Philipsburg, Montana, earns Sunset magazine’s Travel Award for "Best Municipal Makeover"

Southwest Montana town featured in publication’s June issue.

The small Southwest Montana town of Philipsburg http://www.philipsburgmt.com has been honored by Sunset magazine for its hard work and perseverance in turning its once-dying community into a vibrant municipality worthy of national recognition. On newsstands and at sunset.com today, Sunset’s June issue recognizes Philipsburg as the "Best Municipal Makeover" in the magazines’ first-ever Sunset Travel Awards.

Located in the scenic Flint Creek Valley in the shadows of the Pintler Mountains, where once-bustling mining operations made fortunes, the magazine notes Philipsburg’s hands-on approach to use its past as a source of inspiration to create a brighter future, writing, "We salute the civic creativity and can-do spirit that makes Philipsburg a fun place to visit and a model for reeling small towns everywhere."

The Sunset Travel Awards were created to honor excellence and innovation in the tourism industry across the 13 Western states, British Columbia and Alberta. From 200 entrants Sunset’s advisory panel designated winners in 20 juried categories. Philipsburg was announced as a finalist in the Best Municipal Makeover category in February and in the final round of judging was selected over the much larger urban centers of Alameda, Sacramento and Ventura, California, and Reno, Nevada.

"At Sunset we are always on the hunt for great experiences and venues for our travel-hungry Western readers to visit," said Peggy Northrup, Sunset Publishing editor-in-chief. "This year we reached beyond our staff to a stellar lineup of noted travel professionals and asked them to help us uncover a five-star list of ‘bests.’"

Philipsburg’s reinvention began in the early 1990s when a few community members recognized the town’s potential as a tourist destination. Founded in 1867 by silver miners, Philipsburg’s early history was a story of boom and bust as local mines opened and closed and mineral markets spiked and crashed. Ranching and logging had carried the community through down times, but by the early 1990s the community pulse was fading and many businesses were failing.

The makeover started simply with brush strokes — an effort to paint and restore Philipsburg’s 19th-century Victorian buildings, shells of its mining glory days. Soon after, local entrepreneurs set up shop, attracting tourists traveling along the Pintler Scenic Loop (state Highway 1) and nearby Skalkaho Pass to turn into town.

Today the Sapphire Gallery http://www.sapphiregallery.com/ and the Sweet Palace https://www.sweetpalace.com/ , one of the West’s largest candy stores, may be the town’s biggest attractions with 115,000 visitors each year but they are surrounded by a bustling main street filled with restaurants, gift stores, gem mining operations, restored hotels and B&Bs, real estate agencies and the new Philipsburg Brewing Company http://www.philipsburgbrewingcompany.com/ .

And the town continues to honor its past. Philipsburg is home to Montana’s oldest working jail and its oldest continually operating theatre — today the Opera House Theatre features live performances each summer. Granite County Museum continues to expand in its adopted home, the old Courtney Hotel. And the community recently restored its historic elementary school, the oldest operating elementary school building in the state.

"Philipsburg’s organic revitalization is a shining example of what hard work and vision can build," said Sarah Bannon, executive director of Southwest Montana Tourism Region http://southwestmt.com/ . "The community has created a destination where visitors flock and where families want to put down roots."

The town has dreams of much more. The Philipsburg Rotary Club, which built an NHL-sized outdoor ice rink for the community and visitors, is now working to ensure that younger generations discover this Southwest Montana community. Through its website http://www.liveinpburg.com and other efforts, Rotary aims to attract young professionals and their families to live and work in Philipsburg. The club also has plans to build on nearby recreational opportunities, including Discovery Ski Area’s new mountain bike park, and create a bike skills park and trail system.

As local filmmaker and Rotarian Jim Jenner is quoted in Sunset, "Philipsburg’s reinvention is 25 years of small victories."

"We have so much going for us," he said. "We live surrounded by historic buildings in this beautiful mountain valley, and we have community members, young and old, who care deeply about our future. We can’t miss having a lasting impact on visitors and those who call Pburg home."

Learn more about Philipsburg at http://www.philipsburgmt.com and about the region of Southwest Montana –filled with charming communities, stunning scenery and a treasure trove of Old West historic attractions — at http://www.southwestmt.com.