Every fall roundup lists the Film Festival and Halloween on Main Street. This year one more date belongs on the fridge. On September 22 the Bozeman City Commission approved a contract with Martel Construction to renovate the Children's Room at the Bozeman Public Library, and the library expects to start tearing up the carpet on Monday, November 9. Between now and then, the library has a run of open days, closures and handoffs. They line up neatly with the weekends when the rest of town is busiest.
If kids are part of your October, plan from the library dates and fit the festivals around them.
The Library Dates Everything Else Fits Around
The center of it is The Big Checkout, running October 1 through 28. Anyone can borrow items from the Children's Room and keep them for five months, until they come back in March. The library is asking people to bring wagons, laundry baskets and rolling suitcases. Every dollar it doesn't spend storing books goes back into the renovation, toward things like toddler-sized toilets and bigger comic book shelves. Holds on Children's Room items are suspended for now. Books are first come, first served, so the best picks will go early. Participants get a "Big Checkout Champion" pin. Items from other Gallatin County libraries aren't part of it.
Here are the other dates at 626 E Main St. through the start of construction:
- October 6: Library closed for staff training.
- October 12: Library closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day.
- October 18 to November 6: All programs for ages 0 to 18 paused while staff pack and build a temporary space.
- October 23: Last day for the blocks, trucks, wind tunnel and dramatic play corner. The See Ya Later Party runs 3 to 5 p.m. that afternoon.
- October 29 to November 3: All Children's Room books, films and audiobooks unavailable.
- November 3: Library closed for Election Day.
- November 4: A Mini Children's Room opens in the Community Room with a hand-picked browsing collection. The library doesn't expect to have room for the usual toys.
- November 7: A limited set of kids' and teen programs resumes. Locations will be announced.
Two dates on that list matter most. October 18 is the last weekend before youth programs stop. October 28 is the last day to stock up before the collection goes dark for six days, and that blackout covers all of Halloween weekend. With those in mind, the rest of the month falls into place.
October 2 to 4: Three Openings in Three Days
The month starts with three openings back to back. On Friday, October 2, Teton Gravity Research shows Actually, It Is Rocket Science in the Crawford Theater at the Emerson Center. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the film starts at 6. The same evening, from 5:30 to 7:30, the Museum of the Rockies holds a members-only opening for POPnology. The exhibit opens to everyone on Saturday, October 3, and runs through January 11, 2027.
Up Bridger Canyon Road, Raptor Fest fills the Jim Bridger and Saddle Peak Lodges at Bridger Bowl on October 3 and 4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. On Saturday evening, the Bozeman Maze at 1340 E Valley Center Road hosts Music at the Maze with the Band of Drifters from 6 to 9 p.m.
Saturday also brings an indoor market. The Bozeman Winter Farmers' Market calendar lists October Saturdays on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st in Exhibit Building 4 at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds. The fairgrounds sit at 901 N Black Ave. The market's calendar doesn't print a year or hours, so confirm both on its site before you go.
The library is closed Tuesday, October 6, which leaves Saturday or Monday for a first Big Checkout trip that week. Saturday works best because the earliest borrowers get the best selection.
October 8 to 11: The Most Crowded Weekend of the Month
This is the weekend where everything overlaps. The Bozeman Film Festival runs October 8 to 11 in five downtown venues: the Ellen Theatre at 17 W Main, Rialto/Tinworks at 10 W Main, Tune Up at The Armory at 24 W Mendenhall, the Baxter Hotel Ballroom at 105 W Main, and Studio Noble at 133 E Main. Every one of those venues is within a few blocks of Main Street, and so is the library at 626 E Main.
That same weekend, handMADE Montana brings the Fall MADE Fair to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. VIP hours are Friday, October 9, from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday has early entry from 9 to 10 a.m., then free admission from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Saturday, October 10, the Museum of the Rockies hosts National Fossil Day across the whole building from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
So on that Saturday, the fieldhouse fair and the museum's fossil day run on the MSU side of town while film screenings run downtown. Earlier that week, on Wednesday, October 7, MOR's Presenting Prehistory with Dr. Devon Orme fills Hager Auditorium from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Families with little ones can also catch Fire Safety Storytime with the Bozeman Fire Department on Friday, October 9, from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. in the library's Community Room. It's one of the last youth programs before the pause.
The library is closed again on Monday, October 12.
October 15 to 18: The Last Normal Weekend for Kids' Programs
Mid-month is quieter and more grown-up. On Saturday, October 17, Bridger Bowl holds the Bridger Bowl Bash at its two base lodges from noon to 6 p.m. The same day, the Museum of the Rockies opens Chisel & Razor: Art, Entrepreneurship, and the Lewis Family. It's a joint project of the MSU College of Arts & Architecture, MOR and Tinworks Art, and it stays up until September 12, 2027, so there's no rush.
The library's Election Forums with the League of Women Voters wrap up on October 15. The last one, like those on October 5 and 7, meets in the Chuck Winn Community Room at the Bozeman Public Safety Center, 901 N Rouse Ave.
The bigger date that weekend is Sunday, October 18, when youth programs pause through November 6. If a weekly storytime is part of your routine, the weekend of the 17th is the last one for nearly three weeks.
October 23 to 25: A Send-Off, a Game and a Pumpkin Morning
Friday, October 23, is the emotional center of the library schedule. The See Ya Later Party runs from 3 to 5 p.m., with cake and a group art project collecting wishes for the new space. Former Children's Librarian Cindy Christin will be there. The library calls it a celebration of "20 beautiful years" of the current room, and it's the last day for the play corner and the wind tunnel. On the same days, October 23 and 24, MOR hosts the academic symposium "On the Edge of American: Art, Exodusters, and Expatriates, 1850–1900."
On Saturday, October 24, Montana State hosts Weber State at Bobcat Stadium at 1 p.m. Homecoming was in September, when the Bobcats beat Northern Arizona 28–14 on September 26, so this is a regular home Saturday. On Sunday, October 25, Phoenix Garden Center at 1770 Cobb Hill Road holds its free Harvest Fest from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with crafts and pumpkin decorating and carving.
That Sunday is the last weekend day of The Big Checkout. The program ends Wednesday, October 28. Anyone who wants a stack of picture books to last the winter has three weekdays left after Harvest Fest.
Halloween Weekend, With the Children's Shelves Closed
The Children's Room collection shuts on October 29, and the busiest family weekend of the fall starts the next day.
| Day | What's happening | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Oct. 30 | Downtown Bozeman Trick-or-Treating | Main Street, Grand to Church | 4 to 6 p.m. |
| Saturday, Oct. 31 | Bozeman Winter Farmers' Market | Exhibit Building 4, Gallatin County Fairgrounds | Check market calendar |
| Saturday, Oct. 31 | Montana State vs. Cal Poly | Bobcat Stadium | 1 p.m. |
| Sunday, Nov. 1 | Last day of the Bozeman Maze season | 1340 E Valley Center Road | See maze schedule |
The Friday trick-or-treat has the most logistics. The Downtown Bozeman Association expects more than 100 participating businesses. Because of safety concerns and how popular the event has become, the City of Bozeman will close Main Street from Grand to Church from about 3 to 7 p.m. Parking isn't allowed on the closed section. Cars need to be moved before 3 p.m. or after 7 p.m., and any car still there stays parked until the event ends. Bozeman Police and Fire will have officers and emergency staff along the route. If you work downtown and usually park on Main, plan to move your car before 3 p.m.
Pink will be up on Main Street all month too. PNKBZN runs October 1 to 31, with pink banners and promotions at participating businesses. The Downtown Bozeman Partnership organizes it with Bozeman Health, MSU, MSU Athletics, Cancer Support Community Montana and Advanced Medical Imaging.
Into November: The Mini Room and the Ski Swap
After Halloween, both calendars change over within a week. The library closes November 3 for Election Day and opens the Mini Children's Room on November 4. Limited youth programs come back November 7. That same Saturday, the Bridger Ski Foundation runs its BSF Ski Swap at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds. The public sale goes from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on November 7 after the early-entry periods, and again from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 8. On Monday, November 9, the carpet is scheduled to come up in the Children's Room.
Kelley Schlauch has a Big Checkout tote ready and the Main Street closure on her calendar. If this fall has you wondering what your own place in Bozeman might be worth, Kelley Schlauch can put that number together while the leaves are still on the trees. Get your free home valuation.
