Things to do / Travel Guide
Whether you'd rather kick back like a cowboy or have a high-end evening and city-folk fun, The Yellowstone area knows how to let nature both nurture and entertain. Arts centers, festivals, music venues, and your neighborhood bar and pub make the region scurry with activity both in the day and late at night while the summer comes alive with regional specialties – the rodeo and rendezvous.
Performing Arts Venues and Festivals in Jackson, Wyoming
Many regional arts facilities host lectures, visual art exhibitions, films, and music performances year-round, offering visitors an opportunity to check out the Yellowstone area's burgeoning arts and cultural scene. The National Museum of Wildlife Art on the north side of Jackson is one such spot, as is Livingston's Depot Center, a performance venue and visual arts exhibition facility showcasing regional arts, live music, theater and film. Livingston's two theater companies, the Blue Slipper and the Firehouse 5, also offer shows year-round.
Music and art lovers will feel right at home in Jackson as well. The Grand Teton Music Festival plays to a more upscale beat, operating as a year-round performance and presentation organization delivering renowned international classic and chamber music. The festival has several winter concerts, but boasts more than 40 concerts in the summer at the Walk Festival Hall near the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. An entertainment highlight for the region and for the season is the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival held every September. The fall festival, along with the Mountain Artists Rendezvous Art Fair held in July and August, highlight the area's art scene, offering openings, exhibitions, lectures, performances, and top artists and collectors from throughout the region.
Performing Arts Venues and Festivals in Bozeman (not Bozman!), Montana
As a fast-growing college town and hub of the arts, Bozeman serves up more than its fair share of entertainment opportunities. The Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture not only supports local artists and musicians by providing services and practice space, but provides a chance for visitors to check out plays by local theater companies, several art galleries, and cafes exhibiting local artists all within the center.
The Montana State University fine arts department also contributes its share to the local arts scene, as faculty members make up much of the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra and the InterMountain Opera Company, which show productions at Wilson Auditorium. The MSU Lively Arts Series uses the Emerson to present touring national theater, popular music, dance performances, and the work of local drama companies. Music in the Mountains, an outdoor concert series at Big Sky Ski Resort, entertains the crowds in the summer months.
The Cody Stampede or Going to a Montana or Wyoming Rodeo
Visitors will have no problem finding ways to embrace Old West style entertainment in the Yellowstone area. In the summer months, from Memorial to Labor Day, practically every town in the region hosts a rodeo, a regional staple guaranteed to get you in the spirit of the sport and the region. Bull riders, barrel racers, rodeo clowns and the most talented cowboys will provide fun for the whole family. The Cody Nite Rodeo and Cody Stampede are considered among the best in the region, but it doesn't stop there. You can check out rodeos in Jackson, West Yellowstone, Billings, Helena, Gardiner, Livingston, Dubois, and Red Lodge as well.
Montana and Wyoming Rendezvous'
Educational and entertaining, the region's "rendezvous" events will certainly take you back through time. Rendezvous is a French word meaning "appointed place of meeting," and in the 1800's, Native Americans, settlers, and trappers would come together at large gatherings to sell their furs, trade for needed supplies, meet with old friends, tell stories, compete in contests, and have a general rip-roaring good time. Today, the mountain man rendezvous' take place as reenactments throughout the region. Participants dress up in pre-1840 garments, and enjoy a variety of competitions, food vendors, crafts and entertainment. Jackson Hole, Red Lodge, Pinedale, and West Yellowstone all host such events in the summer months.
Bars, Live Music in Cody, Jackson and Teton Village, Wyoming
After a long day of admiring nature – or hiking through it – visitors who want to kick back and enjoy some music or the scenery of a local pub or bar won't be disappointed. Country-and-western or rock bands often appear at local saloons and night clubs, pulling locals and guests to the dance floor. Square dancing and a variety of dancing lessons are also popular at regional venues. In Cody, the downtown City Park band shell hosts free concerts on Friday evenings in July and August, or visitors can enjoy a movie outdoor-style at one of the few drive-in theaters left in Wyoming, Park Drive In. A bit off the beaten track, the Jackson Hole Playhouse is a Western-theme dinner theater (formally known as the Pink Garter Theater) with a laid-back and western style beat. Also in Jackson, many Coffee houses double as alternative venues for visual artists, like the Betty Rock Coffee House And Bubba's Bar-B-Que on Broadway and the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar on town square is where the local folk come to let loose. The Mangy Mouse in Teton Village is the center of the local party scene, attracting nationally known rock musicians such as Martin & Wood, G. Love and Special Sauce, Maceo Parker, Blues Traveler.
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