Post by Poor Richard on Jan 6, 2023 16:10:34 GMT -7
Bozeman, Montana: How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Mountain Town
Crazy Canyon Journal reports:
"In the 1990s, Bozeman was a magical place with dive bars that smelled like New Orleans in the summer and trailheads that were empty on a Sunday morning. Sometimes, I would take off to Yellowstone National Park for a long weekend in August and not even reserve a campsite. A southwestern Montana cowtown just 80 miles from Yellowstone, Bozeman had it all–uncrowded rivers, affordable homes, and $5 burritos.
Bozeman is not that place anymore. Montana is not that place anymore. I live in Missoula now, about halfway between Bozeman and another perfectly good (yet ruined) mountain town named Whitefish. In 1996, I came to Yellowstone to scrub toilets, make beds, and have one hell of a good time. I had so much fun that I stayed in Bozeman and became a bona fide Montana resident in 1998. Twenty years is a long time for awesome places (once discovered) to stay the same, and I’m sure the people who moved to Bozeman 20 years before me remember that time fondly, too.
Yet the scale of growth in places like Missoula, Whitefish, and especially Bozeman is downright cancerous. In just the past decade, the population of Missoula increased 10 percent, Whitefish 30 percent, and Bozeman increased by 43 percent. Since my wonder years two decades ago, Bozeman’s population has increased by 93 percent. No wonder I didn’t recognize that old mountain town of my roaring 20s when I went back last summer for my kids’ swim meet. There was traffic, $14 cocktails, and way more condos than cows.
On a break between the semifinals and the final, I was having a beer with another dad at the swim meet. A greying fishing guide (who isn’t) and writer (who isn’t), he knew the Bozeman of yesteryear, too. We wondered aloud what happened to Bozeman. What does it take to ruin a perfectly good mountain town? Well, it all starts with a big mouth.
Tell Everyone About It
Any press is bad press—even articles like the one you’re reading here. I figure Bozeman is a lost cause, so I get immunity. "
Read the full story here.
"In the 1990s, Bozeman was a magical place with dive bars that smelled like New Orleans in the summer and trailheads that were empty on a Sunday morning. Sometimes, I would take off to Yellowstone National Park for a long weekend in August and not even reserve a campsite. A southwestern Montana cowtown just 80 miles from Yellowstone, Bozeman had it all–uncrowded rivers, affordable homes, and $5 burritos.
Bozeman is not that place anymore. Montana is not that place anymore. I live in Missoula now, about halfway between Bozeman and another perfectly good (yet ruined) mountain town named Whitefish. In 1996, I came to Yellowstone to scrub toilets, make beds, and have one hell of a good time. I had so much fun that I stayed in Bozeman and became a bona fide Montana resident in 1998. Twenty years is a long time for awesome places (once discovered) to stay the same, and I’m sure the people who moved to Bozeman 20 years before me remember that time fondly, too.
Yet the scale of growth in places like Missoula, Whitefish, and especially Bozeman is downright cancerous. In just the past decade, the population of Missoula increased 10 percent, Whitefish 30 percent, and Bozeman increased by 43 percent. Since my wonder years two decades ago, Bozeman’s population has increased by 93 percent. No wonder I didn’t recognize that old mountain town of my roaring 20s when I went back last summer for my kids’ swim meet. There was traffic, $14 cocktails, and way more condos than cows.
On a break between the semifinals and the final, I was having a beer with another dad at the swim meet. A greying fishing guide (who isn’t) and writer (who isn’t), he knew the Bozeman of yesteryear, too. We wondered aloud what happened to Bozeman. What does it take to ruin a perfectly good mountain town? Well, it all starts with a big mouth.
Tell Everyone About It
Any press is bad press—even articles like the one you’re reading here. I figure Bozeman is a lost cause, so I get immunity. "
Read the full story here.