The Pulp

10/07/2025

The Ole Beck VFW, a "little dive bar" in downtown Missoula, had considered closing on Mondays for lack of customers. Then came "Love Island" watch parties.

08/07/2025

On Fri., July 4, and Sat., July 5, Zootown Music Festival’s inaugural run drew a large crowd and kept things mostly on track — brief downpours on Friday and in the early afternoon on Saturday aside. With one stage in the center of the fairgrounds and the other tucked into the rodeo stadium, the setup gave festivalgoers an excuse to stretch their legs and drift between contrasting scenes, from open-air sprawl to bleacher-side views.

The weekend included the Montana-based band The Dead & Down, familiar faces like Jason Isbell (whose Missoula appearances are approaching seasonal tradition), and a few acts whose fans were all in, singing along to every word, while the rest of the audience politely Googled them on the lawn. Hozier brought his brooding, celestial folk-rock to Friday night’s main stage, while Kacey Musgraves closed things out Saturday with a smooth, neon-lit swirl of country and pop. According to a few sources, one standout mid-fest set came from Los Angeles trio La Lom, whose surfy cumbia rhythms stood apart from a lot of the other singer-songwriter-y fare.

There was a lot of Twisted Tea and White Claw drinks and merch (and the samples of green apple and grape WC were, we admit, pretty tasty), plus beers and cocktails. Local vendors like Big Dipper, Island Noodles, and Worden’s Market, among others, held it down on the food front, alongside out-of-town vendors like Taco Girl and Dank Burger. Kornutopia, the local gourmet popcorn business, was out there moving comically oversized bags of kettlecorn — almost half the size of a human body and, if you're prone to snack spirals, creating a real hazard.

For a first-year fest, it all seemed to run surprisingly smoothly. And from above, at least, it looked like a well-oiled machine under slightly moody skies. —EF

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04/07/2025

The University of Montana's new Grizzly Indoor Practice Facility ran up a heating bill of more than $22,000 in February.

02/07/2025

Second home and short-term rental owners will bear the brunt of the legislature's property tax reforms.

30/06/2025

A four-ingredient formula for smoky summer perfection.

27/06/2025

Mayor announces new suitor for prime — and cursed? — downtown Missoula real estate, city council adopts connectivity-focused parks plan, and Rep. SJ Howell offers their take on Community Medical Center’s decision to stop providing gender-affirming care.

27/06/2025

Public broadcasters face an existential crisis as President Trump asks Congress to take away federal funding. What does that mean for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS?

25/06/2025

Surfing Brennan’s Wave in the heart of Missoula is about more than just riding the wave — it’s about the community that grows around it with every person who takes the plunge.

23/06/2025

How Missoula's trying to house and otherwise help Johnson Street Shelter residents, and a new report sheds light on the "revolving door" between incarceration and homelessness.

21/06/2025

In a preview interview ahead of this weekend’s readings in Missoula for her new book "The Intermediaries," Brandy Schillace shares why the rise and eventual fall of the world’s first center dedicated to homosexual and transgender individuals — located smack-dab in the middle of inter-war Berlin — is crucial to our understanding of our world today.

In a preview interview ahead of this weekend’s readings in Missoula for her new book "The Intermediaries," Brandy Schillace shares why the rise and eventual fall of the world’s first center dedicated to homosexual and transgender individuals — located smack-dab in the middle of inter-war Berli...

18/06/2025

Saucy secrets to making the best tacos ever.

16/06/2025

Thousands of people marched through downtown Missoula on Saturday to denounce the Trump administration and its authoritarian tactics.