Doug Maas - Broker - Property Manager - Great Falls Montana Real Estate Blog

Great Falls Symphony

Great Falls Montana has been home to the Great Falls Symphony since 1959. Performing in the Mansfield Center the Symphony Consists of:

• Orchestra and Symphonic Choir - composed of a 75 member Orchestra and a 90 Voice Symphonic Choir.
• Cascade Quartet - highest quality chamber music.
  
• Chinook Winds - a traditional wind quintet.
• Great Falls Youth Orchestra - 75 young musicians from public, private and home schools.

The Symphony season opener "Patriots, Citizens and Soldiers" pays tribute to the anniversary of the Civil War and those who served. The opener is Saturday October 1st at 7:30.

You can find Ticket information here.

The season Brochure is available here.

Montana Air National Guard to keep F-15's until late 2012

The National Guard announced Friday a slight delay in the transfer of the Montana Air National Guard's F-15's to the California National Guard. Apparently the Environmental Impact Statement in Fresno, CA is not complete.

This is good news to those of us who Love to see the F-15's Flying overhead. Since moving to Great Falls in 1990 I have been able to watch F-16's and now lately F-15's flying their exercises.

My office is close to the Airport and my Window faces the Northeast end of the Airport, so almost daily I get my own air show of F-15's flying by and landing.

It will be a sad day when they depart for their next mission in California.

Many here in Great Falls have been working hard to keep this Flying Mission at MANG, but so far have been unsuccessful. MANG is expected to make a transition to a cargo mission in the coming years as Great Falls is the preferred location for for C-27J transport aircraft.

A 30% reduction in personnel is possible with this mission change. Currently the base has 900 personnel, of which 300 are full time. To make up for the personnel loss, other missions are being considered.

Great Falls Real Estate - Pure Montana Rustic Horse Property

If you need space, privacy and room for horses then take a look at this 5 Bedroom, 2.5 Bath 5,150 sq ft property, located just outside the city limits of Great Falls with 3 acreage options.

You will have Amazing views from the Huge windows in the exposed truss Great Room of this Rustic Cedar sided Ranch. Enjoy a relaxing fire in the gas Moss Rock fireplace.

There is nearly unlimited Cabinet space and Counter tops in the large updated Kitchen. Unbelievable walk-through Pantry. Formal Dining room with slider to the wrap around Deck.

Main level Master suite. Updated Master bath with Granite Countertops, Heated floors, Travertine tile and custom tiled double shower with seat. Large office off Master suite can also be used as a Bedroom.

Updated walk-out lower level with huge family room with woodstove, New bathroom, workshop and 3 more bedrooms.

Unbelievable storage with a 3 car garage and a Huge heated shop wired with 220V for woodworking.

Buy with 6.01 acres for $429,500, with Barn and outbuildings on 13.82 acres for $525,500 or $575,500 for all 28 acres.

See the full listing here.

Great Falls Montana - Bus Transit

When it comes to getting around town, most Montanan's are pretty independent. We like having our own vehicles and the convenience that comes with them, and with little traffic, driving around Great Falls is usually pretty easy. We even now hold the title of the City with the Shortest Commute in the U.S. But with gas prices hovering around $4.00 a gallon and vehicle payments, insurance and maintenance costs on the rise, some folks are looking for alternative means of getting around.

Because we could have snow on the ground for up to 6 months of the year, motorcycles, scooters and bicycles are only a partial solution.

Even though Great Falls is not a large city, we still have big city conveniences like cabs and a complete bus transit system called the Great Falls Transit District.

If you are looking for an inexpensive way to get around town, the transit system just might be your ticket. With 7 different routes, you should be able to find a route that takes you right where you want to go with a limited amount of transfers.

Pretty much the whole city is covered from the Airport all the way to Malmstrom Air Force Base.

This system map shows where each route goes and gives you the route schedule.

Fares for an adult are $1.00 with students being $.75 and Seniors and Disabled riding for only $.50. Children 5 and under ride for Free. Punch cards are also available for convenience and give you one bonus ride with the purchase. If you are planning a day of riding around town a Day Pass can be purchase for $4.00

For those riders that plan on riding consistently during the month, a Month Pass is the way to go. Regular monthly passes are only $30.00 with discounts for students and seniors.

With a tank of gas in a small car costing nearly $70 to fill, a monthly unlimited ride pass of $30 seems like a steal. Calculate no car payments, maintenance or insurance and it really makes sense. This might be a good solution for a single car family where both adults work different hours. The transit runs M - F from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm and 9:30 am- 5:30 pm on Saturdays, so you can even use it on your day off.

Great Falls Montana - Home of the Shortest Commute in the U.S.

It's Official. Great Falls now owns the title as The City with the Shortest Commute Time in the United States. According to the Census Bureau report "Commuting in the United States: 2009" released Thursday, on average, Great Falls drivers need only 14.2 minutes to commute to work.

The average US commute time - about 25 minutes. New York Metro area workers average 34.6 minutes to get to their jobs.

Of course those of us who live in Great Falls already know that you can get just about anywhere in town in around 15 minutes. Now the whole country knows it too. We don't have a "rush hour" in Great Falls, maybe just a few busier times during the day. Even with around 58,000 people in the city, and two rivers to cross, there are still plenty of good roads to make your way around town quickly.

To put this into perspective, if we are 11 minutes each way below the national average, that is 22 minutes a day. If you work 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, that adds up to 5500 minutes a year, or over 91 hours. That gives us more free time to hunt, fish, golf, boat and whatever other fun things we decide to do with our time saved on commuting. I feel sorry for those folks that have to commute 30+ minutes each way.

Missoula, another Montana city averaged around 15.8 minutes.

Just another reason I am glad to live in Montana.