Letter from the Editor: Connections and Community

Angie Ripple

Bozeman Magazine has been around since 2007, this may be the first time you are picking it up and reading it, but we hope you are an avid reader and seek us out each month.

If this is your first time reading Bozeman Magazine, welcome. Our mission is to connect the Bozeman community with the businesses and events that are happening in our area. We publish monthly - so 12 months a year at the beginning of each month you can pick up a new magazine (at one of our 200+ locations).

We feature a local artist on every cover, generally photography or other visual art that is related to our region. This month we serendipitously chose the poster contest winner for this years Sweet Pea poster, Kara Tripp. Kara had emailed us some time ago with samples of her paintings and a link to her website. While going through artist submissions I took another look at her website and saw a wonderful painting of Downtown Bozeman that included the Baxter Hotel. The image on our cover was changed to accommodate our logo, but the full image can be found on the Cover Artist page in this issue and can be seen throughout the month of August on display in the foyer of the Bozeman Public Library.

Along with local artists on our cover we have a large number of contributing writers that take time each month to craft editorial that is exclusive to Bozeman Magazine. A big thank you to everyone that has contributed to the magazine - you make this a sought after publication.

We also strive to bring you the best event calendar in southwest Montana. Our website, bozemanmagazine.com allows individuals to submit events on their own, anytime, at no charge. We want to be the place for you to go to find out about what is going on in Bozeman. Not only can you add an event, you can tell your friend that is in a band, or the neighbor that volunteers at a nonprofit; to add their events. We also search local venue sites each month to add those hard to find, or forgotten events and make sure they are all in one place for you. Events added to our website before the 20th of the month will appear online and in the following months printed magazine.

bozemanmagazine.com has our restaurant and bar guides along with a Bozeman Food Finder that makes it simple to find what you are looking for, as well as the massive events calendar that can show you just what you are looking for; kids, pets, sports, or music events.

After reading this far you may be thinking we must have a big downtown office loaded with full time employees that bring this all together; quite the opposite. Since its inception Bozeman Magazine has been the labor of love (and sometimes other emotions) from myself, Angie, and my husband Brian Ripple. It is our hope to bring that small town feel, where everybody knows everything that is going on, into a publication that residents trust and visitors appreciate. We also have big dreams that the office and employees will take shape one day [read: Bozeman magazine is supported by advertising dollars, you can make this dream a reality by advertising with us].

Who do we support and partner with? We are the presenting print sponsor for the Bogert Farmers Market, helping to make sure the community knows when and where this event is taking place (each Tuesday from 5-8pm in Bogert Park, June-Sept).

We partner with KGLT radio and Montana PBS to cross-promote our contributions to the community.

We have sponsored a variety of music and sustainable community events with Chamberlin Productions for events like the Interchange Festival, Avalaunch and Moods of the Madison. We also partner with Intermountain Opera, the Emerson Cultural Center, Bridgercare, Gallatin Roller Girlz, and the Verge and Kaleidoscope Theatres to help get their events SEEN in Bozeman Magazine.

Recently our coverage of events BEFORE they happen has included Targhee Music Fest, Red Ants Pants, Moods of the Madison, Sweet Pea Festival, and Live From the Divide.

Thanks for connecting with us, and for helping us build a better Bozeman community. We hope you will also follow us on Twitter and join todays 3,888 friends by liking us on Facebook. Our social media outreach connects you to links for upcoming events, articles from our website, and news about what is happening in Bozeman after the magazine is printed.     
Get out and enjoy Bozeman.

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