On a Tuesday night at 7:30, an HO-scale train comes around the Gardiner Loop inside the Livingston Depot Center. The layout is a model of Southwest Montana built by the Livingston Model Railroad Club. Anyone can come in and watch it run, and it's free. Those Tuesday train nights are the quietest thing on the Depot's winter calendar. They're also the one thing that runs all the way from October into January.
Between now and Thanksgiving weekend, the biggest community nights on that calendar happen at one address, 200 West Park Street. Most of them raise money for something. One pays for the Depot building, one goes to the town's soup kitchen, and the last one, on Nov. 28, is free.
Three November Dates, One Address
Here's how the Depot's November lines up:
- Friday, Nov. 13: the Depot Foundation's Wine & Beer Tasting
- Friday, Nov. 20: Dan Bailey's Pray for Snow celebration, the second night of Cold Snap
- Saturday, Nov. 28: Light Up Livingston, in the Depot and the park next to it
The trains run on the Tuesdays and Saturdays in between. Nov. 3 is the exception, when the club closes for track maintenance.
That's three Friday and Saturday nights in a row, give or take a week. Each one is run by a different group, and every group picked the same building.
The Tasting Pays for the Building
The Livingston Depot Foundation's Wine & Beer Tasting is in its 21st year. It's the Foundation's signature fundraiser, and the money goes toward preserving the Depot itself. The Foundation says the Depot has served for more than four decades as both a museum and a community center.
It runs Friday, Nov. 13, in two parts:
- Sneak peek, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.: passed hors d'oeuvres from local chefs, first pours of regional craft beer and specialty wine, a Depot wine glass to take home and a first look at the silent auction
- Main event, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: tastings, the silent auction, the wine pull and music from the Jazz Nectar Trio
Tickets are $50 for the main event. Adding the sneak peek hour brings it to $75. The Foundation recommends buying ahead because only a limited number of tickets are sold at the door. This year the main event adds more non-alcoholic options, including a Depot Signature Fauxtail. The wines are picked by Gourmet Cellar, which sits right on West Park Street.
A Week Later, the Money Goes to Loaves & Fishes
Cold Snap splits across two buildings a few blocks apart. On Thursday, Nov. 19, the films show at Empire Twin Theatre, 106 North Second Street, at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. Buy them at Dan Bailey's and tell them which show you want. Katabatic Brewing hosts a pre- and post-party from 3:30 to 9 p.m. Dan Bailey's describes the program as outdoor storytelling centered on nature, human-powered adventure, environmental justice and inclusivity.
Friday, Nov. 20, moves back to the Depot. The Pray for Snow celebration starts at 6 p.m. and is free to get in. There's live music, dancing, a raffle, a silent auction, and beer and food from Follow Yer' Nose BBQ, Gil's Goods and Neptune's Brewery. According to Dan Bailey's community events page, all proceeds go to Loaves & Fishes, and the shop wrote that "Last year we raised a record amount."
So Pray for Snow costs nothing to walk into, and the money comes from the raffle tickets and auction bids. The Tasting a week earlier works the other way. You buy a ticket at the door, and the auction is extra.
Light Up Livingston Spills Into the Park
The third Depot weekend is the one built for families. Light Up Livingston runs Saturday, Nov. 28, from 4 to 7 p.m. It's free, and it's put on by a coalition that includes the local tourism and downtown business districts, the convention and visitors bureau, the Holiday Lights Committee, the Depot Center, Livingston Parks and Recreation, and LINKS for Learning.
| Time | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| 4 p.m. | Depot Park | Candy cane hunt |
| Afternoon | Inside the Depot | Kids' crafts, holiday characters, model trains |
| Afternoon | Depot Park | Hayrides |
| 5:30 p.m. | Depot Park | Tree lighting with Santa |
| After the lighting | Inside the Depot | Santa visits |
The event itself is free, but food and drinks cost money. Food trucks are lined up, the Depot serves hot chocolate, and the organizers list beer and wine at Caviste. The model railroad club also has its usual Saturday night run that day at 7:30, just as Light Up wraps.
Nov. 28 is also Small Business Saturday, the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. Downtown businesses run a scavenger hunt with prizes that day. You can work through the shops on Main and Second during the day and walk to the Depot for the 5:30 tree lighting.
The Newest Neighbor on West Park Street
The wine bar on the Light Up list is new to the block. The Livingston Enterprise reported that Caviste opened recently next door to Gourmet Cellar in the Depot Center block, under owner John Potenberg. According to the Enterprise, Potenberg is a Livingston native. He learned wine working at Gourmet Cellar, went on to manage the shop, took over the lease on the space next door and bought a beer-and-wine license. He has also completed Level 2 training with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. The paper adds that Calvin Fehrenkamp, the friend Potenberg worked alongside at Gourmet Cellar, later bought that store from former owner Deb Endres.
That gives one stretch of West Park Street a wine shop, a wine bar run by someone the shop trained, and a historic depot whose biggest fundraiser serves wine the shop picks. Explore Livingston lists Caviste's hours as 4 to 10 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. On Nov. 13, Nov. 20 and Nov. 28, that means there's somewhere to go next door before or after the Depot event.
The Trains Keep Running Past New Year's
Once the tree is lit, the Depot calendar goes back to the Livingston Model Railroad Club. The club runs trains on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and the first Tuesday of the month is set aside for track maintenance. In December, that means no trains on Dec. 1. Public nights are Dec. 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26 and 29.
The Depot's offices close from Christmas Eve through Jan. 1. The calendar still shows the club running trains on Saturday, Dec. 26, and Tuesday, Dec. 29, both inside that closure. If you have family in town for the holidays and want something to do with them between Christmas and New Year's, there it is. The club welcomes all ages, and the layout includes the Gardiner Loop.
What Fills the Calendar Away From the Depot
Downtown and the Shane Center pick up the season from there. The Shane Center's events are at 415 East Lewis Street.
- Nov. 6 to 15: Shrek the Musical at the Shane Center, with evening shows and Sunday matinees
- Thursday before Thanksgiving, which is Nov. 19 this year: Holiday Open House at Catherine Lane & Friends, 120 South 2nd Street, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It falls on the same day as the Cold Snap screenings a few blocks away.
- Dec. 4, 4 to 8 p.m.: the Livingston Christmas Stroll downtown
- First Saturday in December: Livingston's Holiday Market at the Civic Center
- Dec. 11 to 20: Holiday Vaudeville at the Shane Center, with evening shows and Sunday matinees
- Dec. 23, 6 to 8:30 p.m.: a free Livingston Film Series screening of The Polar Express at the Shane Center
December belongs to Main Street and the Shane Center. November belongs to the Depot. Explore Livingston keeps the full annual events calendar, and the Depot posts its live calendar, including the train nights.
At Small Dog Realty, we'll be counting down to the 5:30 tree lighting on Nov. 28 along with everyone else, and part of what we earn goes to Montana animal shelters, so we know how much a good fundraiser night means to a small town. If the Depot's holiday calendar has you thinking about your own spot near West Park Street, ask us for a home valuation and we'll give you a straight local answer.
