Montana is known for big skies, breweries and … bookstores? At least, that’s what a coalition of independent bookstores across the state are hoping - as they launch the second summer of Montana’s Bookstore Trail.
Print is a bookshop tucked just west of Highway 93 on Main Street in Ronan. It carries used books, nestled in shelves and atop tables around the store's centerpiece, a Steinway piano.
Trish Tavenner is the store's owner, and the player heard here. She also teaches piano lessons, and curates the store's selection of books.
“A bookstore is a world of ideas and of new experiences and of immersing yourself in the past. And I get lectured by my kids that I live in the past a lot. And I think, yeah, but there's so much to know and to learn about,” said Tavenner.
Tavenner is in her 80s and has sold books most of her life.
Print is among this year's new additions to the 27 independent bookstores on the Montana Bookstore Trail - a map of some of the bookshops across the state.
“I think the magic word was ‘I'm an independent bookstore.’” said Tavenner
According to a 2013 inventory from Publisher's Weekly, Montana has more bookstores per capita than any other state. It breaks down to roughly one bookstore for every 16,000 people in the state.
Inspired by that statistic, and a similar map for people wanting to tour Montana breweries, a group of bookstore owners created the Montana Bookstore Trail. They’re hoping to capture some of the state’s tourism road traffic to support booksellers.
“So we thought, you know, books and brews, that would be great,” said Julie Schultz, who works at This House of Books in Billings and is part of the team that created the Montana Bookstore Trail in the summer of 2023.
The group printed thousands of electric blue passports with an image of a book sprouting mountains on its cover, for visitors to collect stamps of each place they visit.
“It's not just online. It's not just virtual. It's an actual physical thing, much like physical books that you can pick up and hold and take around to all the bookstores that are on the map, all around the state and get your, get your stamp,” said Schultz
The trail has stops in the state's seven big cities, but in small towns too, like Fairview, in the east, Hamilton in the Southwest, and Augusta, on the Rocky Mountain Front.
Stores are classified on the trail as either book stores or book nooks, which are stores that have book sections, and sell other things as well. Latigo and Lace, is one of those book nooks, and was part of the trail’s first year.
Started in 1992 by a group of friends, the store's on the north end of Main Street in downtown Augusta.
“The six ladies who started the store, I wanted to have something western, but something feminine as well,” said Christy Levine, who bought the shop in 2012 when the original owners were ready to retire. Her mom was the store's first employee in the 90s.
Latigo is a local art gallery, coffee shop and bookstore, they’ve got a little bit of everything.
The majority of the art they carry is made in Montana, and the book section highlights local authors.
“I don't know if it's because of the inspiration from the beautiful scenery here or the quietness. I'm not sure, but it seems like there's an awful lot of creativity within the state of Montana. So it's kind of neat,” said Levine.
Last year, Levine says she loved hearing where people were from and what stops they made along the way as she stamped their passports. She hopes to see more people from other places this year, especially given the number of tourists that drive through Augusta in the summer.
“They have their passport with them, and they come in and they're excited to show you their passport book and ask if they can get a stamp, and. Yeah, then you ask them where else they've been. And yeah, it's fun here. People's adventures,” said Levine.
Passports can be picked up at any of the participating stores. The trail will run through September, and anyone with stamps on their passport can enter a raffle for prizes at the end of the season.
