The inaugural Montana Music Festival is held in Whitefish on Friday and Saturday, featuring well-known country rock bands Poco and Pure Prairie League.
The event, a fundraiser to build an outdoor performing arts center in Whitefish, is dedicated to the memory of the Montana Band. The performing arts center will be named after the band, which gained fame in the early 1980s before a plane crash near Flathead Lake killed all five band members in 1987.
This weekend’s music festival comes just as the 25th anniversary of the plane crash is approaching. The Montana Band formed after the breakup of the Mission Mountain Wood Band, a group with close Flathead Valley ties that still plays in the region today.
The Montana Music Festival kicks off on Friday Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. with the “Montana Band Acoustic Jam” at the O’Shaughnessy Center on Central Avenue in downtown Whitefish. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door.
The jam session will feature original Montana Band members Rob Quist, Jerry Zalnoski and Mark Wittman with special guests Bruce Robinson, Kostas, Jerry Joseph, David Griffith and members of Poco and Pure Prairie League, along with other surprise guests.
Concerts on Saturday will be held at Whitefish Depot Park on the corner of Central Avenue and Depot Street, according to a press release. Gates open at 11 a.m. and shows begin at 11:30. Tickets cost $30 in advance or $35 at the gate.
Saturday’s lineup features Pure Prairie League, Poco, Montana Band Reunion/Tribute, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, Kostas and His Bad Habits, House of Quist, Moonshine Mountain and Barnyard Riot.
Tickets are available at various outlets or online. For more information, visit www.mtmusicfest.com.