- [Noah] Montana values craftsmanship and heart in the businesses that call the Treasure State home.

Today, we'll hit the road to meet the makers of Big Sky Country's uniquely detailed finds.

- [Speaker] We work together all day long, every day of the week.

- [Speaker 2] You just have to be different, and it has to be different or I don't think it'll succeed.

- [Noah] And service that's committed to the core.

- [Speaker 3] My main goal is to make people happy.

Butter pecan!

Thank you.

- Are you guys ready?

I wouldn't be anything without my customers.

- [Speaker 4] We're not the run of the mill thing that you find.

It's a novelty.

- [Noah] Stay tuned for this edition of "Business: Made in Montana."

- [Narrator] This University of Montana School of Journalism student production was made possible with support from the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans, and by the University of Montana.

- Montana's known for its Western heritage, and even a casual cowboy knows that there's some equipment that's worth getting right.

The pair you'll meet in our first story take craftsmanship to heart in their shop, just a few miles outside of one of Montana's biggest rodeo towns.

- I don't know anybody who's doing anything like this.

You know, starting with completely flat leather and creating the end result that we create.

Like that.

- There really is value in working with your hands and creating something that has longevity, you know, heritage quality to it.

Dan and I really love what we do, and we want that to translate into the pair of boots that that customer puts on their feet, because it's really important to us that they love them as much as we do.

- We're a few miles out of Dillon, so it's very quiet.

And to do the kind of work that we do, you need concentration.

You need to be paying attention.

So for that reason, where we're a little bit isolated here, is a real positive thing.

In every shop, we have what we call a top man and a bottom man.

And in our shop, because it's a husband and wife run situation, my wife is the top man.

- So thread color comes in so many colors, and this is one of my favorite parts.

And I do all the design work, work with the customers pretty closely in what the outward appearance of their boot's gonna be.

- I don't think boot making chose me necessarily as a way to make a living.

I had cowboyed and been on farms and ranches my whole life.

And back in the 90s, I had an opportunity to sell my cows that I had worked so hard to acquire.

And some months later, I had my cows sold and bought the local repair shop.

And that kind of catapulted me into bootmaking, then, a few years later, so been doing it ever since.

- The reason I chose bootmaking is 'cause I married the boot maker.

Some of my first experiences with boot making was crying.

I cried probably the first two years of sewing.

Sewing at first was not an enjoyable thing for me.

And I think really when sewing became something that I loved is when I really started to enjoy bootmaking.

- There's no part of building the boot that's not rewarding to a degree.

Each pair we build, or each customer we meet are so unique and different that it keeps the excitement level up.

It's hard work, but it's very rewarding in the end.

Each pair of boots we build, we contemplate together, we discuss it together.

We go over the patterns together.

And so the drive there would be to produce a better boot than we did last time, which gives us kind of a comradery in the aspect of a goal to reach that end goal.

And so of course, there's arguments along the way about stitch patterns and I always let her win.

So that's what creates a good marriage.

- [Julia] We feel like there's the need to carry on the trades and the traditions of bootmaking in generations that are coming up that if we don't, it will disappear.

But I really don't think there's any more, probably nothing more satisfying than what we do.

- Better than that.

Even all used up, and it's still a good looking boot.

- Our next story highlights a chef who has staked his claim in the hearts and the stomachs of the locals.

Through his cooking, he's focused on serving his community on the northern edge of the Bitterroot Valley.

- [Josh Serving people, to me, is about connection.

It's about kind of getting to know your neighbor.

Want the barbecue?

So let's just do a regular loaded burger?

Okay.

- You know, in the Bible, it talks about loving thy neighbor.

It talks about giving, and that's what my food truck means to me.

You know, complete strangers at the beginning of the order.

But by the end, you know, we've shared personal details of our lives, of our kids' lives.

- Are you guys ready to eat right now?

- Yeah, whenever.

- Cool.

So Lolo is very in need of something other than the fast food that we have.

Looking at our food today, everything is chemically processed.

Everything has, you know, GMO.

And so, trying to provide naturally sourced beef, organically grown vegetables at a decent price and just kind of feed people where they know that they're getting their food from is a viable kind of solution, and to just make it healthier and, you know, affordable.

And the food truck, it gives me an avenue outside of myself to give back to my community and to kind of focus my energy and my desire on something that's productive and helping people.

Most people, when they think of, you know, a food truck, they see the four hours or five hours that you're open.

What they don't see is the deep cleans on the trailer, making sure everything's sanitary, all your cutting boards, all your dishes.

Yeah, I may only serve for four hours, but the seven hours of prep and the four hours of cleanup after the actual cooking part, that's the hard part.

The service and selling, that's easy.

We went out to dinner one night and we came home and we saw a bunch of fire trucks and as we got closer, the realization that that was our house that was on fire kind of set in.

You know, we lost everything.

Missoula and Lolo and the Bitterroot, they rallied together more than I would could have ever dreamed starting a fundraiser that we could kind of get back on our feet.

And from that point, it kind of dawned on me that Lolo was a special place, that the people that were here, they cared about one another.

I wouldn't be anything without my customers.

That's really where my dream and my drive to help out my community with my food truck came into play, and kind of led me to where I'm at today.

Well, don't worry, we're gonna win.

- Well that'll be $14.

It should tap.

- My goals with the Loaded Irishman are to continue to be a staple in the Bitterroot.

You know, I'd like another food truck.

I'd like to have a permanent establishment, somewhere, one day.

That's in the future, you know?

Right now, I'm really just focusing on kind of building my name and my reputation for a decent place to eat that serves really great food at a decent price.

$28.

God's number one, and giving back and helping others is my mission statement.

Thank you.

Have a great evening.

- [Customer] You too.

- Our next business is so unique that it's made a global splash.

While the lounge's aesthetic takes all the attention, one of its most important details is made in complete privacy, until now.

Let's take a deeper dive in the Electric City.

- [Sandi] I think absolutely every single person who wants to open a business has to have something unique.

You just have to be different and it has to be different, or I don't think it'll succeed.

This is my creative outlet, is to be able to take all this material and turn it into something that there's not another one of in the world.

For the most part, every time I make one of these mermaid tails, I make it with love for the girl who's wearing it, or the guy who's wearing it.

I want them to know that I've done my best sewing them a creation that is gonna wow every customer that comes in.

- [Amy] It's not every day you get to say, "I swim as a mermaid in Central Montana in the dead middle of winter."

- [Sandi] The mermaids know how to make those tails look good.

I could sew all day long and I could make the prettiest tail, but it's truly them that are putting these costumes on and they're getting in the water and they're doing the flips and they're doing the show and they're interacting with the customers and they're making themselves mermaid-esque because they know that that's what people expect when they come into the Sip N' Dip.

The O'Haire Inn has been in my family since 1968.

My stepdad bought it from the O'Haire Brothers.

I came here in 1994 to help run the place.

The mermaids came to be in 1996 when my mom and I, after the holidays, were trying to decide what fun thing we could do for New Year's Eve.

And we decided it would be to dress up an employee as a mermaid and have them swim.

And so the next day, I found a housekeeper that said she could swim pretty good.

And we literally duct taped a green plastic tablecloth around her and she jumped in and swam for about 10 minutes.

And she was our very first mermaid.

My dad's reaction, when I said, you know, we should actually put mermaids in there like every week, not just New Year's Eve, and he looked at me and he said, "That will be the worst and the best decision you ever make for this business."

He said the worst because it's gonna take the most of your time.

He said the best because it'll be what we become known for.

And then the next year, we had a costume shop here in town and I talked to them and they said that they could sew some costumes, and they did.

They were fine, they weren't great.

And then the next year, I thought, "Well, I can sew something."

My mom had taught me to soak when I was little.

And then I actually did costume design in college as part of my journalism degree.

And so I knew that I could come up with something.

- She's probably the hardest working human I have ever met in my life, truly.

And that, as well as just genuinely a kind, helpful person.

That's fine with me.

She's created such a fun work environment.

Regardless of this.

- There's a sense of pride in knowing that I do it, but more importantly, I'm more proud of the fact that the Sip N' Dip has something unique.

That's why I make the tails.

We could order mermaid tails off the internet and just put the girls in those, but it's not character and they're not Sip N' Dip specific.

They're not made with the love that I make them with.

- Montana's known for having cold winters, not exactly ice cream weather, but our next business is serving something for all seasons.

In a small town in Northwestern Montana, just nine miles south of the Canadian border, the locals are eating it up.

- [Gregg] You know, there's certain things in life that you just associate immediately that it's gonna be happy.

And I think ice cream's one of those things.

- He fills it all the way to the bottom.

So even if it looks like a skimpy scoop, it's not.

- I am so blessed and so fortunate that that's the business that I'm in, 'cause I had no idea if this business would work or not when I started it.

Never been in the ice cream business, never knew anything about it.

- [Customer] I actually like it better in the winter 'cause it melts too fast in the summer.

You can take your time and enjoy and eat it slower.

- That's so funny.

- You can throw anything into the ice cream that you want.

Now whether it'll taste good or not, that's another, you know, whole different ball game.

But a lot of it's just your imagination.

You think, geez, I wanna try this or that.

And so you try it and sometimes it works out and other times it doesn't.

And double chocolate.

Thank you very much.

You have a great day.

Appreciate you stopping.

I don't even look at it as a job.

I really and truly don't.

My background is welding and that was a job, and it was a hard job and it was hard work.

This is a piece of cake.

Well, I came to Eureka looking for property and I was sitting in the park.

Traffic was just nonstop bumper to bumper.

But I noticed nobody was stopping.

And I thought, geez, what would make people stop?

And I thought, I bet an ice cream stand would work.

There's never a bad day for ice cream!

- No, there really isn't.

- [Gregg] You know?

- Thank you.

- [Gregg] Thank you.

You have a good night.

- You too.

- [Gregg] The number one thing that still surprises me, which there shouldn't be any surprises left, is the loyalty of my customers.

It just blows me away.

They just keep coming back, you know?

Sure, I get the tourists and all that, you know, but it's the locals, they're the bread and butter that keep you going.

I actually have people that just come around to the back door, now I've gotten to know them so well.

- I got a phone call.

- [Gregg] And they don't even buy any ice cream.

And that's fine by me.

I like that part of the business way more than selling ice cream.

- Thanks, we'll be back.

- All right.

There's no way you can do this business and meet the people that you meet.

And then of course I have the added thing of the accident.

I was going home from the shop, from the ice cream shop to my house, and I hit a deer 50 miles an hour.

And it was pretty bad.

I knew, laying there, I was lucky to be alive.

And the outpouring of love in this community, I could never find the words, because they don't exist.

The food, the money, the cards, the well wishes, and there's no way that cannot affect you.

♪ Though I can't say when ♪ - [Gregg] I always turn the lights on for the first time on the third Saturday of November, and then I give out free ice cream.

And the day after the accident, laying in the hospital, it was actually, honest to God, it was one of the first things that came to my mind.

I almost felt I had to do something because of the love and everything and people asking me about it, you know?

And so I thought, if nothing else, I'll do something.

It may only be a third of what it usually is.

So I thought I would be really, really scaled back.

But as it turns out, this is gonna be the best one ever, actually.

My main goal is to make people happy.

And you know why?

I have learned, happiness, there's a ripple effect in my opinion of happiness.

And one of the things that I think is a byproduct of happiness is hope, 'cause I've seen it.

I've had people tell me, "Geez, I had the worst day of my life, but I decided, I'm gonna go get an ice cream cone."

I've had parents say, you know, my kids have already said that somewhere down the road, I'm gonna remember that little yellow building in Eureka, Montana where we used to go get ice cream.

You know, how much more heartwarming can life get than that?

There you go!

- [Child] Thank you.

- [Gregg] Thank you.

You have a good day!

- When a passion becomes a purpose, retirement becomes an afterthought.

That's the case for our final story where one couple has been blowing people away with their craft for decades.

And from their shop in a quaint town between Helena and Three Forks, they show no signs of stopping.

- [Terry] We've been here 25 years and we are 200 orders behind.

And people would say, "Why do you work seven days a week?"

And Jim said, "'Cause there aren't eight."

This was meant to be our retirement job.

You know, we had our regular professional lives and then we morphed into this and we're still here, trying to retire.

And maybe we'll never quit this.

- [Jim] Every glass blower has their own personal style.

It's just little things, you know, it's basically everybody's doing the same thing, but in a slightly different way.

- [Terry] I liken it to peeling an apple.

It takes the same amount of time to peel a small apple as it does to peel a large apple.

So little tiny shot glass or a great big bowl, all takes about the same amount of time.

Jim likes doing little more challenging things, like, oh, the ornaments.

They're hard to do.

They're hard to not make them look like potatoes.

They wanna be round.

- [Jim] I like that you never know it all.

You can learn a little something every day.

- [Terry] We always have music playing when we're working.

- [Jim] Yeah, the whole thing is very rhythmic.

- The faster the music, the faster we spin.

- The faster we get something done.

- [Terry] We met playing music.

Jim showed up with a concertina and I was playing fiddle.

We still have a little fiddle band, old timey band, called Helena Handbasket.

- [Jim] Well, we're in the heart of pumpkin season right now.

- How many have we made now?

200.

- A little over 200.

- 205, 206.

The most we ever made in a season was 422.

- [Jim] Terry usually decorates it a little bit, puts the little lines in, she's got better timing than I do, getting those little lines on, and then hands it back to me and I get another gather of glass and go into one of these molds and put the ridges in the pumpkins and shape it up.

Meanwhile, Terry's busy turning a glob of glass green so she can make the stem.

And we jam the stem on the hole in the top of the pumpkin.

And she gives a little curly thing and a leaf.

- [Terry] Yeah.

- [Jim] Off we go.

I don't know.

It could be tied back to the music thing.

We click.

- [Terry] Yeah, we don't even have to speak if we're having a bad day.

If we're not speaking, it works out just fine.

That doesn't happen.

Townsend's just a really friendly town.

They were very welcoming.

The president of the bank was one of the first people to come in and welcome to Townsend.

- [Jim] We found ourselves with a worldwide audience because people all over the world come to visit Yellowstone, rent a car, and drive to Glacier.

And you pretty much have to come right through this intersection.

And it turned out to be a good thing for the town too, 'cause it brought, instead of just an intersection to drive through, there was a reason to stop.

You know, we're not the run of the mill thing that you find.

It's a novelty.

- [Terry] And there's glass blowers that are way better than us, but there's not very many of us in this state.

We've hung in there thick and thin, and this town has treated us well.

We have so many repeat customers and they're loyal to us.

So we feel like we should probably be loyal to them and honor their wishes.

We don't know when we're gonna call it.

We dunno.

With 200 orders to go, we're gonna be here for a while longer.

That's all there is to that.

- We hope you've enjoyed meeting a few businesses that are proud to call Montana home.

I'm Noah Epps and on behalf of the rest of the student producers here at the University of Montana School of Journalism, thanks for watching.

(bright music) (bright music continues) - [Narrator] This University of Montana School of Journalism student production was made possible with support from the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans, and by the University of Montana.

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