Missoula author, musician's 'Finding Montana' event in Havre set for Aug. 19

Hi-Line Arts Council and Humanities Montana will be presenting a multimedia program Thursday, Aug. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Little Theatre in Cowan Hall on the Montana State University-Northern campus featuring Montana author and musician Ednor Therriault.

“Finding Montana – From Alzada to the Yaak, to Culbertson and Back,” is part of Humanities Montana’s “Montana Conversations” series.

“Finding Montana is basically a kind of a wrap up of all the traveling around Montana, I’ve done researching several books, and magazine articles and blog posts, covering Montana culture and history and just kind of what are some of the most interesting things I’ve found in the state that I really like to share,” Therriault told Havre Daily News.

Therriault will narrate an entertaining slide and video collection, sharing his experiences from traveling around the state over the last couple of decades.

“I travel around the state, and give this program kind of showing people in one part of the state what’s going on in the rest of the state,” he added.

Therriault will also be performing music as part of the event, performing original songs as his alter ego, Bob Wire. Some of his songs include “Mr. Bubble Saved My Marriage”.

“I am a journalist, and a humorist and a fiction writer. You know, a lot of that plays into this. I’m a freelance guy, I’m also a musician, and graphic designer. So I think it’s kind of a unique lifestyle. And one of my bigger passions is just researching Montana and learning about Montana, and I’ve kind of become an accidental historian in the process,” Therriault said.

His first book was 2009’s “Montana Curiosities,” which the release says went on to become the biggest seller in publisher Globe Pequot’s “Curiosities” series. His other books include “Haunted Montana”, “Myths and Legends of Yellowstone”, and 2019’s “Seven Montanas”.

At the moment, Therriault is working on “Big Sky, Big Parks,” which explores Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, and Montana in between.

His magazine work includes “A Mermaid’s Tale,” his account of swimming with the mermaids.

A Hi-Line Arts Council release said Therriault logged more than 20,000 miles of Montana roads while researching stories for his books, magazine articles and songs, describing “Finding Montana” as “a breezy hour of history, humor, music and personal observations.”

Therriault said he is excited about being able to put on the “Finding Montana” as an in-person event saying he had done one of these events virtually before but the experience was “a one-way street.”

“We all have the same passions and interests and just being able to share my experiences and stories and images with people who were in the same room, it’s a huge relief to get back to this and it kind of reignited my passion to go out and learn more about Montana,” he said.