when we connect foods and kids together and kids have a role in making their food and taking part in where those foods are coming from and how to create them, then they really have a vested interest in whatever’s going in their mouth. That really helps them try new things. It helps them get outside of their comfort zone. All these kids were willing to sit down and shape a cookie with their hands. It’s only sunflower seeds and maple syrup; there’s not a lot of ingredients that they have to actually make.
Regardless of the kid, they were all willing to try that cookie, and some of them liked it, some of them hated it, some of them loved it and decided they were obsessed with them. But they were all willing to try it and there’s not a lot of opportunities for kids to try new things in that way where they have had a role in creating it themselves. So I think that just broadens children’s horizons and also connects them with their own bodies and the place where they live too.
MTFP: What was the response from teachers, parents and guardians?
Gladstone: A lot of the parents and teachers were really surprised that we could make cookies with only two ingredients. A lot of the parents realized that it’s something that they can do very easily at home. I gave them some suggestions for ways that they could make them if they wanted to bake them at home. The ones that we made were no-bake, but they can of course modify it in their own homes.
We have that as an option if folks had jam at home and they wanted to try adding a little blob of jam to the middle of the cookie or just different things like that. It was really a good opportunity because, in so many schools, you’re not permitted to have peanuts or tree nuts because of allergies, and sunflower seeds are a really great Indigenous alternative to that. Everyone was able to try the food, which was really great too.
Helena History
The first Broadwater Hot Springs?
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to [email protected].
