Wildlife museum sets annual banquet and auction

The Blaine County Museum is holding its annual banquet April 7 at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Chinook, with ticket holders getting a tour of the museum at 5 p.m., an hour before the banquet starts with an art and auction preview at 6 p.m.

The museum opened in 2009 after nearly two decades of work that began when Blaine Bank of Montana in 1991 donated the Blaine Theater building to the project. Volunteers worked to raise funds, remodel the building, collect items for exhibits and hire a team to build the exhibits through the grand opening, and work still continues on expansion.

The latest exhibit, "The Foothills," completed by Acorn Exhibits last spring, features animals living in the foothills of mountains in Montana. All exhibits display the mounted wildlife in replicas of their natural environment.

Other exhibits include Peaks to Plains, depicting animals living in different terrain in Montana from the high mountains to the prairie; The Wetlands, showing animals from the foothills of the Bear Paw Mountains south of Chinook; the Bufflao Jump, which includes a bison suspended in midair; the Moose Grizzly Encounter exhibit; the Swift Fox exhibit, and the Nocturnal display.

The displays include sound effects and narrations, and the museum also includes a gift shop.

The fundraiser April 7 costs $40 a ticket, which includes the tour, art and auction preview, dinner at 7 p.m. and the auction after the meal.

Tickets are available from wildlife museum board members, at First Bank of Montana in Chinook and at Valley Furniture in Havre.