Under The Big Sky Festival Arrives for a Warm Weekend in the Flathead
As 20,000 festivalgoers converge in Whitefish for the three-day event, temperature highs recorded at Glacier Park International Airport are about 10 degrees above average for this time of year
By Mike Kordenbrock
The Flathead Valley’s biggest music festival, Under The Big Sky, is preparing to kick off for its fifth year this weekend, and organizers are expecting 20,000 people to attend the multi-day event as the area continues to see above-average temperatures for this time of year.
Under The Big Sky officially starts at 3 p.m. on Friday at Big Mountain Ranch, and the final performer this year, Billy Strings, is scheduled to wrap up his two-hour set at 11 p.m. Sunday night. Other festival headliners this year are Miranda Lambert and the Turnpike Troubadours, as well as a slate of Montana artists on a lineup of more than 30 musical acts, including Abby Webster, Archertown, Badger Hound, Dead & Down, Denim Gold, Ella Stallion, Madeline Hawthorne, Miller Campbell and Tomara.
Heading into the festival’s kickoff, conditions on the ground at Big Mountain Ranch look promising given some of the recent moisture and precipitation in the area, according to organizers.
In a statement, Outriders said it’s “incredibly grateful to the Flathead Valley for its ongoing support.”
“We want to thank all our tireless first responders, Flathead Electric for their exceptional efforts this year in ensuring we have power, our after party venue partners, the amazing musicians who have come to the Valley from all over the country to perform, as well as all our incredible local artists,” according to the statement. “Most importantly, a big thanks to all the fans that make Under The Big Sky possible every year.”
This year’s festival comes as Montana finds itself in the midst of a heat wave that the National Weather Service in Missoula believes is likely to continue through July. On Thursday, a reading of 97 degrees Fahrenheit at Glacier International Airport was good enough for Kalispell to break a record daily high of 95 degrees set in 1975. Highs of 92 on Friday, 93 on Saturday and 92 on Sunday are all about 10 degrees above average for this time of year. Those temperatures are still a ways off from record daily highs for this time of year, including a record high of 99 set on July 13, 2002, and a record high of 98 set on July 14, 2007. The weather service believes the current heatwave is likely to continue through July.
Trent Smith, a meteorologist with the weather service, said that the warm temperatures are being caused by a strong ridge of high pressure that has developed over the western United States. People looking to mitigate the risks that come with exposure to warm temperatures should limit their time outside, stay hydrated, take breaks, and make use of shaded areas as much as possible. The warmest time of day is typically from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Smith said.
Under The Big Sky Festival attendees are encouraged to bring empty 32 ounce or smaller reusable water bottles for use at the festival’s free water refill stations, and to take advantage of all on-site shaded areas. Speaking Thursday, Whitefish Fire Chief Cole Hadley advised that people should also arrive hydrated and continue to work to stay hydrated by consuming water and electrolytes.
“A lot of our issues that we see out there at the event are related around consumption of alcohol, and heat-related issues, so in order for there to be less of a burden on emergency responders out there, people could simply stay hydrated, and stay in the shade as much as possible,” Hadley said.
Heat exhaustion symptoms include heavy sweating, cold, plae and clammy skin, a fast, weak pulse, nausea or vomiting, muscle cramps, tiredness or weakness, dizziness, headache and fainting. People experiencing those symptoms are advised to move to a cool place, loosen clothes, put cool, wet compresses on their body or take a cool bath and sip water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges people experiencing heat exhaustion to get help right away if they are throwing up, their symptoms worsen, or their symptoms last more than an hour.
Like other first responder agencies in the area, Hadley said his department has extra staff scheduled for the weekend so that they can continue to cover their regular 911 response duties. Fire department staff working the festival are hired out by event organizers to provide fire and medical services at the event. And while the influx of festivalgoers can sometimes overwhelm cell phone providers in the area, Hadley said the fire department is able to communicate by radio, and has access to an emergency response-only cellular network.
The fire chief also noted the hot, dry weather creates a risk for wildland fires, and encouraged people to be extra careful.
Montana’s largest wildfire of the season so far ignited earlier this week northeast of Helena. The Horse Gulch Fire, measured at about 10,849 acres or about 17 square miles in size, is believed to be human-caused. The fire is burning in an area heavy with timber, including dead and downed trees. Some evacuations were put into place by the Lewis and Clark County’s Sheriff’s Office for areas near the fire, which started on July 9. On Wednesday, a 45-year-old Brazilian pilot, Juliana Turchetti, died when the single-engine water-scooping plane she was piloting as part of the firefighting response hit a mountainside and crashed into Hauser Lake.