Welcome to the Ruby Valley

You're about to enter the virtual world of the Ruby Valley located in Southwestern Montana.  The Ruby Valley is nestled between two primary mountain ranges, the Tobacco Roots and the Ruby, with the McCarty, Greenhorn and Brazil ranges completing the outline of our gem.  Sheridan, Twin Bridges are the primary business centers with banking and postal service as well as a variety of restaurants and stores.  The smaller towns of Silver Star, Alder and Laurin have a grocery store, restaurant, gas station, tavern or other commercial enterprises.  Visitors find a very friendly, helpful atmosphere in all of our towns and each town has unique qualities and special stories.  Ranching has been the primary economic resource for over 100 years.  Fishing and hunting services are growing quickly as the blue ribbon trout fishing and mountain game attract visitors wishing to escape the urban rumpus.  With the installation of broadband systems, the Ruby Valley has recently attracted a few small technology related businesses.  

This site offers information typically found on a Chamber of Commerce portal - business directory, community calendar, and Chamber membership information.  However, for many of our business directory listings, there is a mini-website with photos and very detailed information about the business.  Of course, links to the member's websites are also provided.  The Community Calendar includes information for many different organizations and activities in the Ruby Valley including the Ruby Valley Conservation District, the Ruby Watershed Council, activities at Sheridan and Twin Bridges schools (excluding the sports events), art shows, well child clinics, town council and school board meetings, events at the Madison County Fairgrounds and much more.  

In addition to the typical Chamber information, we've provided some detailed historical information about the Ruby Valley organized by area, subject and time period.  The Interactive Map shows the mountains, rivers, fishing accesses, and interesting landmarks of the valley.  Click on an icon for information about the location.  The Agricultural pages provide tips and resources for our ranchers. 

We have endeavored to provide a wealth of links and information for visitors to the Ruby Valley.  We know it takes awhile to get to our corner of the world and it helps to know what you'll find when you arrive.  Some of these pages are still in development but we hope that what we have provided so far will entice you to consider stopping on your way through or making the Ruby Valley your vacation destination. 

You may be one of our frequent visitors who has decided that the Ruby Valley is the place you want to be every day.  If so, please be sure to investigate the Community Profile area which has information on schools, local organizations, city services, new business and employment resources, churches, and general relocation tips.  The menu on the right column of most pages has links to our community weblogs, county website, emergency phone numbers, and other important local websites and information.  

If you would like to contact the Chamber to request information about the Ruby Valley, offer suggestions and provide additional information about the local history, geography, and activities, please click on the Communications link at the bottom of the page. 

What's Happening?

Floating Flotillas and Fish Fantasies Post Parade Activities
Cowpie Golf Tournament & Scavenger Hunt

Bring your golf clubs to the river parade?  You bet!  The first annual Twin Bridges Cowpie Golf Tournament will be held in conjunction with the Floating Flotillas and Fish Fantasies Festival on July 24th.  Tee-off will be at 2pm.  It will be a two-person, best ball scramble and teams will be set off in a shotgun start in groups of four.  The cost is $15 per person or $30 per team.  This tournament is restricted to persons 16 or older.

Each golfer will be able to take only three clubs.  Holes/putting greens will be designed an sponsored by Twin Bridges businesses.  There will be many prizes along the way and first, second and third place teams will receive monetary awards!  The tournament will be held on the Madison County Fairgrounds and across the highway at Jessen Park.  Please see the Community Calendar for more information. 

The Scavenger Hunt will start at 1pm in front of the Blue Anchor Restaurant.  This year's Hunt will focus on local information and history.  Teams of three will search for answers to specific questions.  There is no entry fee.  Prizes will be given for 1st place ($75), second place ($50) and third place ($25).  A $40 gift certificate to the Blue Anchor will also be awarded for the team with the most creative name.  The Hunt will end at 1:45pm.  This has always been a fun competition for the kids. 

Floating Flotillas and Fish Fantasies 5K Run/Walk

Come early for the Floating Flotillas and Fish Fantasies Festival on July 24th and participate in the 5K Run/Walk!  Registration/check-in will be from 8:30am to 8:55am.  The race will start at 9am.  The entry fee is $15 if you would like a commemorative Floating Flotillas and Fish Fantasies 5K Run/Walk t-shirt (you bet!).  Top finishers will receive a prize!  Please click here for the entry form and map of the course. 

Floating Flotillas Parade Entry Form

Last year's Floating Flotillas and Fish Fantasies Parade was an inspiration and Twin Bridges is hoping to have even more creative and amusing floats for this year's event on July 24th.  So get your team together, find something that floats (boats, inner tubes, water wings....) and have fun devising the 2010 winning entries.  You can download get more information and the entry form by clicking here. 

More Floating Flotillas News

Stop by Novich Insurance, Ruby Valley National Bank, Three Rivers Cenex, the Blue Anchor or the Lost Cabin Bar to buy a rubber duck (or 2 or 3 or 4!) for the rubber ducky race to be held immediately following the Floating Flotillas parade.  The winner of the race will receive a substantial cash prize!  Remaining proceeds from the race are used to support the Twin Bridges Museum. You do not need to be present at the race to win.  

Summer Events in the Ruby Valley

It's almost summer and everyone is always very busy with gardening, fishing, camping, boating, and the plentiful outdoor activities of our area.  Highlights of our summer season include the local festivals - Sheridan Festival, Floating Flotillas and Fish Fantasies in Twin Bridges,  and Alder Daze. These festivals are very important to our communities.  They bring us together to celebrate and they attract visitors who spend money in our area. But these festivals don't just magically happen.  There are volunteers who spend hours planning, procuring, and following up the details to ensure that our festivals are even better every year.  These volunteers could use just a little bit of your help - they aren't asking for every weekend of your summer, just a some of your time.  Contacts Aaron Griffin at 596-0187 to help with Floating Flotillas.  You can call Macel at Booze & Buns (842-5790) to participate in the Sheridan Festival.  Mary Smail at South West Septic (596-7854) is the go-to person to find out how to help with Alder Daze.  Help make it happen!

Madison County from a Statistical Perspective

The Ennis, Virginia City and Ruby Valley Chambers recently hosted a special evening devoted to the issue of "Doing Business in a Slow Economy". The keynote speaker, Dr. Larry Swanson, presented an enlightening collection of slides which show our county and our country from a variety of economic perspectives. The information on these slides will be helpful to our planning boards, school administrators, community foundations (Horizons, Ruby Valley Foundation), city councils, hospital administrators, environmental planners and local businesses.  This is a terrific resource for community members looking for something more substantial than the rear view mirror and a crystal ball to help determine how best to plan for a prosperous future for all residents of the Ruby Valley.  Here's the link for the slide show file (9MB). Please save the file to your computer (it's clean - no bugs), and then click the file name to run the program.   

Sights & Sounds of Summer in the Ruby Valley

Take a video tour of Robber's Roost with MontanaPictures.net.  The tour includes some nice photos of Ruby Reservoir and the Ruby River.  Just down the road, MontanaPictures.net also has a fun tour of the Music Hall at Nevada City.

Connecting to Our Weblogs

There is a ongoing problem connecting to the Sheridan and Twin Bridges weblogs.  The easiest solution is to switch to the Firefox web browser.  It's easy to download and at least as safe as Internet Explorer.  After you install Firefox, when you click on a link for a weblog, if you are not delivered to the weblog page, click "Try Again".  It has always worked on the second try. 

Another good solution, for the more technically adventurous, is to change the DNS addresses for your Internet Protocol.  The Preferred DNS connection is 216.129.232.14.  The Alternate DNS connection is 216.129.224.49.  This information was provided by technical support at 3 Rivers Communications and they can assist you in making this modification to your network settings (800-796-4567).  

Ruby Valley Buy Local Blog

Members of the Greater Ruby Valley Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture and our communities have been working on a new Buy Local campaign and some terrific ideas are being generated at the meetings.  Please see the community calendar for the date of the next meeting.  Sarah Clark-Miller has built a very attractive and informative Buy Local weblog for the project.  You can find it at - http://rubyvalleybuylocal.blogspot.com/, Way to go Sarah!! 

Join Us For Lunch

The next meeting of the Greater Ruby Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture will be at noon on September 7th at the Ruby Valley National Bank in Sheridan.  There will not be a meeting in August.  

Please feel free to bring you lunch and munch it during the meeting.  

Community Calendar Events

 Do you need some help spreading the news about a local event in the Ruby Valley?  Please contact Deb McNeill at Tobacco Root Graffics  with the details.  She will need time (beginning and ending), location, description, and contact information.