"Montana Towns: Then, Now, Tomorrow"

Two Rivers Economic Growth will host Montana Conversations program “Montana Towns: Then, Now, Tomorrow” with storyteller Hal Sterns during the Annual Membership Meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the Cottonwood Inn and Suites in Glasgow.

Social will begin at 5:30 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m. and the program following at 7 p.m., followed by a dessert auction. The meal and presentation are free and open to the public. Funding for the Montana Conversations program is provided by Humanities Montana through grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Montana’s Cultural Trust and private donations.

A state of extremes with high mountains, great plains, half the population in five communities and ten others with another one-third of our residents. What about the other towns: 134 incorporated and all small. After the big ones, these latter ones are often unique, often overlooked, yet personify so much of the Big Sky. Why did these small towns come to be: gold, coal and oil, timber, cows and sheep, early trails, roads and rails. But time brings change. Why do some smaller towns hang in, others drift away?

Sterns is an instructor for the University of Montana’s Lifelong Learning Institute and Humanities Montana.

For more information, call Two Rivers Economic Growth at 406-263-GROW (4769).