596 march 2011

[596]life in the helena area

• Meet the face of the Real Food Market• Celebrate Archie Bray’s 60th anniversary• Postcard collection chronicles area history

winter/spring 2011

it’s free!

think a home theater is out of the question?think again.

think a home theater is out of the question?think again.

in the house

theBest seats

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40 S. Last Chance Gulch 406-443-1916

Randy Rickman publisher

Butch Larcombe editor

Sheila Habeck art director

Eliza Wiley photo editor

Tonda Meyer advertising manager

Shawna Swanz special projects manager

contributors

Dylan Brown John Doran

John Harrington Marga Lincoln

Alana Listoe Pete Nowakowski

Peggy O’Neill Sanjay Talwani

[contents]editor’s note 6

food & drink Marysville House is a prized destination for dinner & drinks 8

gear Base layers are key to enjoying wintertime activities 10

features

Installing a home theater is an investment worth making 14

Artist constructs commemorative vessel for Bray’s 60th birthday 22

Meet the Real Food Market’s Laughing Water 26

Historian has world-class postcard collection 32

Explore the great outdoors this winter on snowshoes 36

my office No cupcakes for Principal Brian Cummings 42

7 reasons why Billy Bob may be even more fun in the winter 44

laughs chance gulch 45

[596]

life in

the h

ele

na a

rea

cover photo A family enjoys a movie

in their home theater.

by Eliza Wiley

TThese are the dog days of winter. We yearn to be outside, skiing, skating, fishing or with an eye to warmer months ahead, hiking or bik-ing. Yet, in February, the weather often leaves us with little choice but to stoke the fire and hunker down.

The depth of winter lures many to the television, where we seek sol-ace in our favorite programs and movies. Pete Nowakowski, a confessed techno-geek who doubles as the city editor at the Independent Record, takes us into the land of home theater. For some, it’s a walk on the wild, electronic side.

“For the average consumer, home theater can be a foreign language,” Tom Quisenberry, a sales consultant at Vann’s Audio Video and Appli-ance in Helena tells Nowakowski .

But in visiting with Quisenberry and other knowledgeable sorts, Nowakowski was able to come up with some solid advice for anyone interested in home theater on almost any scale. Check out his story on page 14.

When winter gets a little long for Tom Mulvaney, he turns to his collection of postcards. And what a tremendous collection it is. After inheriting about 50 postcards from his grandfather, the Helena history buff began checking into other cards. Soon, Mulvaney who had col-lected coins, stamps, comic books and baseball cards had found a new area of interest.

These days, as IR reporter Sanjay Talwani learned, Mulvaney has more than 30,000 Montana-themed postcards and an overall collection of more than 230,000 cards. Learn more about this incredible collection and its possible future on page 32.

When the weather is tough, the tough can always go shopping. When it comes to retailing, there is a story behind the Real Food Store and the 61-year-old man who has the made store his passion for more than three decades. As John Harrington, the IR’s community outreach editor tells us, the store and Laughing Water, it’s most visible owner, have been willing to adapt and change as the demand for organic food has grown in size and in competitive scope in recent years.

These days, the Real Food Store, occupies a small-but-solid slice of the grocery market in Helena. It enjoyed its best year ever in 2010, despite flat sales. “We figured out how to operate more efficiently and understand the pricing of our products,” Laughing Water says. Get a full helping of the story on page 26.

Despite the surliest weather, sometimes a little outdoor adventure is critical this time of year. Reporter Alana Listoe introduces us to snow-shoeing, a sport that most describe as being as simple as walking. And as Listoe learned from novice Stacy Springer, it’s great recreation for the entire family. Take the first step into snowshoeing on page 36.

We are confident you will find plenty of fun—indoor and outdoor—in this issue of 596.

photo by eliza wiley

By Butch LarcombeEditor

[!]

[editor’s note]

winter/spring 2011 [7]

Don’t be left out in the cold!Join us for our weekly heritage series

Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m.

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fascinating, and entertaining programs celebrating the

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Peppy at the Wheel, Butte, ca. 1930. Montana Historical Society #PAc 2005-10.A1 p.92h �

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[8] www.helenair.com / 596magazine

Story Peggy O’Neill

Photos by Dylan Brown

this page: Shauna Simpson is the only waitress at the Marysville house. Facing page, left: owner Jason

Gilliam, right, pours a shot-ski for thad adkins, center, and levi ostberg. Right: out of sight from the family-friendly dining room is a collection of bras that hang

from the ceiling in one corner of the bar.

[food & drink]

partyin the HOUSE

Marysville House is a prized destination

in this tiny mining town


BBras hang from the ceiling. Thousands of initials are carved into the walls.

There’s a ski equipped with shot glasses and if you order wine, it is served in a Mason jar.

The Marysville House has long been a stop for skiers and snowmobilers after a hard day in the outdoors. It’s also been a destination, or at least a side trip, for tourists from as far away as South America and Europe—as evidenced by a map on the wall with push-pins indicating where customers hail.

Quaint on the outside and dark on the inside, the Marysville House has served up steaks and seafood and beer and hard liquor since 1973, when the 120-year-old former train depot was transported from Silver City to its location on Marysville’s Main Street, a trip of about 8 miles.

Despite its somewhat stately sounding name, Marysville House is not fancy. Diners sit at picnic tables draped with red-checkered tablecloths and eat off Styrofoam plates, which seem a little unworthy of the $20-plus entrees but do not detract from the quality of the food.

Thirty-two-year-old Jason Gilliam owns the place. You’ll find him behind the bar. He bought the Marysville House in 2002, the same year he graduated from Carroll College. “I thought it sounded like a lot of fun,” Gilliam says about operating a restaurant and bar.

Gilliam, a burly man of few words, employs two others—cook, James Yount and waitress, Shauna Simpson. If the cooked-to-perfection, medium-rare T-bone we ordered is any indication, Yount knows what he’s doing with a slab of meat. It

was accompanied by juicy sautéed mushrooms, corn-on-the-cob and baked beans. We also ordered a seafood skillet, which included shrimp, scallops and vegetables. Steak is probably the better choice here.

The menu also features crab legs, pork, chicken, burgers, hot dogs, and a selection of appetizers and cheesecakes for dessert. If you find the generous portions too much to handle in a single

sitting, Simpson will bring you a Ziploc bag in which to load your leftovers.

The restaurant is surrounded both by abandoned buildings and occupied residences. Marysville was once a bustling mining town with several stores, churches, saloons, a bank, opera house, lumber yard and a school for 250 students.

When influenza hit the town of 4,000 people in the late 1800s and activity slowed at the mine, the population dropped. Today, fewer than 100 people live in Marysville, which is about 25 miles northwest of Helena.

The restaurant and bar’s small staff works year-round—Wednes-day through Saturday in the winter months and Wednesday through Sunday from April to November. Gilliam said weekends are definitely his busiest. During the summer, customers gather around the bonfire outside to roast marshmallows and play horse-shoes.

If the décor sounds a bit colorful for a family occasion, don’t worry. The bras at the bar are not visible from the restaurant area and the graffiti etched into the walls is G-rated and fun to read.

Marysville House is located at 153 Main Street in Marysville, which is about 25 miles northwest of Helena. To get there from Helena, take I-15 north 8 miles and exit at Highway 279. Head west on 279 for about 9 miles until you see a sign for Great Divide Ski Area. Turn left at the sign, and drive 6 miles to Marysville. When you get to Marysville, turn right on Main Street. Prices at Marysville House, which is only open for dinner, range from $5 to $45.

Call 443-6677 for more information.

If you go...HOUSE

[!]

Story by Alana ListoePhotos by Eliza Wiley

[gear]

firStbASE

Base layers are key to enjoying

outside activities in the winter

tThe first step in dressing for outdoor recreation is not snow pants, a winter coat or a wool hat. While all those items are important for snowboarders, ice anglers and cross-country ski-ers, it’s what’s underneath that is the most important to keep warm and dry.

What were once commonly known as Long Johns is now more correctly called a “base layer,” and for those who want to participate in outdoor activities from November to March, a wardrobe can only be considered complete if it includes a base-layer shirt and pants. Good news for fashion enthusiasts, these functional clothes have come a long way from the white, waffle-woven, long underwear of yesterday. Today’s base-layer apparel comes in a wide variety of colors and styles.

Any seasoned winter-sports enthusiast will say the key to staying warm in the cold is wearing a series of layers, the most important being the one next to your skin. Because this is the closest layer to the body, it’s most important job is keeping moisture (sweat, snow and rain) away from the skin. The base layer is designed to wick moisture away, therefore keeping you drier and warmer.

The Base Camp, one of Helena’s outdoor sports stores, pri-marily carries three brands: Patagonia, Icebreaker and Ibex. Base layer clothing is broken down into material type and

weight or thickness — the heavier the weight the thicker the material.

Capilene, a synthetic material created by Patagonia, is a polyester material with a hydrophilic surface finish. The more stretchy versions use Lycra. Tim Lynch, manager at The Base Camp, says the material is one of the most superior when it comes to the ability to draw moisture away from the skin to the surface of the material and dissipate it. “This keeps you warmer and acts as an insulator,” Lynch says.

Steph Knisley, a Helena outdoor enthusiast, is a big fan of Capilene. “I swear by Patagonia’s Capilene line,” she says. “It’s fantastic stuff. I definitely always have a silk weight on underneath everything to wick away the moisture when you are sweating whether you are backcountry skiing or just hang-ing out in the backyard helping kids learn to ski.”

Knisley stays away from cotton materials with her base layer. “It will just hang on to the moisture and keep it close to the skin and you want something that wicks it away to keep you warm,” she says.

Most outdoor enthusiasts agree that layering is a good ap-proach to keeping warm and dry in the winter.

“I usually do a couple layers of Capilene—I’ll have a silk on and then a light or medium over it and then a fleece,” Knisley

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icebreaker bodyfit, 100% Pure Merino top, $109.99

Patagonia r1 pants, $89

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says. “Those three layers keep the different layers of air to give you more insulation without being bulky — and it looks nice and flattering under layers. I could be a Pa-tagonia sales rep in my spare time because I use all of their base layering products both for tops and bottoms.”

Patagonia prices are mid-range. A child’s size mid-weight pant runs around $30, while the men’s version of lightweight bottoms run around $45.

The full-bodied Union Suit was patented nearly a cen-tury and a half ago and is a less expensive option. Com-panies like Hanes, Carhartt and Indera offer this style of shoulder-to-ankle warmth, which run around $25.

Another common product is merino wool, which is used for many outdoor apparel products. Both Ibex and Icebreaker use it for their base-layer products. This ma-terial doesn’t retain odors because it is naturally anti-

microbial. “It’s extremely soft and insolates well,” Lynch notes.

Both these lines are a little pricier than the Patagonia line, but sometimes a little more cash up front pays off in the long run.

Lynch says the best approach to determine which line works the best is to try them on. He encourages shop-pers to open up the packaging and head to the dressing room where they should put their clothes on over the base layer.

“Companies have different fits and by trying them on, you’ll know how it fits under clothes — you should be as realistic as possible because undergarments take a lot of abuse,” he says.

The base layers of today also can dual as casual dress. “That adds to the intrinsic value,” Lynch says. [!]

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Movies pop off the 120-inch screen in the home theater of this Canyon Ferry lakeside home. aVC Solutions set up the dedi-cated room which features a JVC 1080p projector, 7.2 surround sound system and remote theater and lighting controls.

That’sEntertainment!

Story by Pete Nowakowski Photos by Eliza Wiley

Tired of listening to others’ endless chatting and cell phones ringing in the theater? Ready to veg-out in the comfort of your own home? Then maybe it’s time to create a home theater center.

OOn first glance, home theater is not what comes to mind upon opening the door to Marv Allison’s East Valley home. “Mountain lion!” is more like it.

The cat, frozen in time, skulks along a branch, poised to strike. Its left paw rakes the air just above head level near the stairs, which lead down to the ultimate desti-nation. There’s room for pause, though, as one can’t help but ask about the animal. “I shot it with my bow,” Allison says with unassuming confidence.

Allison is the nicest, hospitable guy you could meet. He’s so accommodating, in fact, that he allowed two strangers to tour his house during a recent lunch break—and he drove from work in Clancy to boot.

Head down the stairs beneath the lion, take a left, and the space opens to a nearly finished work-in-progress. A small bar with a custom wood counter top sits opposite a framed poster of The Duke. Tucked away in the corner past another open space, which is reserved for a pool table, is a door to another room that holds the objective of the visit: a killer home theater system.

“I like watching movies off and on, but I’m not necessarily a movie buff,” Allison says. “It’s a place to get away. Just come down here, veg-out, and watch a movie. You can do it at your own convenience.”

Allison’s entertainment center shows off possibilities that weren’t an option even five years ago, given his budget. The cost of entry into home theater has lowered to a point where even the most frugal consumers have options.

Allison says his room, including custom installation from AVC Solutions in Helena, came in under $6,000. That may seem like a lot, until you consider what he has—a 1080p projector, 110-inch screen, Proficient speakers (5.1 surround sound) and associated audio/video equipment. In an industry where the sky’s the limit, where high-end projectors crack $30,000 (that’s mid-level for some makers), Allison’s investment is miniscule.

Marv allison describes the home theater that aVC Solutions installed in his home off york Road. allison’s theater features a 1080p projector 5.1 surround sound and a 110 inch screen.

u

home theater systems are all about comfort. this South hills home features a combination home theater and family playroom. it has an optoma 1080p projector, 5.1 surround sound system and an 84 inch electric retractable screen.


‘It’s a place to get away. Just come down here, veg-out, and watch a movie. You can do it at your own convenience.’ Marv Allison


“I told (David Waddell, AVC Solutions owner) I didn’t want it to cost an arm and a leg,” Allison says. “So it just cost me an arm. It actually turned out better than I thought it would.”

optionS, optionS, optionSNew kitchen cupboards, an updated bathroom or maybe new floor

coverings? Like these popular discretionary upgrades, home theaters are no longer unobtainable for people on a budget. Even in Helena’s limited market, and ignoring the swamp of misinformation and too-good-to-be-true deals online, options abound for home-theater solutions in the Helena area.

The most important part of these options is expert advice, coach-ing, and knowledge from local professionals—as evidenced in Al-lison’s project. He originally wanted to project his picture onto to a bare wall. Waddell steered him away.

“He (Allison) was saying he wanted to go really, really inexpen-sive,” Waddell says. “I explained that it’s not worth doing. For the most part, it is self-defeating. It really doesn’t work. Screens are designed to bring out color and engineered to look great. The paint and surface of the wall isn’t completely smooth, unless you do a level 5 finish on the drywall. Then, I could see it, but most of the time you get an orange peel surface (on the wall).”

Waddell also helped Allison figure out which low-cost projector was the best option. “Entry-level 1080p projectors offer a great pic-ture. But if you take a cheap projector, and a poor-quality signal, all you’re doing is taking a bad picture and making it bigger.

“In a sense, you’re creating a snowball effect in the opposite way,” Waddell says. “Whereas, if you’re doing it correctly—if you use a good projector, a good screen, good quality cables that interlink your equipment … the chain of quality has got to be there if you want a better-looking product.”

While there is plenty of information available on the Internet for do-it-yourselfers, as home theater systems become more complicated, the knowledge needed to control the equipment increases as well. Anyone can go online and buy equipment, but the knowledge earned daily from working in the industry is invaluable, and underestimated. Waddell, for instance, recently spent three days in Seattle for certifi-cation on home automation and control products. “We spend a lot of time and money to get certified,” he says.

Find a teChnoloGy tRanSlatoR“For the average consumer, home theater can be ‘a foreign lan-

guage,’ ” says Tom Quisenberry, a “living styles” sales consultant at Vann’s in Helena. “That’s why we carry so many different types of equipment, from your basic home-theater-in-a-box, to very elaborate high-end custom stuff. Anyone who speaks the language can set stuff up themselves. It doesn’t necessarily require our assistance to set (basic) things up, but it does require understanding the language of electronics.”

For a lot of people who do want to do it themselves, asking a professional to at least translate the lingo can go a long way. “It’s our goal when somebody walks out of the door with equipment to under-stand...the maintenance and operation of the equipment,” says Trent

top: Control is one of the most important aspects of a system. this unit controls all the home theater’s system components as well as lighting. Right: if you want to go big there are plenty of options for 1080p projectors. this JVC dlh-hd1 throws a picture onto a 120 inch screen in this Canyon Ferry home.

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Learning that lan-guage, especially control-ling a myriad of devices in harmony, is paramount in properly setting up equipment. This is where the importance of a professional’s help comes into play. For those who don’t understand the language, there’s a point when consumers throw up their hands in defeat. Most of the time, it’s due to loss of control.

“The most important thing in any home the-ater, whether it’s a $500 home-theater-in-a-box or a $20,000 stand-alone theater, is control,” says Magill. “If you can’t control it, it’s not worth anything. Control is everything. It’s all about a single user interface.”

Control options range from iPads to sophisticated universal remotes.Anyone can spend a few hundred dollars and buy something

branded as home theater. But spend just a little bit more, and you’ll be able to purchase higher-quality products that won’t break the bank and that carry the backing of somebody who understands the language and the products involved.

the ViSualS oF audioThe tendency for most consumers is to focus on the display, whether

it’s a projector or flat-panel display. But part of any budget should focus on sound. “Eighty percent of the movie experience is audio,” Quisen-berry says. “If anyone’s ever listened to an audio book, that speaks for itself. You’ll be driving down the road, paying perfect attention to the road, but seeing every detail the author wants you to see in your head. That’s how powerful audio is.”

Even if you spend money on a flat-panel display or a projector, sound is the main part of a true home-theater experience. Investing even a little bit into audio pays big dividends. The crummy speakers on most TVs just don’t cut it. “There are a great number of sound bars that would sit right up front under your TV and be far superior to TV speakers, however, there is no replacement for literally putting speakers behind you,” says Magill, from Vann’s.

the FoRGotten neCeSSitieSWhen considering options for your home, the cost of entry into

home theater shouldn’t be a barrier. But when looking to save money, consumers often overlook certain necessities. Among Helena’s profes-sionals, prewiring is a universal sentiment. Power cleansing and surge protection are also overlooked areas. And don’t forget comfort; after spending all of your money on electronics, sitting on the floor can u

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really ruin the experience.For new construction, there’s no reason not to consider prewiring

for home theater. It’s a future-proof avenue for upgrades within the walls. Actually, it’s cheaper to install during new construction than it is to retrofit. Put simply: “Prewire is cheap,” Waddell says. “Saying it’s inexpensive is inflating the price, it’s straight-up cheap and easy.”

Quisenberry, from Vann’s, agrees on the subject of prewiring. “But we do have many solutions for retrofitting, including wireless solu-tions. They can be a little bit more expensive.”

Ashley Whitaker, salesman at Barreta Audio and Video, echoes the importance of thinking ahead. “If we are doing the work (in a home) it’s in-wall. Some people will prewire and get speakers later—just have the wiring in there ready to go,” he says. “People used to have dedicated sound rooms, you know, with big tower speakers.” In his experience, “that’s kinda going away. They all want in-wall. The wives want stuff off the floor, cleaned up and out of the way. It’s a good way to do it,” he contends. “Saves space, looks nicer, still sounds really good.”

So you’ve got a display, Blu-Ray player, A/V receiver, CD changer, powered subwoofers, video game consoles, and a rack of other expen-sive gadgets. Just plug them into the wall, right? Not so fast. All of those electronics connected to power receptacles in your home can introduce interference or “noise” in your audio and video signals.

“Power is very dirty. Without cleaning up the power all you’re do-ing is amplifying that problem when you run it through your system,” says Waddell.

Add in surge protection to protect your components, and you have cheap insurance for your investment. Magill says that some of these

forgotten necessities should be at 10 to 20 percent of your overall budget when you figure in power line cleansing, surge protection and proper cabling. High definition signals require high definition connections. Oh yeah, most of those cables that come with your TV? “Emergency situations only,” Magill says.

You’ve created a budget, consulted a professional and can’t wait for your theater room to come together. Problem is, many people blow their budget without even thinking about seating. Luckily, a comfy place to park your posterior is personal preference, and that takes no specialized training. “With the seating, a lot of that comes with design. If you have a good design from the start you’ll know what seating you’ll use and how much room you’ll need. It all falls into place,” says Waddell.

Despite the break-neck pace of home theater electronics, the purpose of seating hasn’t changed much over the years; it’s all about comfort. Wylie Rucker at Rucker’s Furniture, says the majority of his business isn’t necessarily home-theater specific. Most people, he says, just “want a comfortable couch, a comfortable chair and a big TV.”

Go it alone oR Get help?Gone now are the days of five-figure flat panels, and any discernible

viewer will tell you that it’s neigh a necessity to watch your favorites on a high-definition TV or monitor. So what are your options, at least for the do-it-your-selfer, in the Queen City?

“The bare minimum is $1,500,” figures Quisenberry. That would be for a flat-panel television, receiver, and speakers. As he notes, the

Home Theater, continued on page 40


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JUNE 23–25, 2011 60th.archiebray.org

0On a brisk October morning Robert Rose cradles a mug of coffee while he warms himself in front of a wood stove’s crackling fire in the Archie Bray Foundation summer studio. He faces a 20-hour day as he completes sculpting a large commemorative vessel he’s created in honor of the Bray Foundation’s 60th anniversary.

In a few days, Rose will catch a plane for California, then Chicago and later to Thailand, which he now calls home. He returns in May for the final finishing touches to prepare the urn for installation prior to the Archie Bray’s gala celebra-tion June 23-25.

Rose’s work celebrates the Bray’s moving spirits—a brick maker, a lawyer and a salesman—who came together to create the Archie Bray Foundation in 1951, which would grow to become a nationally renowned center for the ceramic arts.

Story by Marga Lincoln Photos by Dylan Brown

900this page: Robert Rose stands with the vessel he has made for the bray’s 60th anniversary. Facing page: Rose included the bray’s founders, peter Meloy, archie bray and branson Stevenson, in his work.

u

601

900pounds of clay for

work of art for

years of ceramics

Artist Robert Rose constructs commemorative vessel in honor of the

Archie Bray Foundation’s 60th anniversary


As Rose pulls back plastic sheets that keep the terra cotta clay moist and malleable, he points to the lively relief sculptures animat-ing its surface. His inspiration in creating the imposing work—measuring nearly 4 feet high and 5 feet across—is the larger-than-life spirit and energy of this amazing place. “It took just about two or three days,” Rose says of his arrival, “and then it just hits you. There’s this energy. The bricks just exude some kind of energy. You can’t not pick up on it.”

His commemorative urn is a gift from the heart in return for his opportunity to be a resident artist at the Bray. And through fortuitous timing, the Bray just recently installed a Bailey Car Kiln, perfectly suited for firing such large sculptural works.

Creating the work has taken two months. The first was devoted to shaping it. Its scale has surprised even him—starting out at 300 pounds of clay, then 600 and finally 900 pounds. In a few days, a fork-lift will move the urn into the kiln, where it will air dry two months, before it’s slowly fired, taking more than a week. “This is just solely me giving something back to the people here,” Rose says of his gift.

He hopes it sparks folks’ interest to learn more about this fascinat-

ing place. “There’s a story here—the history of the Bray. Anyone who comes out here to visit can check this out and be drawn into more of the history.”

Peering out of one side of the vessel is a relief portrait of Archie Bray, Sr., who loved the arts and dreamed beyond the brickyard to creating a center for the ceramic arts in the wilds of Montana. To either side of him are the whimsical and winged spirits of Peter

Meloy and Branson Stevenson, friends who joined Bray in bringing to life his dream. Woven into the urn are other visionaries who came through the Bray and shaped it to what it is today. One of these, Rudy Autio, peers out from a window. “And to exemplify his passion for everything he did,” says Rose, “I put a little sacred burning heart.”

Both Autio and fellow Montana artist Peter Voulkos labored in the brickyard and worked for years to launch the Bray as a center for ce-ramic arts. Also pictured are ceramic luminaries of the day—Bernard Leach, Soetsu Yanagi and Shoji Hamada, who traveled to Helena in 1952 and gave the first Bray workshop. There are also tributes to such former directors as Josh DeWeese, Kurt Weiser, David Shaner and prominent MSU ceramics professor Frances Senska.

CelebrateTo learn about the Bray’s 60th

anniversary gala June 23-25, “2011: From the Center to the Edge—60 Years of Creativity and Innovation at the Archie Bray Foundation,” visit 60th.archiebray.org.

Rose waits by his 4-foot-high by 5-foot-wide urn near the bray’s new kiln that is designed to fire large ceramics works. photo courtesy of the archie bray Foundation.


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But there’s much more dancing across the surface, as well—mountains and forests and Mount Helena; a giant coffee cup floating through the air, beehive kilns, pizzas flying from an oven—all snap-shots and highlights of Rose’s summer at the Bray. Fellow resident art-ist Kensuke Yamada rides by on one of his artistic elephants and nearby peeks Kevin Snipes. You’ll also spot Robert Harrison’s iconic Bray sculpture, a Richard Notkin tea pot, and Steven Lee’s hares parading through a Chip Clawson arch. Large flying fish with muscular arms, climb up each side of the urn and cling to its rim, creating two flam-boyant handles. Along one side of the urn is a Latin phrase, honoring “art for art’s sake.” The other side reads “art is how we see ourselves.”

Rose’s gift has grown in ambition, as did Archie Bray’s dream. What he thought would take a few weeks to complete, became a two-month all-consuming project. And in a summer of living on the edge, con-suming prodigious amounts of ramen soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, he’s dedicated countless hours for this tribute.

But it’s been worth it. Part of Rose’s deepest joy, he says, has been pushing his art to a new creative level and being surrounded by cre-ative spirits who are doing the same. Rose hopes his gift inspires others to give back to the Bray. He’s been delighted with the sculptures he’s discovered on the Bray’s grounds left by former resident artists—while some were accidents or afterthoughts, others are gifts.

His vessel couldn’t have better company, he says. It will nestle next to one of the beehive kilns and Susannah Israel’s “High Tea at the Bray.”

“I’m hoping what this will help do… will instill in the future… for people to make something really special and just leave it. Sure I made it—but the whole world owns it.” [!]

naturallyinspiredStory by John Harrington Photos by Eliza Wiley

n

P


Paul Superak arrived in Helena in 1975, direct from Berkeley, Califor-nia, with previous stops in Illinois and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after a childhood spent in New Jersey. He cooked food for a while at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, a yoga and spiritual retreat near the Continental Divide west of town, before joining with a local woman to open a health food store in a tired old space on Last Chance Gulch.

“Based on experience I had earlier in connection with a natural food store in Illinois that went out of business, I knew the odds of it surviving were not very good. I didn’t have a very long-term vision at all,” he recalls. “And I didn’t have any plans of having a bigger store, because I knew the biggest challenge I would have would be managing people, and I didn’t feel very equipped to do that and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.”

Fast-forward some three dozen years, and Superak is still, to his own surprise, in the natural food business as co-owner of the Real Food Market & Deli with his original business partner and former wife, India Supera.

Many things have changed, for sure. The store is in its fourth location, and Superak has been known for more than three decades around Helena as Laughing Water, a name he legally adopted shortly after moving to Montana.

Now 61, the bright and bald Laughing Water is an institution among the segment of Helena who are loyal Real Food shoppers. He’s the face of the business, a role he admits took some getting used to. With a wry smile he relates one anecdote that he says captures the essence of becoming a people person.

As a committed cyclist, vegetarian and grocery store

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u

this page: laughing water doesn’t own a car and commutes on his bike even in the bitter cold. Facing page: laughing water visits with adelle Klungland, sample coordinator at the Real Food Market & deli.


“A woman walked into the store and asked, ‘Where are your nuts?’” he said. “I smiled as little as possible and pointed in the right direction—horizontal, not vertical. It took developing a certain amount of nerve to be able to run the business, especially in dealing with people.”

Real Food holds a small but measurable percentage of the grocery business in Helena, around 2 to 3 percent of the market. That’s not bad for a store that Laughing Water remembers opening with “some bulk buckets and the small amount of produce we were able to get. Obviously the selection was very sparse. A lot of it was just basics,

instead of more manufactured foods, and we didn’t have (nutritional) supplements when we opened.”

Natural foods were something of an oddity back then too. Today, there’s much more acceptance and even admiration for people trying to eat healthy, organic and locally produced foods, but in the 1970s those notions were somewhat curious to many folks.

Over the years, the Real Food has steadily grown, changing loca-tions three times, the last in 2003 when the business landed in its current home next to Capital Sports in the Hustad Center. There won’t be any more moves for a while—the current location could

laughing water, co-owner of the Real Food Market & deli, helped bring organic food to the helena valley.


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handle a doubling of the store’s business before space becomes an issue, he says.

The store has expanded far beyond bulk dry goods and limited produce to include full refrig-erator and freezer sections, a fresh meat depart-ment, all manner of packaged foods, and dietary supplements, which is among the store’s most profitable departments.

It hasn’t all been easy. A vegetarian, Laughing Water confessed to being flummoxed with how to establish a meat department when the store moved into its current location. Aside from the challenge of buying a single product, a whole beef, for example, and turning it into a dozen different products, all priced differently, Laughing Water admits that his inclination was to be con-siderate of other vegetarians and stick the meat department in a back corner, out of the way.

The deli and salad bar, too, have been chal-lenging from a business perspective. “They’re hard to wrap your head around in terms of knowing what things are really costing you,” he says. “You’ve got a lot that you throw away, and it’s hard to know how to price things.”

Growth of the organic segment of the grocery business has been a mixed blessing for Laughing Water and the store. Real Food was the first in Montana to be certified organic, in 2003. While more interest in organics is good for business, it also leads to more competition. Safeway and Wal-Mart didn’t always have an extensive selection of organic foods, for instance.

“Some organic advocates have been upset because they look at (the development of organic certification standards) as creating the lowest common denominator,” Laughing Water says. “And products that might meet a minimum standard can get that status and be looked at as on equal footing as better products.”

Despite the increased competition in the organic arena from major chain stores, and the challenges of growing the business into new cat-egories, Laughing Water says Real Food enjoyed its most profitable year ever in 2010, despite no increase in sales. That doesn’t mean there aren’t persistent threats to the bottom line, but that the store’s management is developing better business acumen. “We figured out how to operate more

‘We’ve chosen a niche and we’ve occupied it, we’ve grown when it ap-peared to me we could handle it, and we’ve always had pretty immedi-ate response when we’ve expanded.’

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efficiently and understand the pricing of our products,” he says.As much as it sells food and supplements, Real Food sells a lifestyle

of sustainability, good health and treading as lightly as possible on the planet. To that end, Laughing Water walks the walk. He doesn’t own a car, and while he will hitch rides on occasion, he’ll mention that it’s not unusual to go a month without getting inside a vehicle.

He’s proud of the store’s success, but believes there’s still lots of room to grow.

“We’ve chosen a niche and we’ve occupied it, we’ve grown when it appeared to me we could handle it, and we’ve always had pretty immediate response when we’ve expanded,” he says. “But I think we could do two times the business we do in this space, and I thought by now we’d have more business than we have.” [!]


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Local collector keeps tabs on history with his vast postcard

collection

By Sanjay Talwani

Greetings Helenaf r o mf r o m

Collector tom Mulvaney shows three of his historic Montana Club postcards. photo by eliza wiley


NNot that long ago, in an era before text messaging and Face-book, people sent postcards to let folks back home know about the places they’d been and the things they’d seen.

They had sites of interest, advertisements, novelty images and logos and seals of states. In the old days, some were back-and-white images, hand-colored. Others were actual photographic prints mounted on stiff paper. Some came in a series—of, for example, all the states—to encourage collectors to try to get them all.

Among the innumerable postcards that have been printed, sent and collected over the years, Tom Mulvaney of Helena has built what is likely the most comprehensive collection of Montana-themed postcards in the world.

The bug struck him in the 1970s, when he inherited a stack of about 50 cards from his grandfather, including one of the Broadwater Hotel and Natatorium, the classic hot-spring resort in Helena that took a big hit in the earthquake of 1935. “Pretty soon I got hooked,” he says—and mainly, for the window into history the postcards offer.

In those pre-Internet days, you couldn’t just jumpstart a collection on eBay or check out a website explaining what people had and what was worth what. So Mulvaney did what you had to do back then: He went to the library, found magazines about antiques and collectables, and within those he found ads about postcards, and he responded to them all. In around 1979 or 1980, he attended a postcard convention in Seattle, and the hobby exploded into a mission.

Now, Mulvaney has about 30,000 postcards with Montana themes, and another 200,000 oth-ers, including many he has not yet had the chance to sort. He figures he’s got the “collectors’ gene,” having previously accumulated things like coins, stamps, comic books and baseball cards.

As collectors will, Mulvaney sometimes buys large batches of postcards to gain the ones he wants. To “feed the habit,” he’s also become a dealer of postcards, selling off duplicates and ones that might be more valuable to other collectors.

And the entire Montana collection could become part of the Montana Historical Society someday; Mulvaney’s working with the society to find a benefactor to buy his collection and donate it. And it could be worth a lot, both in historical value and in cash value to collectors.

Mulvaney recently showed off a very small portion of his collection. There’s the “Greet-ings from Helena,” card, a version of the theme that arose for most every state and city in the

country and was popular from the 1930s into the 1950s. By looking at the tiny printed code, Mulvaney sees this one was printed in 1941 by the Curt Teich and Company of Chicago, the world’s largest printer of postcards for much of the 20th century before closing in 1978.

Postcards as we now know them got an early boost in 1898, when Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act. Previously, nearly all postcards were printed by U.S. Postal Service and came pre-stamped. The act also set the postcard price at 1 cent—half of what a first-class letter cost. Messages were allowed only on the front of the card, with only the address on the back. In 1907 came the “di-vided back” cards, allowing the address and a short message on one side, with the image on the other.

The early cards vary in how they were made. Mulvaney has sev-eral that show the Broadwater Hotel; some are hand-tinted, meaning artists added watercolors or other paints to black-and-white prints. Others, potentially more valuable, are actual photo-graphs, printed and mounted on stiff paper. There were fewer of these made in those days, and many are even one-of-a-kind.

pictured here are three postcards from Mulva-ney’s collection: the broadwater natatorium in helena, top; Chief turtle in Glacier national park from a photo by t.J. hileman, middle; and a helena high School postcard with an embroidered pennant glued to the front of it.


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Among the prize cards in Mulvaney’s collection are some by L.A. Huffman, one of Montana’s pioneering photographers, based in Miles City; and some by T.J. Hileman, based then in Kalispell. Both of them made numerous portraits of Native Americans, images that remain striking in their composition, lighting and the expressiveness of the faces—all photos taken, developed and printed in the early decades of the century.

Many of Mulvaney’s most prized cards come from this era, and show the Montana of the time, highlighting buildings, railway depots and entire towns that disappeared long ago. Old maps of Montana show many long-forgotten towns dotting the Hi-Line and other railway routes. Droughts and mining busts meant the end of many of them, but most all live on in simple cards.

“To have an image that shows the town, that’s always a neat thing for me to find,” Mulvaney says.

And there are plenty of long-disappeared towns—or just parts of them—among his cards, like the simple image of the rail depot in Montana City, with a sign in front giving some distances: 63.3 miles to Butte, 10 to Helena.

It’s the subject matter and image quality, sometimes even more than the rarity or age of the postcard that gives it value. Many of the postcards from around 1910 are worth just a couple of dollars. Some from the 1940s and 1950s are in the hundreds of dollars. Themes of Americana, including those depicting specific ethnic groups and the African American experience, have been especially in demand.

What’s on the back of the postcard—most often the simple notes

of news among family members—adds a small slice of personal history to the cards. Sometimes even the cancellation mark from the post office can add value.

One such card, one of Mulvaney’s most valuable, is one depicting the Broadwater Hotel, but with a curious cancellation, dated Septem-ber 25, 1913, with the words “Aero Post.”

But the USPS didn’t have air mail service until 1918.The explanation: At the fairgrounds that year, people could mail

their postcards, and then the mail was flown by aircraft somewhere else for processing. Not only that, but Mulvaney said the pilot on that task was Katherine Stinson, just the fourth woman in America to receive a pilot’s license. She flew 1,333 postcards from the fair in the episode, barely a decade after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk.

Mulvaney calls it possibly the first female-flown airmail delivery ever.

Another pioneering Montana woman has a unique part of the collection. There’s a photograph that served as a campaign mailer for Jeannette Rankin in 1916, the year she became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress. The message on the back urges the recipient to vote, sticking to the candidate’s talking points of pacifism and universal women’s suffrage. There are Rankin relics around Montana (she was elected again in 1940), but evidently very few such postcards from Rankin’s first campaign remain.

“I haven’t seen another one of these and I’ve been collecting 35 years,” he says. [!]

WintertimeWalkabout

Stoy by alana liStoe

PhotoS by Dylan broWn

SSam Chapman of the Montana Discovery Foundation says there is one goal when snowshoeing: to get outside. Learning the technique is hardly a challenge. “If you can walk, you can snowshoe,” she says.

Snowshoes merely allow par-ticipants to enjoy the wintry powder without sinking to their knees while out for a walk. It’s a sport that’s gained tremendous momentum in recent years because it appeals to all ages. It’s for the casual walker who wants to take a walk on a snowy trail. It’s great exercise for the fitness fanatic looking for cross-training alternatives. It’s perfect for the backcountry thrill seeker who needs to dive into the wilderness. It’s an easy way for families to spend outdoor time together. But the draw for most is the ability to marvel at winter’s white landscape: pine needles covered in frost, mountains in the distance dusted with snow and animal tracks to spot.

On a recent outing to the Moose Creek Cabin near Rimini with the Helena Family Fun and Support group, LeeAnn Hoffman and her family enjoyed a day of snowshoe-ing for the first time. She says her daughters, Rachel, 7, and Addyson, 4, loved it.

There was no pressure to take on a 1,000-foot climb into the hills, but a chance to take a leisurely stroll through the nearby trees with breaks inside the cabin where a warm fire u

eaSy to Do anD family-frienDly, SnoWShoeing iS making big StriDeS aS both a SPort anD a form of exerciSe

this page: elizabeth Grev takes some time to make a snow angel after a family snowshoeing adventure. Facing page: Sam Chapman, left, leads Jaida Salois, logan Colberg and Rachel hoffman through four inches of fresh powder near Rimini.


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welcomed cold toes and fingers. “They like it outside,” LeeAnn says. “I thought my 4-year-old was too young, but I didn’t realize how easy it was and she did just fine.”

Rachel, a first-grader at Four Georgians Elementary, enjoyed walk-ing in a line with the group, but what she especially liked was slipping and sliding down the hills, she says.

While the sport may be new to the Hoffman family, it’s an activity that’s been around for ages. Snowshoes date back thousands of years, and historians believe they may have been necessary for survival. Along with the mummified remains of Ötzi the Iceman—discovered on a glacier in the Alps between Austria and Italy in September 1991—were remnants of an ancient snowshoe constructed of bear-

skin, deer hide and tree bark. Scientists believe the iceman lived more than 5,000 years ago.

Today’s snowshoes have come a long way and are made of alumi-num with nylon straps and rubber webbing. They come in a variety of lengths and are sized based on the weight of the wearer.

Snowshoes are available to rent for about $10 a day at outdoor stores such as The Base Camp, Capital Sports and Western, or Montana Outdoor Sports. Chapman encourages newbies to rent shoes—that way they can try a variety of brands and styles before buying. There are shoes specifically designed for women with a narrower tail. “We are able to walk more normal and not waddle,” she says with a chuckle.

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Discovery Foundation. The group offers a number of guided hikes and they also expose school-aged children in the area to the sport. Last year, more than 2,100 children put on a pair of snowshoes and walked around schoolyards, playgrounds and parks, an act that often sparks lots of laughter. Children are quick to pick up snowshoeing, Chap-man says, because typically they are always willing to try new things. “Adults tend to over-think it more,” she says.

Snowshoeing is a low-impact activity for those with joint issues who want enjoy the outdoors. For those who feel a little uncoordi-

nated or unsteady, snowshoes provide a solid platform. Chapman says she’s known some who’ve gained some range of motion back through snowshoeing.

Minnesotan Julian Grev went on a recent outing with his daughter, Elizabeth, of Helena, her husband and his grandchildren. It wasn’t because he was hoping to gain range of motion, but rather to check it off his “list.”

Snowshoeing, continued on page 40


“It doesn’t matter whether I liked it or not, it’s one off my bucket list,” the jovial grandpa says.

Finding an ideal spot to snowshoe nearby is not difficult. Helena is surrounded with great snowshoeing opportunities. All public lands are open, and there are nice areas on MacDonald Pass and in Deep Creek Canyon although it’s important to stay off cross-country ski trails because snowshoes will ruin them. Trout Creek Canyon offers a nice area, and closer to town, many spots can be found in the South Hills, Spring Meadow Lake or Bill Roberts Golf Course, if the snow is

deep enough.Chapman says when venturing out to snowshoe, you should always

let someone know where you are going and start cautiously. “Know your limits but don’t stay home because you are scared,” she advises.

Stacy Springer and her children, Paige, 4, and Bennett, 2, attended the snowshoe outing at Moose Creek Cabin.

Springer says her children are typically up for trying something new and snowshoeing fit the bill. “It was fun to be able to scale the hills and be outside among the trees in the quiet together as a family,” she says.

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prices of necessary components have declined in recent years.“A lot of people want high-end stuff, but don’t realize how inex-

pensive it can be now to get it done and done right,” says Whitaker, from Barreta Audio and Video. Through his store, at least, bare minimum on audio starts at around $300.

“And, honestly, you don’t have to spend 10 times more than that to get fantastic stuff. If you dedicated just $1,000 just for your audio, not including video, you’d get a pretty dang good surround system. That would be a nice amplifier, subwoofer, everything. For flat-panels, $1,000 gets you a decent flat panel, too.”

The DIY route is good for some people, especially with help from

experts. But spend a bit more on professional installation and you can get a turn-key solution where everything from start to finish (the consultation, purchasing, and install work) is handled by a pro.

You’ll wonder why you ever bothered putting up with crowded theaters full of chatty teens, cell phones, and people with no volume control. All this for a price that’s comparable to a minor kitchen upgrade.

“If you think about the one thing in your house that does give back to you, it’s your audio/video system,” says Waddell. “It’s something that will put a smile on your face, because your favorite song comes on, or you’ll watch your favorite movie. People spend a lot of money on different stuff, but to me, truly, you’re A/V system is the one thing that gives back to you, that you can interact with.”

Home Theater, continued from page 20

Snowshoeing, continued from page 39

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No matter what your age, going to the principal’s office is rarely an experience that feels good as it tends to signify trouble. But even when there are less-than-pleasant discipline issues at hand, Brian Cummings’ office creates a calm environment that’s sure to defuse any uncomfortable situation.

Whether it’s the soft lighting or the art on the walls, the ambience is welcoming—free of stark flo-rescent lights, loud noises or the threat of impending doom.

The surroundings offer an insight into the life of Cummings, a well-traveled educator with a carved marble Egyptian beetle, worry beads from Greece and the Rishikesh statue from India, all on display in his school office.

Cummings, the principal at Jim Darcy Elementary for the past five years, has been to Central America, 12 countries in Europe and spends a few weeks every summer in Greece. “I like to get around,” he says. “It’s made me a pretty open-minded, big-picture administra-tor. I bring it back to how I look at things, what I have around me, and my philosophies with life and working with kids.”

Even the furniture, pictures and artwork have a heartfelt history; the oak-and-walnut desk he built in high school shop class; the black-and-white framed portraits of children from the office of his father, who also worked as a school administrator; a stained-glass lamp made by a family member and artwork created by his stepson who is studying art in upstate New York.

While all those handcrafted office acces-sories and treasures from travels overseas are notable, what is most memorable about Cummings’ office is the mountain of cupcakes

on a shelf beside his desk. The cupcakes are sweet treats from birthdays, holidays and other special events that Cummings never ate. “I’m not a big sugar person so I generally would not eat cupcakes, and I get so many,” he says.

A teacher once suggested that he keep the cupcakes, so she bought a shelf and hung it under his black-and-white Ansel Adams print. No announcement was ever made, but the word spread, and the cupcake mountain grew one frosting-covered piece at a time. The large framed photograph is nearly covered with cupcakes, and the mountain is well preserved. The cupcakes are hard as rocks and free of mold.

Now, when students come in and present their treats, they know the gift is not for eating. “Students say, ‘This is for your collection,’ ” Cummings said.

Brian CummingsJim Darcy Elementary School Principal

By Alana Listoe

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1. It’s free. Unlike greens fees in the spring, summer and fall, recreating at Bill Roberts Golf Course, lov-ingly called “Billy Bob” by its admiring fans, is free in the winter.

2. It’s groomed. The city grooms trails for cross country and skate skiing, but you can also blaze your own path on touring skis, if you like.

3. It’s close. One of the great things about our trail system in the dry months is its proximity to town. Same goes for Billy Bob. You can ski before or after work, or even at lunch, without wast-ing much time driving.

4. It’s flat. The groomed trails at the golf course traverse only rolling berms, making it a perfect spot to learn the artistic (and physi-cally challenging) technique of skate skiing.

5. It’s outdoors. Putting in time at the gym is es-sential in the “offseason,” but there’s nothing quite like recreating outdoors for your endorphin pursuits—espe-cially in a good snow year like this year.

6. It’s expansive. You can ski all over the snow-covered golf course and still not see another soul. But you might spot a few deer.

7. It’s relaxing. Unlike my usual golfing experiences at Bill Roberts, you can ski nine or 18 holes and not even hit a bad shot. No bad shots equal no inner fury.

Billy Bob

By John Doran

[7 reasons why]

Russell Gates enjoys a lunchtime skate on the groomed trails at bill Roberts Golf Course.

may be your best friend this winter


Helena Butte Bozmean Townsend americanfederalsavingsbank.com

YOUR REAL PIECE OFRR RE REAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL PPPPPPPPPPPPIEIECCE E OOFF

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[laughs chance gulch]

[parting shot]

On a chilly afternoon in January,

I caught this ice boater on Canyon

Ferry Reservoir.

Shot 1/500 of a second at f-11

with a 24-105mm lens extended

to its fullest focal length.

by Eliza Wiley, IR Photo Editor

Wind Power

Professional BuildersWho Build More Than

Just Good Homes

WE BUILD TRUST

Hamlin Construction & Development Co., Inc.

900 N. Mt. Ave. Suite A-6 - Helena Mt. 59601 - 443-1340CALL “BUB’ OR JIM TODAY FOR INFORMATION 443-1340

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m406-443-1340

Home ownership is a dream come true for all people. Let our pro-

fessionals at Hamlin Construction & Development Co., Inc. help you re-

alize that dream. Hamlin Construction has variety of floor plans that

you may choose from that will meet your needs, or we can work with

you to design and build your new dream home. Great floor plans, great

people, low great prices and low interest rates combine to make this a

GREAT TIME TO BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME.

Hamlin Construction has a variety of locations to build your new

dream home. These building sites are located both inside and outside

of the city limits. Hamlin Construction would also be happy to work with

you building on your own property, or help you purchase a property

you have located and wish to build on.

WHAT EVER YOUR BUILDING NEEDS ARE, WE CAN HELP.

CALL TODAY FOR LOT AVAILABILTY

&

SPECIAL PRICING

Let us show you what Hamlin Construction can do for you!443-1340

Jerry Hamlin - President

596 march 2011

Documents

land of home theater

collection of postcards

overall collection

tremendous collection

dog days of winter

new area

tom mulvaney

helena areacover photo