Here are a few very good reasons to get out of the house this week!
There is a particular point in October when Billings finally starts to feel like fall.
The mornings are colder. The trees along the Yellowstone have started changing. You start thinking about a jacket before leaving the house, and suddenly the idea of spending an entire Saturday indoors seems a little wasteful.
This is also the part of fall when there is a lot happening around town.
Not necessarily the big, calendar-circled events we plan months ahead for. More the kind of things that make October in Billings worth paying attention to: a street festival downtown, a night inside an old mansion with the lights turned off, rodeo season, a comedy show, a pumpkin patch, or simply an afternoon when the weather cooperates enough to take the long way home.
So if you are looking for something to do this week, here are a few ways to make the most of it.
Start downtown on Saturday.
HarvestFest is October 10 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., filling the streets below Skypoint with more than 160 vendors, pumpkins, mums, baked goods, food, live entertainment and family activities. It is free, and it is one of those events that feels particularly Billings because you can wander downtown without having to make much of a plan.
Pick up something you did not know you needed. Grab a pumpkin. Get something warm to eat. Walk into a shop you normally pass. Let the kids make something. Stand around and people-watch for a while.
Sometimes the best local events are the ones where the entire point is simply to show up.
Go see what is happening at NILE.
The NILE Stock Show & Rodeo begins October 9 and runs through October 17 at MetraPark, bringing livestock shows, horses, youth competitions and rodeo events to Billings for one of the city’s longstanding Western traditions.
There is something about NILE arriving in October that makes the season feel particularly Montana.
The smell of dust. The boots. The trailers coming into town. Families who have been doing this for years. Kids who know far more about livestock than most of us ever will.
You do not have to be a rodeo regular to go experience a piece of it.
Make October a little spooky.
The Moss Mansion is doing Ghost Tours on October 8 and October 11 from 6 to 9 p.m. The lights go out, and the tour focuses on ghost stories, local legends and reported paranormal experiences inside one of Billings’ most recognizable historic homes.
And honestly, October is probably the only month when walking through a 1903 mansion in the dark sounds like a perfectly reasonable Thursday night.
If haunted houses are not your thing, the mansion is also open for regular tours October 8, 9 and 11 during its standard daytime hours.
Laugh somewhere you have never been before.
The Big Sky Comedy Festival runs October 6 through 11 at multiple venues around Billings, bringing comedians from around the country and beyond to town for a full week of shows.
This one is worth mentioning because fall activities do not always have to involve pumpkins.
Sometimes the best way to spend a cold October night is getting dressed, going somewhere downtown and laughing with a room full of strangers.
Billings has plenty of that kind of night if you know where to look.
Take yourself to the farm.
If you want the quintessential fall afternoon, Grandpa’s Farm is right here in Billings with its corn maze, pumpkin patch and other fall activities. It also has a haunted section on select October nights.
Just outside town, T&C Farms – Pumpkin Patch offers another classic fall outing with pumpkins, hayrides and farm activities.
There is something about going to a pumpkin patch when you are an adult that feels strangely nostalgic.
You go for the pumpkin.
You stay because it is October and you have nowhere else you need to be for a little while.
Take the long way through Billings.
And then there is the completely free option.
Go for a walk.
This time of year, places like Riverfront Park and Two Moon Park give you a chance to actually notice the season changing around the Yellowstone River.
You do not need an elaborate hiking plan. You do not need to make it a workout.
Put on a sweatshirt, grab a coffee and go see what the trees are doing.
That counts.
And if you want to make a whole fall day out of it…
There is a pretty good Saturday hiding in Billings this week.
Start downtown at HarvestFest. Wander around long enough to find something local to take home. Head somewhere for lunch. Go home and change into something warmer. Then come back out for music, comedy, a show or a late dinner.
Or skip the itinerary entirely.
That might be the best part of fall in Billings.
You do not have to go very far to find something worth doing.
October has a way of making ordinary things feel seasonal. A walk becomes a fall walk. A Saturday downtown becomes an afternoon at HarvestFest. A trip to the farm becomes pumpkin picking. An old house becomes a ghost tour.
And suddenly, the city you live in feels a little different.
Maybe that is one of the best things about living here.
You do not always need to leave Billings to feel like you got away for a while.
Sometimes you just need to go outside.