Heading east on Highway 2, drivers passing through Chester, Montana may have heard a commotion last weekend. One turn into the small town brought people to the heart of this year’s Hi-Line Harvest Festival.
The multi-day event peaked on Saturday. Throughout the day, vendors lined the downtown avenues as people filtered in to join the festivities.
Chester resident Lisa Carlon stands near a stage where local bands will play. She says she’s come to the festival for the last three years.
"I love the concert, the live band – especially tonight," Carlon says. "That's when you get to see all the locals you grew up with and it's almost like an all-class reunion-type deal."
There were hay rides and food trucks, live music and even a car smash.
At 1:30 p.m., teams of five raced bedframes on wheels with a rider to a finish line.
The unique game is a nod to the origin of this weekend. In the 1900s, the town hosted a similar festival, but it faded out. Back then the game meant carrying actual bedframes. But the festive weekend flickered out in the 1980s.
Co-producer of the festival 27-year-old Peyton Cole says after the pandemic, she was looking for ways to help revitalize her home town.
"There's a couple big events on the Hi-Line but this is one that people look forward to all year and I think people just need something to look forward to," Cole says.
The largely agricultural communities of the Hi-Line face many hardships in their fields. But, Cole says this event offers a space to have fun.
The festival brought in hundreds of people to the town.
And this foot traffic benefits small businesses like the First Street Mercantile. Jillian Streit, who also heads the state’s Department of Agriculture, renovated a vacant building with her husband Tyler to create a restaurant and community hub.
"This is one of those defining moments in Chester's history where I can say that I have a lot of faith in our future because of the Hi-Line Harvest Festival," Streit says.
The typically-quiet town bustled with families and farmers late into the evening, celebrating their hard work and the coming end of harvest season.
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