Winter Festival & Winter Art Walk

We will kick off the Winterfest on Friday, February 10, 2023, with the Winter Art Walk from 4-8pm. Read on for more information about the “SOUP-er Bowl Challenge,” the Cocktail Challenge, a Display from Race to the Sky, Irish Dancers, Galentine’s Day Activities, and a Pet Adoption Event.  Plus: Super Bowl Festivities!

“SOUP-er Bowl Challenge” and the Cocktail Challenge print off: 2023 Bingo Cards

Race to the Sky Display

  • The 2023 Race to the Sky takes place from February 10-14. To celebrate, organizers have set up a full display in the Downtown Helena Inc. office at 330 N. Jackson St. Stop by to check it out!
  • Plus, if you post a selfie at the display to your Instagram feed and tag @downtown_helena you’ll be entered to win a giveaway consisting of prizes from various Downtown Helena businesses, including ExplorationWorks! and Lasso the Moon! Limit is 1 entry per day. Unlimited bonus entries available if you post a selfie at the actual event in Lincoln!

SOUP-er Bowl Restaurant Challenge (February 9-13)

  • Bingo Cards can be downloaded here. Paper copies are also available at the DHI office.
  • Soup Descriptions:
    • The Hopper:  (Vegan) Cauliflower Cashew Bisque with Chili Garlic Oil, Toasted Sesame Cashews and Tendril Peas Microgreens or Pollo Enchilada with Guajillo, Ancho, Tomato, Spices, Tortilla Chips, and Cilantro
    • Nosh Cafe: Cheeseburger Macaroni Soup with Deep-Fried Pickles
    • Rockstarr BBQ: Smoked Brisket Chili with Chipotle Sour Cream and Cilantro
    • Southpaw Tacos @ Mt. Ascension Brewing: Roasted Pumpkin Curry Southern Comfort Menudo
    • Silver Star Steak Company: French Onion Soup (It’s a classic for a reason!)
  • You are encouraged to try as many soups as possible over the course of the WinterFest. Just have your server initial the relevant bingo box.
  • At the end of the challenge, return your card in person to the office, or email us a photo. Each soup tried will earn you one entry into a giveaway for a pair of gorgeous soup/chili mugs from Downtown’s own JMACs Pottery! You’ll also be able to vote on your favorite soup, and the winning establishment will receive a certificate plus all the glory.

Cocktail Challenge (February 9-13)

  • Bingo Cards can be downloaded here. Paper copies are also available at the DHI office.
  • Drink Descriptions:
    • The Hawthorn: Balloons over Montana–A Slushie made with White Irish Cream, White Cocoa, and Cream served with an icy rim
    • Rialto: Rialto Barrel-Aged Negroni (Gin, Campari, & Bitters) Served in a Rocks Glass over a Boulder, with a Freshly-cut Orange Wheel
    • The Gold Bar & The Western: Fireside Old Fashioned–A classic old-fashioned sweetened with cranberry simple syrup, flavored with orange bitters, and muddled orange and Bordeaux cherries. The cocktail will be served in a smoked cinnamon glass–sure to warm you during these cold winter days.
    • Silver Star Steak Company: Silver Star Winter Blues–A twist on the classic Side Car, using apricot brandy, Courvoisier VSOP, and Contreau + Silver Star Spring Fever (Mocktail), featuring basil, agave syrup, Lyres N/A Agave Blanco, and strawberry puree
    • Gulch Distillers: Café Burroné –A Gulch take on the Espresso Martini, with Burrone Fernet, Montago Cold Brew, and House  Crème De Cacao
  • At the end of the challenge, return your card in person to the office, or email us a photo. Each drink tried earns you an entry into a giveaway for a prize basket!
  • Remember to drink responsibly

Drink Local Social Media Challenge: Choose Your Brew (February 9-13)

  • COFFEE: Post a photo of your drink from a local coffee shop on Instagram (to your feed!) and tag both the shop and @downtown_helena. Participants are limed to one entry per establishment per day (multiple entries per day are fine if spread across establishments).
  • BEER: Post a photo of your drink from a local coffee shop on Instagram (to your feed!) and tag both the shop and @downtown_helena. Participants are limed to one entry per establishment per day (multiple entries per day are fine if spread across establishments). Remember to drink responsibly
  • Randomly chosen winners will receive a $50 gift card to the establishment of their choosing (1 winner for each)

First Annual Winter Art Walk (Friday, February 10 from 4-8pm)

  • Map can be downloaded here: Winter Art Walk Map_2023
  • Food truck and an ice sculpture on the walking mall!
  • For the first time, attendees will be able to vote on their Favorite Host and Favorite Artist of the evening. Prizes will be awarded, and anyone who votes will be entered into a giveaway for Downtown Helena Nuggets!
  • Check out the Soft Opening of Helena’s newest Art Space, Omerta Arts!
  • The Confluence Taproom will be holding its Grand Opening the night of the Art Walk!

MORE

Art Walk Digital Map

Map

Art Walk Registration - Host

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Art Walk Registration - Artist

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Art Walk - Participating Businesses

Kevin League Photography

330 N Jackson Street
Helena , MT 59601

Live music by Queso Libre!

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Kevin League

Kevin is a Helena, Montana based award-winning professional landscape, lifestyle and wildlife photographer capturing Montana and the western United States’ most beautiful, fleeting and fascinating moments.

Aunt Bonnie’s Books & Gifts

419 N Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Mary Eder

Uniquely handmade polymer clay earrings.

Blackfoot River Brewing Co.

66 South Park Avenue
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Monster Maud

Monster Maud creates magical plush monsters, love bugs, and monster valentines. Snag a hand-sewn Monster heart for your sweetie!

Montana Book Company

331 N Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Artist: G.V. Kelley

G.V. Kelley is a nonbinary artist making figurative ceramic work that explores ideas about non-binary gender through the hybridized animal/human as metaphor, with references to fantasy and science fiction.

Artist: Cory Krings

Cory Krings is a Jack-of-All-Trades and paper artist with a reputation for personalized and detailed small and large-scale paper cut snowflakes.

Lasso the Moon Wonderful Toys

25 S. Last Chance Gulch Pedestrian Mall
Helena , MT 59601

Artist: Samara Lynde

My name is Samara Lynde and I hand sew each Woolster from upcycled felted wool and cashmere. As they are created, their personalities come out, so each Woolster comes with his or her own backstory. I also take special orders for custom Wooolsters, so please drop me a note at [email protected] if you would like a new Woolster made just for you.

The Gold Bar & The Western

406 N Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Aaron Fiddelke

Modern retro architecture using lines and halftones.

Gulch Distillers

790 Front Street
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Joy Kelso

Introducing Gulch Distiller’s Winter Walk Artist, Joy Kelso. Living in Helena, she began her self-taught art career after inheriting her candle business in 2019, and learning pottery during 2020. After finding her voice in minimal, Montanan art, she became a full-time ceramicist and starting her own Chandlery, Pottery, and Fiber Art studio: Modern Montana Makerie. She is most well known for her bison sculptures, named Montoya. She frequently can be found at home, where her fiber art studio resides.

Ghost Art Gallery

21 S Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Brett Varney

Brett’s work consists of vibrant colored contemporary landscapes.

Signs Now

323 N Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

United Way of Lewis and Clark Area is partnering up with Signs Now to host 2 artists!

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Angelina Chase

Creating has always been a part of my life and I grew up with a love for crafts. Fast forward a few years as I’m scrolling pinterest and see a fabalous pair of leather earrings. I had to try making them because buying them would have been to easy! That ignited a flame and I now have a passion for working and creating with leather & feathers. My hope is that you will love our earrings and feel empowered and beautiful while wearing them!

Artist: Ruby Trench

An aspiring young artist / painter. A fifth grader with big dreams! She has actually sold paintings along with lemonade and cookies from her home in Unionville and also in East Helena. Come see Ruby’s work!

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Stephen Butkay

Montana landscape photography

Artist: Abby Normal

Abby will be showing some framed originals and have an assortment of merch for vending. Shirts, prints, stickers, and resin/clay accessories etc.

Rialto Bar

52 N last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Alexia Duncan

Colorful oil and acrylic painting created on reclaimed windows or wood. Subjects include wildlife, autos/tractors, and landscapes.

Artist: Hal Mackenzie

Hal Mackenzie also known as Hell-Bound Hal, is an artist of weird things.

Curiouser and Curiouser LLC

429 N. Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Artist: Barry Ferst

The gallery shows three-dimensional, interactive collages made from common, everyday objects.

Mountain Sage Gallery

433 North Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

JMACS Pottery

411 North Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Edwin Glass

Birds & Beasleys

2 S. Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Birds & Beasleys will be celebrating all of its artists!

Featuring all the artists in the store.

Ten Mile Creek Brewery

46 N Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Absolute Zero Ice Design

Head to the Bullwhacker Block to witness the creation of a custom ice sculpture!

Artist: Neil Sauter

62 N Last Chance Gulch Valentine’s day specials up to 25% off.

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Windy Valley Studio

Beguiling characters, colors and scenes grace this stoneware. Invoked from earth, fire and a dash of pluckiness.

Artist: Rebecca Wells Fine Art

Original acrylic and oil paintings plus prints, mugs, cards & coasters.

Artist: Just Claire Pottery

Local artist creating colorful, functional pottery featuring decals, glaze resists and a few buttocks.

Artist: Bob & Rachel Krug

Local jewelers and designers and the owners of Imagine Designs, Jewelry Studio.

800 Front St

Refreshments will be served

The basement of the New York Building has a large open space where the entrances to Birdseye, Jay Crider’s new studio, Seth Roby’s printmaking studio all face. For the art walk, Birdseye will be open, Jay Crider is having a grand opening of his space, and the Helena College art students will be set up in the atrium with a table. Birdseye will have special Valentine’s Day designs for sale!

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Jay Crider

Artist: Helena College Art Students

Proof Marketing (formerly Oaklin Creative)

330 N Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Proof will also feature the live music of local singer/songwriter David Burke of Bouquet of Treasons. He will be performing many covers and originals.

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Kasey Nixon

Kasey Nixon is a local oil painter, sculptor, and conservationist.

318 N Last Chance Gulch

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Leah Cupino

“I hunt for a rapid instinctual affair of building on a surface. In ritual, I melt, mix, smear, scratch, drip, and drive into what I can touch right now. Vibrant pigments made from the earth are mixed with ash, snow, egg and oil. I watch my brush and fingers advance; my interior landscapes are impulsively revealed in layers. The inviolable space I create is wholly my own yet lives on well without me.”

Artist: Seth Roby

What is the totality of a single event or experience?. My images attempt to answer this by unpacking the influences of society, culture and environment using pieces or fragments of printed materials. I appropriate image structures and formats to create new dialogues between past and present events trying to find a common ground, understanding or truth. My work relies on pieces and fragments put together to attempt to define all that is going on at a moment. Pieces are a way of describing a singular event that adds up to a much larger whole. When using a “piece” juxtaposed with another, a new relationship or understanding is revealed; small moments add up to a bigger meaning.

Artist: Mackenzie Petersen

Ceramic pieces that play with biological forms to celebrate the beauty of flowers.

Boxwoods

426 N Last Chance Gulch
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Nimax Silversmith

Local, handmade silversmith jewelry.

Stop by to see the Race to the Sky display!

Race to the Sky takes place from February 10-14. To celebrate, organizers have set up a full display in the Downtown Helena Inc office at 330 N. Jackson St.

Take a selfie of yourself at the display and post it to your Instagram feed and tag @downtown_helena to be entered into  a giveaway consisting of prizes from various Downtown Helena businesses! Limit is 1 entry per day. Unlimited bonus entries available if  you post a selfie at the actual Race to the Sky in Lincoln!

 

 

Refreshments will be served

430 N Last Chance Gulch

26 N Last Chance Gulch

Refreshments will be served

417 N Last Chance Gulch

Refreshments will be served

111 N. Last Chance Gulch

Artist: Megan Malkin

Texture Art

Artist: Dolce Flower Co.

Watercolor Prints

Holter Museum of Art

12 East Lawrence Street
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Rae Senarighi: Transcend

Montana born artist, Rae Senarighi brings his large scale portraits to the Holter’s largest gallery in Transcend, portraying and celebrating accurate representation of Transgender and Nonbinary individuals. With vivid and bold colors these portraits radiate the brilliance of the individuals and celebrate accepting and loving one’s self.

Artist: Transilience

TransVisible Montana and the Holter have partnered with Transgender, Nonbinary, and Two Spirit Artists for the grand re-opening of the Museum from January through March of 2023! This partnership was formed with the mission of bringing artists from within and around Montana to promote visibility, to honor and celebrate the work, impact, and contributions of Transgender, Nonbinary, and Two Spirit Artists from in and around Montana.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices – Montana Properties

50 S Park Avenue
Helena , MT 59601

Refreshments will be served

Artist: JoDav

As a teen, Joe fell in love with graffiti but growing up in the country there were no abandoned buildings or empty trains to practice this art form. So, he did the next best thing by sketching his work. He started to find a passion of taking ordinary letters and making them colorfully vivid works of art.

After a trip to Europe, he was inspired by numerous art galleries and the quaint town of Brugge to attempt oil painting- thus JoDav Art was born.

Joe is modest about his art, refusing to sign anything- he feels his art belongs to those who own it. He hopes his art allows you to get lost in the beauty of bright colors and brings joy or any form of emotion, just as it does for him.

320 N Last Chance Gulch

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Jeff Camplese

Jeff Camplese is a finish carpenter and woodworker who has been creating and crafting for over 35 years. He specializes in building stand-alone and built-in cabinetry, custom furniture, and trim work.Throughout the years some projects he has been involved with are detailed libraries, fireplace mantels, beamed ceilings, curved staircases as well as numerous bathroom and kitchen renovations.

Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, he attended Montana State University in Bozeman. He completed his studies and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1981. It was during these years that his love for and desire to live in Montana became ingrained, he knew that he would always want to return someday. After graduating, he returned to Indiana and got his first job in the building business. He spent the next following years learning about the woodworking trade, acquiring valuable experience and tools, and gaining an understanding of the process of designing and completing various building projects.

In 1994, he relocated to Helena, Montana, where he continues to live with his wife Deborah and their 2 black Labs. He owns his own business now, Rising Sun Woodworking and while passionate about his work, he is also appreciative of the many outdoor recreational opportunities and subtle characteristics that make Montana what it is. The fishing, hunting, hiking, rivers, snow, mountains, hard blue skies and wide-open spaces that provide many opportunities for special time away from work. He takes full advantage of these as his schedule allows. He has become totally addicted to what may quite possibly be the most fulfilling and enjoyable pastime there is: fly fishing. Recently, he has been building wooden shadowbox fly displays as a way to enjoy and show appreciation for the lifelong pursuit of a sport we can all take part in.

Artist: Michael Tommerup

Helena, Montana is my home and we are surrounded by incredible beauty! However, the most beautiful treasure of this state is the unique wood. Each piece I work with is unique and there will never be another like it. The best part of working with wood is see the grain develop as it is carefully finished. Making wooden items is my passion and it shows in my work.

Artist: Kara Campell

Jewelry!

Artist: Jackson Neher

Thoughtful and accessible visual experiences

Artist: Jacob McEachern

Photography

Refreshments will be served

The Confluence Tapworks

40 S Last Chance Gulch

 

GRAND OPENING!!!

Live Music with Chad Okrush

Refreshments will be served

Artist: Chad Okrush

Live music!