Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 6 8 I 'M WRITING TO YOU FROM A HAMMOCK NESTLED BETWEEN TWO GIGANTIC COTTONWOODS OLDER THAN MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER, ROCKING GENTLY IN A REFRESHING EARLY SUMMER BREEZE. I do my best work in hammocks, and there's nothing better than hammock weather in Montana. The computer resting in my lap is wirelessly connected to the internet, and with a few keystrokes, I could have an artificial intelligence write a publisher's note in 15 seconds flat; it'll likely take me closer to an hour from first draft to press-ready. But I don't. And that reminds me that there's something I've been meaning to tell you about this magazine. In 2015, I started writing a novel that turned into The Obsolescence Trilogy. It's a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel about an intelligence explosion that seemed far-fetched when I wrote it. It doesn't anymore. This was before ChatGPT. Before the LLMs started crawling into our phones and into almost every piece of media content on the planet. But not Distinctly Montana. When AI started becoming a tool that people were us- ing to generate content, we drew a hard line that every dot and tittle in Distinctly Montana, and every single photograph, would be made by actual people. No artifi- cial intelligence in these pages. You may find a stray typo (even our excellent human proofreader misses one now and then). You may find an awkward sentence. And that's the point. We're humans, producing a human magazine for other humans. We use technology in nearly every other corner of this operation. Just not the words and the pictures. The Best of Montana nomination phase wrapped up with over 32,000 nominations, and Teresa G. from Miles City won the first $500 drawing for her nomination of Stockman Bank. Now the vot- ing phase is officially open. Get out there and vote for your fa- vorite businesses, with another $500 waiting for one lucky voter. Every vote is another chance to win. Thank you to our advertisers. Without them, Distinctly Montana would not exist. Please support them and be sure to tell them that you saw them in our pages. We would be so grateful to you for that! Happy summer to you, wherever you may be when you read this! A N O T E F R O M T H E P U B L I S H E R P U B L I S H E R CHRISTOPHER MUHLENFELD, PUBLISHER chris@distinctlymontana.com ©2002-2026. Distinctly Montana is owned and published by Thunderstruck Media LLC, a Montana company. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in any form, in whole or in part, without our written permission is prohibited. Distinctly Montana welcomes freelance contributions—please contact us to inquire about submitting your work. DISTINCTLY MONTANA IS DESIGNED AND PRINTED IN THE USA. Published by Thunderstruck Media LLC • 280 West Kagy Blvd, STE D286 • Bozeman, Montana 59715 www.distinctlymontana.com • info@distinctlymontana.com • (406) 600-7660 WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS! The paper content of this publication has been certifiably reforested via PrintReleaf – the world's first platform to measure paper consumption and automate reforestation across a global network of reforestation projects. LEARN MORE AT PRINTRELEAF.COM photo: flickr.com/nicholas_t | CC BY PUBLISHERS Christopher & Pattra Muhlenfeld EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joseph Shelton ART DIRECTOR Robert Rath COPY AND PROOF EDITOR Shannon Page SALES EXECUTIVES Larry Sem, Jesi Donaldson and Toni Savarese PRODUCTION MANAGER Juliana Widman PRINT MANAGEMENT Pam Koehler, Koehler + Co. fb.com/distinctlymontana instagram.com/distinctlymontana twitter.com/distinctlymt S U B S C R I B E S U B S C R I B E T O D AY T O D AY W E D E L I V E R ! W E D E L I V E R ! SUBSCRIBE TO SUBSCRIBE TO DISTINCTLY MONTANA DISTINCTLY MONTANA MAGAZINE MAGAZINE DISTINCTLYMONTANA.COM/SUBSCRIBE SEND A CHECK FOR THE AMOUNT MATCHING THE SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD YOU'D LIKE: 1 YEAR - $39.95 2 YEARS - $69.95 3 YEARS - $99.95 MAIL CHECKS TO: DISTINCTLY MONTANA PO BOX 84, BOZEMAN MT 59771 TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE, CALL 406-600-7660 TM SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE WIN $500 VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE BUSINESS FOR A CHANCE TO 2026 BESTo f M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F

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