Wine & Culinary Classic at MOR
There’s a full calendar at the Museum of the Rockies as Southwest Montana works its way through the sunny season. Here’s a look at some upcoming events at your neighborhood museum.
Then, a tastebud stimulant of another variety! MOR’s 17th Annual Wine & Culinary Classic will take place Saturday, July 14th from 6–10:30pm, hosting some 400 people on the Museum grounds under one of the largest tents in the state welcoming wine and food enthusiasts from across the country.
They come to SIP a specially chosen selection of extraordinary wines, SAVOR delicious foods prepared by some of Montana’s finest caterers and restaurants, and most importantly, they come to SUPPORT Museum of the Rockies through live and silent auctions. This year’s theme is “Wine for the Seasons.” From winter to spring and summer to fall, our earth turns, and we flow with the seasons, changing our food choices and our wine lists. At this year’s Wine & Culinary Classic, guests will move through the venue just as the wheel of the seasons progresses.
Give your palates a break! MOR is pleased to host the Extreme History Project Lecture Series, encouraging public understanding of the way our history has shaped our present. Speakers take a fresh look at interesting historical topics. Montana’s Pioneer Jewish Communities with Ellen Baumler is next up on Thursday, July 26th at 6pm. The lecture will be held in Hager Auditorium and is open to the public.
Jewish pioneers from Germany, Prussia, Austria and Poland as well as New York and Chicago came west on the heels of the gold rush. Opportunity drew these enthusiastic adventurers to new mining settlements where business as well as religious beliefs brought them together. Jews set up the first businesses at Bannack, Alder Gulch and at most of the smaller mining boomtowns. Jews seized these entrepreneurial opportunities and became miners, barbers, tailors, jewelers, bankers, attorneys, and cattlemen. But it was especially in the roles of merchant and provider that offered a stepping stone for these enterprising men – many of them immigrants from poor villages – to gain economic stability and civic status in a single generation.
Without rabbis or synagogues, these early pioneers established benevolent societies, maintained holidays and traditions, and planted the roots of Judaism in Montana. As significant contributors to their adopted communities, their extraordinary legacy survives in landmarks that include Helena’s 1891 Temple Emanu-El, the first synagogue built between St. Paul and Portland; the National Landmark home of Henry Jacobs, Butte’s first mayor; and Solomon Content’s 1864 business block, today the centerpiece of the Virginia City National Historic Landmark.
MOR’s summer Hops & History series continues! Now in its fifth year, Hops & History supports the museum’s adjacent Living History Farm. Every month during the summer season, Hops & History brings a lively audience of adults to the farm by pairing the Gallatin Valley’s brewing past with beer tastings from local breweries. The next edition will take place Tuesday, July 31st from 5:30–7:30pm. The New Breed: American Brewing Since 1978 will feature selections from Bozeman Brewing Co.
When President Carter signed House Bill 1337 into law in 1978, he ushered in a new wave of American brewing that changed the tastes and availability of what we now call craft beer. Event guests will discover some of the pioneers in the field and explore how innovation (and expert marketing) created the wonderful world of beer that we enjoy today. This presentation will also look at Montana State University’s 125 years of contributions to American brewing.
Admission for The New Breed is $8, plus a $2 souvenir mug charge for each participant’s first event – reuse your mug! The Hops & History: Season Celebration will close out the series on August 28th. Admission is $15, including a souvenir tasting glass and suds. Must be 21+ to attend ALL Hops & History events.
For more information about these events and Museum exhibits, visit www.museumoftherockies.org or call (406) 994-5257. •
