Fromberg, Montana
Clark’s Fork Valley Museum Tour and Carbon County Historic Preservation Updates
Brian Urbanik - Music at the Museum
Saturday, April 18th, 2026
Doors open at 4:30 PM
Music starts at 5:00 PM
Join the Carbon County Museum for Music at the Museum with up and coming local artist Brian Urbanik!
Brian Urbanik is a returned Red Lodge local. He's considered himself a guitar player for over 12 years, and in the past few years he's started exploring singing and songwriting.
Brian's music has never been tied to a single genre or style. The songs he writes come from feelings and experiences happening in and around his life. Guitar playing—and now songwriting—has always felt like therapy for him.
Brian doesn't play music to impress others. He plays to make it through this life.
Some of his songs may be considered sad, but they’re powerful. The intensity of his musical expression reflects the weight and meaning of his life experiences. Brian's journey has been shaped by important people in his life, including Travis Burdick, Cory Leone Johnson, Wes Urbaniak, and many well-known artists.
Don't miss Brian Urbanik at the Carbon County Museum Saturday, April 18th, 2026 at 5:00 PM!
Doors open at 4:30 PM
Music starts at 5:00 PM
Free for members
$5 for General Admission
Donna Erickson is the author of Rooted at the Edge: Ranching Where the Old West and New West Collide, published by the University of Nebraska Press in April of 2025. Erickson grew up on a ranch in Missoula’s North Hills and was a professor of landscape architecture and planning at the University of Michigan for 16 years. Since leaving academia, she has consulted with land conservation groups across the west from her home in Missoula. Donna’s previous book is MetroGreen: Connecting Open Space in North American Cities.
Jeff Gildehaus explores the history of Red Lodge during Prohibition.
Join the Historical Society for a field trip to the Finnish Kaleva Lodge. Meet at the Museum at 11:30 AM and carpooling to the the lodge north of town. Bring a dish to share for a picnic!
*Free for members. $10 for General Admission.
Join the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum for a book signing and talk with co- author Kirby Lambert, June 19th, 2026 at 5:00 PM.
“A History of Montana in 101 Places: Sites and Stories from the Montana Historical Society ” outlines how community organizations, everyday folks, and local, state and federal governments have made and remade the Last Best Place.
“101 Places” features diverse locations that embody major cultural, economic, and political developments in the history of the state. Battlefields and government buildings appear alongside homes, schools, and taverns. Indigenous cultural sites share space with farms and mines as these places come together to tell Montana’s story.
Kirby Lambert worked for almost thirty-seven years at the Montana Historical Society where he served in a variety of capacities—as museum registrar, curator, and Outreach and Interpretation program manager. He is a coauthor of several books and a regular contributor to “Montana The Magazine of Western History.”
Friday, March, 2026
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum
Music at the Museum
Kid Valance performs his original songs and stories of his time as a Spirit Runner for Peace at the Carbon County Museum Friday, March, 2026 at 5:00 PM!
Doors open at 4:30 PM
Music starts at 5:00 PM
Free for members
$5 for General Admission
Join Red Lodge Paranormal for the Dead Lodge Ghost Investigation Evidence Reveal
March 13, 2026 @ 5:00 PM
Nita Waples of Red Lodge Paranormal reveals the evidence from our October Ghost Investigation. Explore the recordings and pictures from the October ghost investigation!
Find out more about Red Lodge’s ghosts!
Free for previous ghost hunt participants & members
$5 for General Admission
FREE for Members
Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.carboncountyhistory.com/admission-tickets
or with cash at the Carbon County Museum or the Roman Theater the day of the event.
Wednesday, February 18th, 2026
Join the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum for Pint Night at Sam's Tap Room!
$1 donated to the CCHS&M for every pint sold!
Musical entertainment by Kid Valance!
Friday, February 13, 2026
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum
Music at the Museum
Join us for a night with local duo Faith & Perry!
A MUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF Time Travel, GOOD LOVE & BAD LUCK
At the Carbon County Museum, Friday, February 13, 2026 at 5:00 PM!
Doors open at 4:30 PM
Music starts at 5:00 PM
Free for members
$5 for General Admission
Wednesday, January 21st, 2026
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum
Music at the Museum
Join us for a night with local favorites Justin & Lisa Satterfield!
Featuring a variety of originals, acoustic instrumentals, and 80's/90's covers.
At the Carbon County Museum, Wednesday, January 21 at 5:00 PM!
Doors open at 4:30 PM
Music starts at 5:00 PM
Free for members
$5 for General Admission
Help brighten somebody’s Holidays!
FREE ADMISSION WITH NEW TOY DONATION!
November 29th -
December 20th,
Fridays & Saturdays
10 AM - 4 pm
The annual Red Lodge Festival of Trees is being held at the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum this year. The festival will be on November 29th (Shop Small Saturday) from 10-4. Be sure to drop into the museum to see or bid on our collection of beautiful trees and gifts for the holidays.
If your business or organization would like to donate a tree or gift basket for this year's event, please reach out to the museum or email us at: rlfestivaloftrees@yahoo.com.
Ice patch archaeology is more than artifact recovery, it’s a model for engaged, relevant science. It's inherently interdisciplinary, combining paleoclimatic, archaeological, & ecological approaches to explore human–environment dynamics through time. These efforts contribute to a broader narrative challenging the fatalism that often dominates climate discourse. While acknowledging ongoing crises of environmental degradation & climate instability, ice patch studies offer a story of resilience, thoughtful intervention, collaboration & relationship-building.
Saturday, November 1st, 2025
6:00 - 9:00 PM
Are you brave enough to explore the depths of the Coal Mine?
You never know what lurks behind each turn!
Spirits? Spooks? Gremlins?
You’ll have to find out for yourself...
If you dare!!
October 30- 6-8 PM - $5
October 31 - 4-6 PM - FREE KIDS NIGHT ON HALLOWEEN!
November 1 - 6-9 PM - $5 DAY OF THE DEAD PARTY!
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum
224 Broadway Ave N.,
Red Lodge, Montana
Are you fascinated by Red Lodge Ghosts? Join the Carbon County Museum and Red Lodge Paranormal for a suspense filled evening as we explore some of Red Lodge's most haunted locations:
6PM Carbon County Museum
7PM Smith-Olcott Funeral Chapel
8PM Red Lodge Cemetery
Learn how to use paranormal equipment to talk with spirits!
Please bring:
- Walking shoes
- Warm Clothing
- Personal Transportation to cemetery required
Flashlights will be provided!!!
20 tickets available! $50 per person.
https://www.carboncountyhistory.com/admission-tickets
This is an +18 up event.
October 9th, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Speaker Series - Hemingway in Yellowstone Country - Chris Warren
Long time Cooke City Resident and Scholar Chris Warren will be discussing the recent passing of Patrick Hemingway and his relationship to Red Lodge Legend Chub Weaver, the importance of storytelling as way of preserving history between generations and the challenge of bringing the International Hemingway Conference to Cooke City during the Covid epidemic and the 2022 Flood. Guaranteed to be informative and entertaining
This event will take place, Saturday, October 4th at the Roman Theater the longest continuous theater venue in Montana, and Sunday, October 5th at the Carbon County Museum. This will be a gathering of Cowgirl Talent featuring county music, poetry, dance, and cowgirl fashion! The event will be a fundraiser to benefit the Carbon County Historical Society and Museum. This year we have an exciting twist, the winner of the music competition, will walk away as a finalist for Montana’s Got Talent!! https://montanasgottalent.com/
This museum was founded by the first woman to be inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame, Alice Greenough, and we are honored to follow in her footsteps to showcase the talents and gifts of other amazing cowgirls!
Please contact the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum at 406-446-3667 or email Preservation@carboncountyhistory.com to register in advance by October 3rd, 2025. This event is FREE to all registered participants! Please note the number of participants and performers is limited. Please contact us early to secure your place in the lineup. The winners from each category will participate in the Evening Showdown and will receive recognition and cash awards! With the winner of the music competition moving on as a finalist for Montana’s Got Talent, the stakes are high this year! If you are interested in performing in the Evening Showdown or participating in the contests, please reach out to discuss further details to book your space.
Thursday, September 11th, 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum
The first request of the All Nations Garden club was in 1952 when the charter members were asked to assist the Business and Professional Women’s Club to organize and judge the Flower Show at the Festival of Nations. By the next year, the Garden Club had taken sole responsibility for the Flower Show and contributed until the last Festival of Nations in 2017. The All Nations Garden Club is still going strong in 2025, and it may surprise you all they have accomplished in the last 75 years! Please join us for some fun facts, stories and some special guests!
Join the Carbon County Museum for a song release party! September 5th, 2025 at 6:00 PM
"Goodbye Wives and Daughters" written by Linda McKenzie and sung by Mike Holm, is a tribute to the victims of the Smith Mine Disaster. This breathtaking song has never been heard by the public at large and we are excited to have the opportunity to share it for the first time with our community! Our goal is to raise additional funds to help with the production of a music video to take "Goodbye Wives and Daughters" to the next level!
Visit to purchase the song visit https://lindamckenziemusic.com/
Stop by for live music from Linda McKenzie and Mike Holm, excited museum raffles, and to take a tour in the Smith Mine Exhibit!
Share your stories with about your connections to the Smith Mine and how it effected your family for a chance to be featured in the music video production!
Join the Historical Society for a field trip to Red Lodge’s former ski hills. Meet at the Museum at 9:00 AM and carpooling to the three stops. Bring a dish to share. Lunch at Inn on the Beartooth. Limited Spots available! Pre-registration required. Please contact the Carbon County Museum at (406) 446-3667 to secure your spot by August 27th.
*Free for members. $15 for General Admission.
About the Speaker:
Aura Sunada Newlin is a fourth-generation Wyomingite, fourth-generation Japanese American, and Executive Director for the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. Her heritage involves intertwined stories of imprisonment at Heart Mountain and Tule Lake; segregated military service; and hardships suffered by railroaders who were fired because of their Japanese ancestry. Aura earned her PhD and MA in anthropology from Case Western Reserve University, and her Bachelor’s Degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Wyoming. Her work has been profiled by the Women in Wyoming podcast and gallery exhibit; the University of Wyoming’s Featured Alumni series; Wyoming PBS, and more.
Program Description:
Between 1942 and 1945, some 14,000 people of Japanese ancestry were unjustly incarcerated at the Heart Mountain “Relocation Center” between Cody and Powell, Wyoming. The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is now custodian of the few remnants of the camp’s infrastructure: a restored barrack, a massive root cellar, the skeletons of old hospital wards, and a smokestack that sits like a beacon in the now sparsely populated landscape, alerting passersby that something important happened here. Amidst these surviving structures that comprise the Heart Mountain “campus,” the Foundation has built a nationally-acclaimed museum and a brand new retreat center, the Mineta-Simpson Institute (MSI). Now a Smithsonian Affiliate, the site is emerging as a hub for cross-community discussions about democracy, heritage, civil discourse, and the rule of law.
In this presentation, Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin will discuss how the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is drawing on physical and cultural landscapes to bring together three distinct communities that have called this place home: Japanese Americans, the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation, and Homesteaders. Through historic preservation, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is converting what was once a place of rupture into a place of connection.
August 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
This is a Speaker Series & a Field Trip! Please wear good footwear and protective clothing. Bottled water strongly encouraged.
*FREE for Members *$5 for General Admission *Personal Transportation Required
Join author Robert Schalla as he delves into the fascinating story of Frank Avery Hall; an entrepreneur from Wisconsin who arrived in Montana in 1898 with the dream of building a tourist railroad to Yellowstone National Park. He later joined forces with Billings civil engineer Phillip M. Gallaher to build a rail line to Cooke City, following the Clarks Fork River.
The line reached the newly created town of Belfry in July 1906 and, soon after, the coal mines along Bear Creek. Despite years of setbacks and hostile interference from the Northern Pacific Railway, Hall and his successors persevered, and the railroad Frank Hall built served as a critical link in the development of the Bear Creek Coalfield and the creation of three towns in Carbon County.
SATURDAY, JULY 26TH, 2025 AT 3:00 PM
Join the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum at the Roman Theater for a Film Release of the Geo-Eco Tour of the Beartooth Mountains. This film highlights the geological and ecological aspects of the Beartooth Mountains. With special guests, Phil Robertson and Ennis Geraghty, who lead the GEO-ECO tour for many years, this is sure to be a fascinating evening!
FREE ADDMISSION DAY!
Elevation Science is a nonprofit focused on paleontological and natural history research, education, and outreach. Their work is based in the Bighorn Basin of Montana, with their home base located right here in Red Lodge!
Come check out their Pop-Up Museum, where you can interact with fossils and cool finds from their adventures out in the Bighorn Basin!
In honor of their work in the area, the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum is hosting with FREE ADMISSION!!!
Yellowstone Bighorn Research Association Field Trip
July 16th, 2025 10:30 AM
Join the Historical Society for a field trip to the Yellowstone Bighorn Research Association. Meet at the Museum at 10:30 AM and carpooling to the the camp south of town. Bring a dish to share for a picnic on the porch overlooking Rock Creek Valley!
*Free for members. $10 for General Admission.
In “The Crow Indian Student Experience at Carlisle Indian Industrial School: A Bittersweet Legacy”, Dr. Janine Pease founding president of Little Bighorn College, shares stories of students who attended a school designed to, in the words of school founder General Richard Henry Pratt, “kill the Indian, but save the man.” Crows experienced many horrors, even as many of them learned trades and later had a major impact on Crow history.
https://www.indigikitchen.com/product/red-lodge-festival-of-nations-cooking-class/
This summer marks 75 years of one of Red Lodge’s most treasured and beloved traditions, the Festival of Nations. The Festival of Nations brought together Red Lodge’s diverse community to celebrate their heritages and share cultural practices. During these festivities, dance and music filled the town while locals and visitors alike were delighted with a wide variety of ethnic foods and experiences. A town divided by language barriers and segregated neighborhoods, was brought together in a post-World War II society to create something that was truly unique and incredibly valuable for our small community.
Now 75 years later, we will honor those who put their love, sweat, and hard work into the Festival of Nations, with the Red Lodge Festival of Nations Tribute. This event will take place during the last weekend in June of 2025, June 27th, 28th, 29th.
Not unlike Festivals in the past, we aim to involve the community in Dance, Music, Culinary, Cultural Talks, Games, and Classes to bring a bit of our past, into the present.
We would like to invite the community to participate in their own ways. Restaurants would offer Festival of Nations dishes and drinks, Musicians would entertain with traditional tunes, Dancers would thrill with performances and lessons, and for the Carbon County Museum, we will offer cultural talks to connect the people of today with those who grew up within this community and their incredible determination to make this event possible year after year!
From Finns to Apsáalooke, Peruvians to Italians, Scotts to Americans, we aim to represent a wide variety of cultures with this event, so get creative Red Lodge!
Let’s create something the Festival Founders would be proud of!
Dr. Mike D'Emic is a paleontologist and Associate Professor at Adelphi University in New York. He earned his doctorate at the University of Michigan studying the evolution of long-necked dinosaurs. His research takes him around the world to visit museums and excavate fossils. He has been excavating fossils in the Bighorn Basin with students and colleagues since 2007. Mike has published numerous articles on dinosaur evolution, including a recent cover article for Scientific American.
*FREE for Members *$5 for General Admission
Join the Carbon County Historical Society & Museum in celebrating Norrine "The Outlaw Queen" Linderman's 95TH Birthday!!
June 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Meet the Queen Herself as we celebrate her incredible 95 years around the sun! Live music by her bandmates Charlie Highsmith and Mike Holm, with a bit of yodeling from Norrine! Light refreshments provided!
The Yellowstone Bighorn Research Association Camp was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. This camp, located on Mount Maurice, has served as a geological research base for numerous universities for nearly 90 years, first opening in 1936. Marv Keller, of the Carbon County Historic Preservation Commission & Joan Brownell, a historian from Fishtail, MT, will present the camp’s history and its significance to national, state and local history as well as the contributions to understanding the geology of the area."
