Taunya Fagan Bozeman Real Estate Blog: Montana Real Estate Blogs

Bozeman, Montana's Morning Star Elementary School, the Bozeman School District's largest elementary school, is one of the 2009 National Blue Ribbon Schools. Morning Star Elementary, named for Cheyenne Indian Chief, Morning Star, who would often awaken early in the morning to view the planet Venus, was chosen as one of the top elementary schools in the United States because it helps Bozeman students close the "achievement gap," "the difference in academic performance between different ethnic groups," according to the U.S. Department of Education's definition.

Arne Duncan, U.S. Education Secretary, announced 314 schools have won the Blue Ribbon award, which includes 50 private schools and 264 public schools. Central School in Roundup, MT also was chosen. On Novemebr 3, 2009, all winners will be honored in Washington, D.C. For more try the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

DRINKING HORSE MOUNTAIN

The Drinking Horse Mountain Trail is a new Bozeman hiking gem not just because it makes for a short, vigorous 1.6 mile (3.2 mile rt) early-morning or after-work hike but also because of the spectacular views along the way and from its summit.

Walk along the excellent, recently carved and compacted limestone hiking trail from about 4902 ft to the 5,522 ft Drinking Horse Mountain Summit for views of the Absarokas and many of the Gallatin Valley's mountain ranges.

The Drinking Horse Mountain Trail, north of Bozeman, MT, is great for kids because they can make the hike short by stopping to splash in Bridger Creek under the shade of mature Cottonwoods, or they can head for the top, stopping along the way to rest on one of the many memorial benches manufactored from recycled plastic. 

The Drinking Horse Mountain Trail is a great example of a federal, state, local, and private conservation collaboration, joining the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Gallatin Valley Land Trust; Montana Outdoor Science School; Bozeman Fish Technology Center; and Friends of the Bozeman, Montana Fish Technology Center together to preserve more of Montana's Gallatin Valley land for future generations.

Drinking Horse Mountain Trail Directions: From Main Street, Bozeman, take Rouse, which becomes Bridger Canyon Drive (Highway 86), 3 miles to a right (S) at the Fish Hatchery turnoff just before the "M" Trail turnoff. (NOT Fish Hatchery Rd, though...you've gone too far.) (Sorry, no bikes or horses allowed and don't forget the camera, water, coat, sunscreen, and snacks...and stay off the summit during lightning.)

Taunya Fagan Prudential Montana Real Estate

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Obama Coming to Bozeman...Again.

A City Commissioner for the City of Bozeman, MT confirmed on August 4, 2009 that President Barack Obama again will be visiting Bozeman, Montana; this time Obama will visit on Friday, August 14, 2009. President Obama is purported to be planning on holding a town hall meeting at one of Bozeman's Gallatin Field Airport hangers. Obama will discuss the plight of people dropped from their health insurance plans because of an illness.

It is purported that First Lady, Michelle Obama, and President Obama may also visit Big Sky, Montana after the August 14, 2009 Bozeman town meeting. The First Couple is staying at Big Sky's Summit Hotel.

According to Bozeman's Daily Chronicle, Mayor, Kaaren Jacobson, stated, "He's definitely coming, that much is clear." Avis Car Rental in Belgrade, MT states the US Secret Service has reserved approximately 30 cars for Obama's visit August 13-14, 2009.

The last President who planned to visit Bozeman was FDR in 1934, but he changed his plans and visited Fort Peck, Montana instead.

Taunya Fagan Prudential Montana Real Estate, Bozeman, MT

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Though this may not sound like a high placement, Newsweek magazine voted Bozeman High School, in Bozeman, Montana, number 585 out of the top 1500 public high schools in the United States' top high schools list 2009. According to Newsweek, there were over 21,000 high schools in the U.S. in 2008.

About the formula for determining the top U.S. Schools list, Newsweek noted the method used to rank public schools is based on a ratio devised by Jay Mathews, which basically takes the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests all students took at a school in the 2008 school year and divides it by the number of graduating seniors.

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"...We are committed to providing your child with a quality education in a safe and caring environment. We accomplish this with the involvement of skilled and caring professionals, high expectations both academically and behaviorally, and with the support of our parents and community...." Kirk Miller, Superintendent, Bozeman Public Schools

For more on Bozeman High School, Bozeman Schools, and Gallatin County Schools.

Is your high school on the top US high schools list?

The City of Bozeman, Montana begins its initial year of a three-year agreement to hold the Montana Special Olympics Games. In this year's Special Olympics 2009, the 72 visiting teams, comprised of about 1,000 athletes, will compete, coached by 450, in fourteen Olympic-type sports events during the three-day event.

The 2009 Montana Special Olympics', 14 competitions will include track and field, gymnastics, triathlon, bowling, kayaking, aquatics, bocce ball, cycling, golf, powerlifting, equestrian, soccer, and horseshoe pitching.

Also offered will be motor activities training for participating, lower-functioning athletes.

Annually, over 1,500 local Bozeman, MT locals are involved in the massive organizing and the actual hosting of the Montana Special Olympic Games, adding $1 million to the Bozeman community.

Special Olympics Montana
P.O. Box 3507
Great Falls, MT  59403
For General Info: 1.800.242.6876

Please consider supporting these Special Montana Olympic Games in Bozeman!

To Speak to Representative: Vicki Dunham
vdunham@somt.org
Call: 406.216.5327

In the sport of bike racing you've heard of the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España, and the Giro d'Italia ...now there's the Tour de Bozeman, Montana's Last Best Bike Race.

This Bozeman, Montana Bicycle Racing Event, slated for Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, 2009, offers a $5,000 Cash Purse and fun for the entire family. Cycling Sprints down Main Street Bozeman; Bicycle Time Trials on Springhill Road; and a Bike Road Race in Bridger Canyon.

Watch male and female cyclists burn 1000's of calories and suffer oxygen-debt, pushing their bodies to super-human levels competing in...

• Saturday, July 25, morning: Springhill Road Cycling Time Trial on a straight, 20 kilometer out -and-back course, along Bozeman's Bridger Mountains.
• Saturday, July 25, evening: Downtown Bozeman Main Street Bike Sprints along five blocks of Historic Bozeman's Main Street, which will be closed for these brutal 300 meter cycling sprints.
• Sunday, July 26, morning: Bridger Canyon Road Bike Race on an unrelenting 70 mile course with long, steep climbs and petrifying descents through the Bridger and Bangtail Mountains.
  
• Sunday, July 26, afternoon Tour de Bozeman bike racing awards at Bridger Bowl Ski Area.

The Tour of Bozeman Bike Race is a collaboration of three Bozeman-area cycling teams: Bozeman Team Delphine, Gallatin Alpine Sports-Intrinsik Architecture, and Bozeman Masters Velo and is sponsored by both First Interstate Bank of Bozeman and Bridger Orthopedic and Sports Medicine. 

Races open to and capped at:
    * Men's Pro 1/2 - 100 entrants
    * Men's Cat 3 - 100 entrants
    * Men's Cat 4/5 - 75 entrants
    * Masters 40+ - 100 entrants
    * Women's 1-3 - 50 entrants
    * Women's 4 - 50 entrants

Register for the Tour de Bozeman  -  Photo Courtesy of Natasha Westphal

From blog.nileguide.com Top 10 Mountain Towns in North America  March 10, 2009

"Many of us cling to the dream of ditching the urban rat race and moving to a funky town in the mountains where we can hike, bike, climb, paddle, and ski to our heart's content."

# 3: Bozeman, Montana - Bozeman is an easy drive from Yellowstone [Park], and Big Sky sits just up the Madison Gallatin River. As a university town, it offers decent great local food and culture, where you can bone up on your literature in between jaunts to hit the hikable [and skiable] backcountry at Bridger Bowl.

Note: Killer mountain biking, kayaking, and fly fishing, too..

Taunya Fagan Prudential Bozeman Real Estate, giving you the advantage...®

Bozeman Real Estate Report - Southwest Montana Real Estate Data    The Bozeman Homes

Upcoming Fundraisers For The Recent Bozeman Explosion

Saturday March 21, Montana Ale Works on East Main will hold a Downtown Bozeman Relief Fund Event begun by the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) and injected with a generous $25,000 donation from First Security Bank Foundation. Event is from 8pm to or beyond 10:30 p.m. Local  musicians, including Jeni Fleming, will tender all money to the Downtown Relief Fund. Tips for the musicians will be donated to the 4 musicians having lost their homes in the Bozeman blast.

Saturday, March 28, Gallatin County Fairgrounds is the place for the Downtown Bozeman Relief Festival, from 12:00am to 12:00pm. Food and music all day and night for an admission fee of $10 for adults, $5 for kids under 13. Silent auction, photo contest, and face painting. For info: Terri Sullivan, 586-0499; Cheryl Ott, 579-9984; or Mary Jane Disanti, 580-7888.

Bozeman News - Bozeman Explosion Updates

Prudential Montana Real Estate has taken on Black Bull, Bozeman, Montana's Family and Golf Community, offering resort-style living built around Black Bull's dynamic Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course. The private community includes a clubhouse, and, when not golfing, other recreational activities like swimming, tennis, fishing, and cross-country skiing. Black Bull is also within minutes of world-class downhill skiing and just about any other outdoor activity that comes to mind.

What Travel + Leisure Golf says about Black Bull Golf Community, Bozeman, Montana, which is one of only 10 new communities having made it to their "Top 100 Golf Communities in America" list: Black Bull is one of those rare "total golf and community experience[s]" with "exquisite environments which are case studies in how to make life on earth as pleasing, stimulating and worthwhile as possible."

Please call me, 406.579.9683, for more information or to visit Black Bull Bozeman.

Taunya Fagan Prudential Bozeman Real Estate, giving you the advantage...®

The John Jorgenson Quintet will wow you at Bozeman's Ellen Theatre on Saturday, February 14, 2009, 8 pm. You know Jorgenson's music through Earl Scruggs, Barbara Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, to name a few; he was Elton John's guitarist for six years! Get Your John Jorgenson Quintet Tickets Now. This rare musical experience is offered by the Montana Mandolin Society.

Enjoy dessert at Bozeman's Emerson Cultural Center's 22nd Annual Sweet Tooth Ball & Silent Auction, Saturday, February 7, 2009, 8 pm offering live music by Little Elmo and the Mambo Kings. You may also enjoy wine and beer. For tickets try: 406.587.9797

Get to the Holiday Inn Grand, Billings, MT for the Giving Back Foundation black tie blue jean benefit fundraiser, February 7, 2009, 5 pm. Enjoy the prime rib buffet, 6 pm and live auction with entertainment, 7:30 pm. This Montana-based non-profit, Giving Back Foundation (GBF), offers financial assistance to ranchers and farmers throughout the United States whose livelyhoods have been impacted by natural disasters.

Bozeman Symphony Society 2009 holds its annual chamber orchestra, February 7 and February 8, 2009, so you can still make the Giving Back Foundation's event in Billings, Montana. Through this year's theme, "The Classical Ideal," you will hear both 19th- and 20th-century compositional Classical period standards, featuring piano from the renowned Spencer Myer performing Beethoven's Concerto No. 1 in C major.

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Bozeman, Montana Housing Resources - Bozeman Real Estate

NBC featured a video segment with regular contributing Realtor, Barbara Corcoran discussing six reasonably-priced homes in six different states, ranging in price from the mid-200's to the mid-400's, including a home in Bozeman Montana, on the January 30, 2008 Today Show.

Other real estate featured included a Beaufort, South Carolina home, on a golf course, for $279,000; a Boca Raton, Florida home, in a gated community, for $325,000; a Sedona, Arizona home, in a climate offering 360 days of sunshine, for $349,999; a Las Vegas, Nevada home, in a city with 1% property tax, for 415,000; and a Lexington, Kentucky home, in the world's horse capital, for $449,500. For More on this Bozeman home on NBC...

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Taunya Fagan - Bozeman Homes - Prudential Montana Real Estate

According to Housing Predictor, Bozeman, Montana, the collegiate, skiing, fishing, outdoorsy little city, is tagged as a top ten US real estate market for home appreciation in 2009!

Rank       City/Market             2009 Prediction
  
1.      Bloomington, Illinois          3.6% 
2.      Grand Junction, Colorado    3.1%
3.      Billings, Montana               3.1%
4.      Fargo, North Dakota           2.9% 
5.      Lander, Wyoming              2.3%
6.      Trenton, New Jersey           2.3%
7.      Morgantown, West Virginia  2.0% 
8.      Logan, Utah                      2.0% 
9.       Bozeman, Montana                1.8%
10.    Albany, Georgia                1.8%

Five Montana cities made the top 25 List. Montana has been somewhat immune to the financial mess and US housing collapse. Though Bozeman housing prices and values have declined, the market is poised to continue growing in the future.

Taunya Fagan Bozeman Real Estate - Bozeman Homes For Sale

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Bozeman's amazing humanitarian, Greg Mortenson, is nominated January 8, 2009 for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nominating the Bozeman, Montana Mortenson for the prestigious Nobel award, were Montana's House Representative, Denny Rehberg and five other members of US Congress, who jointly sent a letter Wednesday to Norway's Nobel Committee, based in Oslo, Norway.

Rehberg stated, "Greg Mortenson's work advancing children's education in volatile countries encompasses these values....I can think of no one more deserving of this award."

Greg Mortenson, who co-founded both the Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace, regulary wows the global community with his on-going dedication to promoting children's education and peace in the world's most dangerous areas of the world. When not overseas, Mortenson lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Clinical Psychologist, Dr.Tara Bishop, and two children.

California Representative Mary Bono states, "I've learned more from Greg Mortenson about the causes of terrorism than I did during all our briefings on Capitol Hill. He is a true hero, whose creativity, courage, and compassion exemplify the true ideals of the American spirit."

Mortenson is also co-author of the popular book, Three Cups of Tea, about the real-world transition of Mortenson from mountain-climber to humanitarian committed to conquering poverty and educating girls in Pakistan and Afganistan.

Three Cups of Tea: "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family..."

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Taunya Fagan Bozeman Real Estate - Montana Real Estate

"Bridger Bowl, MT is the gem of the Northern Rockies. Located only 16 miles north of Bozeman, Montana..."

Bridger Bowl, Bozeman, Montana opens today, Thursday, December 11th, beginning the 2008-2009 Montana Skiing and Montana Snowboarding Season!

Offering over 2000 acres of Rocky Mountain skiing and snowboarding, Bridger Bowl's terrain is broken down thus: 22% Green, 30% Blue, 26% Black Diamond, and 22% Double Black Diamond, which includes both the formidable Ridge and this year's newly opened 311 acres in Slushman's Ravine and Mundy's Bowl.

(Don't forget to change the batteries in the Peeps, and leave the Lithium batteries at home.)

Snowfall to date is 60 inches and the settled base depth is 40 inches.

• Adult ticket is $45,
• Senior (65-71 years-old) Ticket is $37
• Child (6-12 years-old) Ticket is $16.
• Over 71 years-old or under 6 years-old? Your ticket is Free!

Call Bridger Bowl, Bozeman, Montana at 800-223-9609 for the Bridger Bowl Snow Report or more Bozeman Skiing and Bozeman Snowboarding information.

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Taunya Fagan Bozeman Real Estate

Refurbished and dazzling, The Ellen Theatre on Main Street, in Downtown Bozeman, Montana will host the Charles Dickens story, "A Christmas Carol," from December 7 through December 23, 2008. 

Presented by Montana Theatre Works, the play begins Friday, December 5, 2008 at 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM. This classic Christmas story, with 38 characters, is directed by Bozeman's local theatre veteran, Todd Hoberecht. This a highly recommended play to see!

Bozeman's Ellen Theatre opened for the first time on December 1, 1919, and has played its share of parts, including that of movie house, strip tease venue, vaudeville house, wedding venue, high school playhouse, and now returning as Montana Theatre Works' playhouse.

For Ellen Theatre Information and Showtimes, click the link or call 406-570-6199.  

Taunya Fagan Bozeman Real Estate

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More Bozeman Events - Bozeman Montana Holiday Events