Bootlegger Casino: 608 Highway 200, Lincoln, MT

At the Bootlegger Casino and Restaurant, fine food and a family atmosphere are the top priority. Prime Rib Fridays are a sell-out, and it’s not unusual, owner Vicki Krause says, to fold over 1,000 tacos on “Taco Tuesdays.”

Open from 7 a.m. to around 10 p.m., this family business offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with drinks, games—and two popular summer ‘poker runs’. “We serve up a lot of Caesars and Bloody Marys,” Krause says, “and we have a game area for kids.”

If Krause is late for work, she’s got a great excuse: a nearby herd of 250 elk sometimes blocks Stemple Road.

Teresa G’s Flower Shop: 1702 Highway 200, Lincoln, MT

“All I know is how to buy and sell things,” Teresa Garland says with a smile. That’s not exactly true. Though running a successful business is in Teresa’s blood, she’s also blessed with a great sense of design, an energetic outlook, and a love for Lincoln, Montana.

Teresa G’s Flower Shop is an eclectic gift store that features local pottery and jewelry, huckleberry chocolates and even USGS topographical maps. Come spring, there are organic seeds and bedding plants along with hand-tied fishing flies.

“It’s a happy job,” says Teresa, who shares her building with her sister Becky, who owns a real estate and construction company, “People are always glad to get or give flowers.”

Coyote Coffee: 528 Highway 200, Lincoln, MT

Kristin and Aaron Birkholtz don’t have much of a commute. This husband and wife team live within shouting distance of Coyote Coffee, a small drive-through place with a big reputation for coffee, ice cream treats and smoothies in Lincoln, Montana.

With a customer base that’s split about 50/50 between tourists and locals, Kristin says she still gets inquiries about Lincoln’s most infamous resident, Ted Kaczynski.”People want to get directions to the Unabomber’s cabin,” Kirsten says, “even though it was moved out of Montana years ago.”

Kristen’s favorite part of the family business is her customers. “They make my day, when they pull up and talk to me.”

All of the clothing and jewelry, except wedding ring are from Cobblestone
Clothing Co. in Helena, MT.

Shelley Newbury Hoovestal

Text by Claire Baiz • Photography by Jacqui Smith

Quarter-sawn oak? A live-edge slab? It doesn’t matter if your project is a houseful or a handful, Chris and Susan Crocker would like to help.

Text by Claire Baiz • Photography by Phil Procopio

It figures that a guy who graduated from the school of hard knocks wound up working with wood, and the gal who hired him, years ago, is now splitting time between two careers.

Chris and Susan Crocker’s business, The Good Wood Guys, located in the old Hodges Plumbing complex off 8th Ave. North, serves contractors, hobbyists and homeowners.

Chris, a trained millwright, machinist and fabricator, palms a photo of a bulbous, barky lump. “Production mills don’t want this wood…It will make spectacular oak burl,” he beams. “We specialize in the unique and different, mill direct.”

Susan, who worked in advertising and retail management, met Chris when she hired him as an archery expert at Scheel’s. Years later, they reconnected and re-educated themselves. Susan still teaches English at Great Falls High, but Chris is too busy to teach college chemistry.

With ash, cherry, oak, hackberry and other hardwoods stacked and leaning against every wall, wrapped chocolates in an open jar, and a mahogany-brown mascot, this is the best treehouse in town.

Shannon Pippin sits on her porch swing outside her Great Falls home.

Lawton, Oklahoma to Great Falls, Montana

Text by Claire Baiz • Photography by Phil Procopio