Under the Big Sky 2026: Festival-Goers on Why They Made the Trip to Whitefish, Montana

Under the Big Sky Festival 2026 brought music fans to Whitefish, Montana from as far as Denver and Billings - and Daily Inter Lake reporter Taylor Inman caught up with them on the festival grounds Friday afternoon. In this Side Tracks episode, festival-goers share what brought them to Montana, who they're most excited to see, and the packing lists they swear by for surviving a full day on the lawn.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:12

Alright, what's your name?

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Brady. Uh, where are you from? I am from Denver, Colorado.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Oh, awesome. Very cool. How'd you find out about the festival?

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Uh I had some friends come out maybe four or five years ago, raved about it, uh, told me they had a great time, and we've had it on our bucket list for a while, so finally made it out. First time.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Nice, very cool. Who are you most excited to see this weekend?

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Uh Zach Top. Uh, as you can see on the hat, uh, we love following him around. So uh the whole festival looks like an awesome lineup, but uh tomorrow night's gonna be our our cherry at top.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Yeah, totally. I like Zack Top a lot. He reminds me of a young Alan Jackson.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

He sure does. There's there's rumors out there that he might be Alan Jackson's son. If into that, it's kind of a fun little uh thread that you can unwind.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

It's a rabbit hole I'm gonna go down later. What else are you doing while you're up here?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Oh, I spent a couple days in the park. So uh went up and did going to the Sun Road and then did the Highline uh hike and glacier overlook, so kind of checking all the boxes up here. First time in Glacier and Whitefish, so gotta see it all.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Yeah. Well, you're from Colorado, so you're used to the western scene, but being up here, what's like the most quintessential like Montana thing that you've seen so far?

SPEAKER_00 1:18

I mean, it's it's the big sky. You you turn turn the lights off in the tent at night and you look up and like holy crap, we don't have these stars in Denver. There's no way that this is the same sky we're looking at uh when we go to sleep in Denver. So uh that's the true experience out here. And under the big sky, you guys got a right.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Yeah, definitely. We're very lucky. What can I say? You know? Um, all right. Well, they spilled the beans that you're an auctioneer.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

I'm not an auctioneer. You're not an auctioneer. Oh I'm a I'm a race director, so I produce a lot of 5Ks, 10k's, half marathon. So I'm always on the megaphone and talking a lot and saying hi. I wish I could do the auctioneer voice.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

That's what I was about to ask you.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

It would be so much fun. Yeah, I don't have it.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

That's well, you have a great radio voice. Who are you most excited to see this weekend? You've done it a few times.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Probably Chris Stapleton. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Yeah, that's just Stapleton too. Although we know a couple of the smaller people excited for that.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Yeah. Who are the other like smaller bands you guys are excited for?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

I'm excited for Max McNow.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Like uh Marcus King, but one of our uh one of her friends Dr. Ignite, first starting doctor.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah, Tanner Laws. I know Tanner Laws. He played, he was the first um singer today, so he missed it, but we were it's been so hot that like getting here later is kind of a good move. The move, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is our first time here, so we're kind of just experiencing everything as it goes. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Where are you guys from?

SPEAKER_01 2:52

We're from Billings. Oh, okay, very cool.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Yeah, nice. So you made the the long road trip up here.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Yes, yes, yeah. I think it was like eight hours maybe we were in the car, so yeah, pretty long.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Do you guys like to go to festivals?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

I do. I normally go to country jam, but I decided this year I wanted to try something new. So, yeah, upgrade.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Do you have any like tips or like things that you just like gotta make sure you have to be at a festival all day?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Sunglasses for one sunscreen, sunglasses, sunscreen, and water.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Are you guys gonna do anything else while you're up here?

SPEAKER_01 3:28

We might go boating. We'll see. Kind of just along for the ride, whatever whatever happens, happens.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Which lake? Whichever one you think is. Well, they're all cold. That's the most important thing this weekend, is that they're all good to swim in. Where are you guys from? Harlowton? Yes. Yeah, awesome. Um, how did you find out about Under the Big Sky? Um, my sister actually went to it a couple years ago with one of her friends, and then I just followed the Instagram account, and last year we came because like we saw like all the headliners and stuff, so we decided there's yeah, yeah. I basically followed it through Instagram. Yeah, yeah, cool. Um, all right. Well, tell me about the outfits because I'm really digging the outfits right now. Any particular inspiration? No, I kind of just like find stuff that works. I don't know. I was like, I wore red last year and I knew I wanted to wear red again, so I kind of just found a red top and then I just mixed it with other stuff that I had. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

My Inspoke honestly country. Had jeans already, um, and this is her shirt. I don't know. I put it together. Very new. I had a different outfit planned for today, but I ordered stuff and it didn't show up, so I just kinda put together whatever I already had.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Yeah. Well, it's definitely it's it's really hot, so it's hard to know exactly what's gonna be the right thing. Yeah. Um have you guys done anything else fun while you've been up here? We just got you. Yeah, we actually just got you, so well not yet. We kind of plan on it, but we'll see. Yeah, are you trying to go to Glacier or what you're trying to do? I um when we head home. So like it'll be after this. Yeah, yeah. We'll hit up the bars and whitefish. Like, it's a good time out, I promise. Um, who are you most excited to see while you're here? Um, I think I'm most excited to see Chris Stapleton. Me too. Me too. Or Zagtop. Yeah. Yeah, maybe the big head liners. Yeah. Very true. Yeah, everybody's excited to see Chris Stapleton. Yeah. Do you guys like to go to festivals?

unknown 5:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

We love it. We go to the one in um Missoula as well. Zootown? Yeah. And then there's one in Harlow that we have every year. Yeah. What's that one? It's called the Harlow Music Project. Yeah, and we just have a couple small artists every year, so yeah. Do you guys have any festival like tips, anything that you live by when you're like, okay, I'm gonna go be somewhere all day, listen to music, have a good time? Bring lots of water. Bring bring water, bring a mini hairbrush, bring bring portable charger, bring all like mini makeup supplies, sunglasses, probably. Sunglasses, probably chairs, too. That's all. Oh, yeah, like your short little chairs that are on the ground. Yes, must haves, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Thank you so much.