Free Carriage Rides Highlight Weekend Downtown Missoula Mirth

Maybe the "look" is still lacking without much snow, but it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

And there are reasons to celebrate galore in western Montana. And if a horse-drawn carriage ride has a happy holiday sound to you, you'll want to get in line sometime during the next three weekends in downtown Missoula.

Thanks to Out West Wagon Rides of Victor, visitors to downtown Missoula can enjoy free wagon rides Saturdays and Sundays on December 7, 8, 14, 15, 21 and 22, from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Rides are first-come, first-served. Ride pick-up will be on East Pine near the Missoula Art Museum Park, at Pattee and Pine.

Out West Wagon Rides horses are used for wagon rides, farm work, and a few competitions each year. The horses spend plenty of time going out on pleasure drives, harrowing and spreading manure, and also serve as lesson horses for clinics and workshops. They are available for private outings, so check them out if you think your friends and family would enjoy something like that.

LIGHTS, SANTA, ACTION!

Lots of other family-friendly festivities are happening this Saturday, December 7, downtown. Santa will be at the Missoula Public Library from 11:00 - 3:00 p.m. Children must be in line no later than 2:15 for an audience with the jolly big guy. That's because he has to check on his reindeer at 3:00 p.m. sharp!

The Holiday Stroll runs from 4:00 - 7:00. You can view the lovely floats parked along Higgins from Broadway north to the Red XXXXs.

Also from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m., it's the Winter Makers Market from Spruce Street north to the Red XXXX’s

Finally, the lighting of the Downtown Holiday Tree will take place at 6:00 p.m., to add to the merriment of a "Holiday on Higgins."