Deconstructing Bozeman - Part One
One Perspective on Living in an "It" Town
Here is the story of my path to Bozeman and some thoughts about living in one of the West’s most popular “It” Towns. Feel free to add to the conversation by posting in the comments. You can do so anonymously but please be civil.
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As a graduate student new to the West from the East Coast, I had always wondered what it would like to live in a trendy, outdoor orientated town; those old mining towns turned resort towns with their pastel Victorian homes; the trendy ski towns that “everyone” talked about; those precious cute-as-a-button places I saw immortalized in glossy magazines. Let’s call them “It” Towns.
I’d travel to these locales during spring break and over the summer and they had me captivated. With an abundance of outdoor activities and thriving town amenities, they seemed like great places to call home. I wanted to live the carefree life I felt radiated from the locals I saw working at the pubs, restaurants, and shops.
I once chatted with a young woman on a Colorado ski lift who was working in marketing for a local museum. I was in awe. If I could be that person, the one who moved to an “It” Town, lived in the mountains, and got outside all the time, that would be great. If managed to have a professional, rewarding job in such a place, that would be a bonus and I’d feel as if I reached self-actualization.
So, I moved to an “It” Town after graduation, first to Big Sky, Montana and next to Crested Butte, Colorado. I skied, mountain biked, and backpacked as often as I could and took jobs that allowed for that freedom, but I was never able to settle into service work. Working in a hotel and aspiring to be a hotel manager was not for me, and I was a disaster when it came to waiting tables.
After fumbling about as ski bum for three years, I was torn. I wanted to find a way to ski and get outside often, but I also wanted to balance outdoor fun with a job that made a meaningful difference to the community. The girl on the chairlift came to mind, and I still wanted to be her. Could I be at the point where I was seeking the dreaded “real job” that is the death to all ski bums?
Without putting in serious effort, a series of random circumstances lead me to a professional job in a third “It” Town, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I was now the equivalent of the girl I sat with on the chairlift years prior. While I thrived in Jackson professionally and socially, and I skied, backpacked, and mountain biked farther and wider than ever, I had always wanted to move back to Montana. After six years, I sold my condo in Jackson, bought a new one in Bozeman, and made the move with a few leads but no job. My return to Montana was a shock.
The other towns I lived in prior to Bozeman were popular, but they were in different stages of their popularity. At one end, Big Sky, when I moved there in 1996, was still really mellow with a population of 800 to 1,100. The year prior, the tram had opened offering easy access to the vast terrain off the summit of Lone Peak. Big Sky was starting to get noticed by hardcore skiers, but it was still far from hitting the prime it’s in now. It was small and quiet, and felt like it was “ours.” At the other end, Crested Butte and Jackson Hole had been busy, popular, and written about decades. The attention was nothing new, and it didn’t feel like the change was as widespread or noticeable as it was in Bozeman.
Bozeman, when I moved here in 2005, was transitioning from being just another town to becoming an “It” Town. To quote my favorite ski town movie Scrapple, it had “all the right ingredients to become the number one destination in North America.”
Shortly after my arrival, Bozeman appeared on lists of Best Places to Retire and Best Mid-Size Towns for Free Wi-Fi Access. (I’m not making that up. It was 2005 so free Wi-Fi wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is now). As time when on, Bozeman began appearing with more frequency in magazines and on top-ten lists – Best College Towns, Best Outdoor Towns, the list goes on and on. Features in high profile publications such as The New York Times and Travel and Leisure came next, and tourism ticked up. The pandemic and the Yellowstone series exasperated growth. It’s now 2023 and there’s no doubt Bozeman’s time has come.
What’s it like to live in Bozeman?
Some may wonder, as I did, what it’s like to live in Bozeman. Here are a few random, surface thoughts. There's a lot to say (I post about Bozeman often.) but I'll start you off with these points.
• Life is Life - Living in Bozeman, in many ways, is like living anywhere else. You get your teeth cleaned, scoop the cat’s litter box, pay your bills, navigate the various personalities and egos at work, and navigate all the minutia of life. You get sick, get better, deal with insecurities, thrive during moments of bliss. You live life with all the ups, downs, and in-betweens that come your way. The scenery may be better and the outdoor recreation more abundant, but at the end of the day, it’s just life.
• Weather - You can’t talk about living in an outdoor orientated town without mentioning weather. To put it bluntly, Bozeman weather is not for wimps. Temperatures of 30 below are real. Most years you’ll find snow on the ground in town from November through March and regular snowstorms linger into April and May, occasionally into June. While Bozeman’s winters are not as grey as in Kalispell or Missoula, they are nowhere near as sunny as the mountain towns in Colorado and the winter days are much shorter. The glorious summer season, with longer days and pleasant weather, is slow in arriving and is over in the blink of an eye.
• Restaurants - Although “good for a town this size,” some may find them to be ho hum and others may consider service to be subpar. Bozeman restaurants have always closed early. It has always been tough if not impossible to get food after 9:30 p.m., and now, with changes brought on by the pandemic and the great resignation, kitchens sometimes close as early as 8 p.m.
• Diversity - Whether it be racial, culinary, shopping, services, etc., diversity is improving but many will find it is still lacking.
If you want to live in a cool, trendy town, Bozeman or otherwise, I say give it a try and see if it’s for you. Pretty as it is, it is not for everyone.
Burning Out on Paradise
Good places get discovered and don’t say the same forever, so if you live in Bozeman long enough, you find things to become jaded about. Many residents feel a sense of ownership and want to “save” Bozeman and “protect our way of life.” But what does this really mean?
Who doesn’t wish that town would stay the way it was when we moved here? A million thoughts races through your head. After all, you moved here from somewhere else, so you know you shouldn’t judge. Deep down, you realize folks in Jordan, Poplar, and dying Montana towns would love to have a fraction of Bozeman’s good fortune, but you hate seeing town change and you struggle with the dilemma. The crowds and increased traffic are getting to you. Tempers flare as developers gobble up open space, and it can be hard to keep equanimity.
In the 1990s, I had a friend who kept moving north in Colorado from Durango to Telluride to Crested Butte. Each time he felt town had gotten too busy, too crowded, “ruined.” Bozeman and Montana were far from the limelight at the time, and I joked that he'd make it to the Treasure State before he knew it. I’m not sure where he is today and if he ever made it to Montana, but if he did, I’m sure he’s now disappointed.
Does the next great place exist? Could it be possible that a country as large as ours has run out of good places? Surely everything can’t be ruined. Currently, Bozeman is having its day as Aspen, Jackson Hole, and Sun Valley did decades ago.
There is no doubt Bozeman is a great place to live but, in many ways, it’s like anywhere else. No matter how wonderful the mountains are, at the end of the day it’s just life.
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Feel free to add to the conversation by posting in the comments. You can do so anonymously. And feel feel free to read more.
- Links to all posts in the Deconstructing Bozeman series - http://annvinciguerra.blogspot.com/2023/01/deconstruction-bozeman-series.html
- The Bozeman Development Series - https://annvinciguerra.blogspot.com/2023/01/bozeman-development-series.html
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