Education

The Message Within Music

Children who get to experience music early in life are introduced to big concepts in exploration Article by Marko Capoferri | Photography by Rick Szczechowski There’s a lot of science that shows the benefits of music lessons for kids. From increased brain function and cognitive development, to enhanced motor skills and pattern recognition, music can be an accelerant for a variety of nuts-and-bolts life skills.  You can read the studies and learn a lot, for sure. You can hear it straight from...

Entertainment

Ball & Pins

Westside Lanes & Fun Center Article by Chelsea Lyn Agro Sometimes you just need to beat the heat when that August heat sweeps low into the valley. Westside Lanes & Fun Center, if you've never been, hits you almost simultaneously with its dark entrance and cool air and you know already that you'll want to stay put for a few hours. And if you have kids, all the better. Kids Bowl Free is a summer program that allows children ages 2 to 15 to play two free games daily throughout the summer months...

Life + Culture

Pancake the Llama

Article by Shelby Humphreys When my husband bought our home, the property came with some extras: a detached garage with a shop, a small barn, and a llama. That’s right, a female llama. Although we were the ones signing the deed, over the years we came to understand that we were just visitors on the land that she watched over for nearly 26 years. We were told that the llama’s name was “Pancake.” I’m not sure how she got that name, but looking at her rough coat, it made sense. She hadn’t been...

Local Services

Nothing Fishy About Travis

Blue Reef is Missoula's tropical fish store, and Travis Homme is the expert you want to know Article by Marko Capoferri | Photography by Rick Szczechowski Of all the things to have a slightly unhealthy fixation on, keeping tropical fish is probably quite low on the list of something your friends and family will worry about. Be careful, though: it just may become a way of life.  This is pretty much what happened to Travis Homme, owner and operator of Blue Reef, a shop on Missoula’s West Side...