As the Montana Heritage Center gets ready to open, local groups are preparing for the influx of visitors expected to come to town, visit the museum and then wonder what else the Queen City has to offer.
A 2016 study by the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) predicted such a museum expansion could being another 78,500 visitors to Helena annually and $7.5 million a year in spending. And, it will create 180 jobs statewide.
The BBER said in a 27-page report it did not do a feasibility study or market analysis, but noted a $52 million expansion of North Dakota Heritage Center in 2014 saw its visitation grow by 130%, from 100,000 to 230,000 visitors a year.
Tim Fox, president of the Montana Historical Society board, said he believes the new museum will create a real renaissance in Montana history and be a huge financial benefit to the Helena area.
“I am very excited and believe the new Montana Heritage Center is not only a great way to share Montana history, but it will be a veritable destination place not only people from Montana but from all over the world to visit,” Fox, a former state attorney general, said.
“This will be a place folks will come to and want to see time and time again,” he said.
Fox said the museum’s free admission “will be an incentive to not come just once but come often.”
Montana Historical Society Director Molly Kruckenberg said the Heritage Center will add to the cultural experiences of Helena as visitors explore the new museum as well as the Capitol and Original Governor’s Mansion as part of their discovery of the state’s rich history.
“We will encourage our visitors to explore Helena’s attractions as well as heritage sites throughout Montana,” she said.
Kruckenberg said a grand opening celebration taking place June 25-28, will involve the Heritage Center and many community partners, to create a citywide celebration of Montana’s history and culture. Museum officials believe it will draw 100,000 visitors a year and 150,000 in its first year.
Mayor-elect Emily Dean said it’s a big moment for the Queen City.
“While the opening of the Montana Heritage Center is incredibly transformational for the Capitol Complex and how the Montana Historical Society tells Montana’s many stories, this is also a moment of huge opportunity for the city of Helena,” she said.
The Helena Area Chamber of Commerce, Visit Helena, Helena Business Improvement District (BID), the Montana Business Assistance Connection, Montana Historical Society, and the state’s General Service Divisions and others have huddled and worked on preparing plans for how to draw more people to what Helena has to offer once they visit the Heritage Center.
That includes stops in downtown Helena and the Railroad District in the Sixth Ward.
Callie Aschim, president and chief executive officer of the chamber, said they are “incredibly excited” about the opening of the museum and what it could do for Helena.
“We’re calling it ‘Montana’s Museum’ because we feel were are Montana’s hometown,” she said.
Aschim said stakeholders have been meeting since 2023. And for the grand opening, “we will have flags that say ‘We have history.'”
Members of the coalition all discuss “wayfinding,” which can kind of be described as how to direct visitors to other areas of Helena, such as downtown Helena and the Railroad District, also known as the Sixth Ward. People say it involves more than signage. Travelwayfinding.com says it includes orientation, route decision, route monitoring, destination recognition and post-arrival reorientation.
The website says it improves visitor experience, safety, efficiency and commercial outcomes.
That also means 6th Avenue and Roberts Street may become main thoroughfares for visitors.
They hope to tap into Helena’s burgeoning arts scene.
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Aschim said she and Andrea Opitz of Visit Helena visit monthly with museum staff and have been talking for more than a year about the grand opening in June.
“We are going to be the ambassadors for the museum,” she said, but added one challenge in getting the community to learn the museum, which has been closed since late 2022, is opening back up.
“We need to be talking about it,” Aschim said. “It is going to be such an asset for this community and the state and it is so exciting Helena will be the host for such a world-class museum.”
Opitz said they are already hearing interest in the event center, meetings and group tours.
And when Visit Helena staff attend consumer trade shows in Denver, Seattle and Calgary, they are talking to folks and inviting them to Helena.
Overall, the Queen City will see an increase in its share of in-state and out-of-state visitors.
“Helena will be a travel destination and not just a drive through to the national parks,” she said, adding the Helena Regional Airport would likely see more traffic and strengthen the town’s stature “as a genuine Montana experience.”
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She said a soft opening in December and grand opening in June will allow the chamber, BID and Visit Helena to assess its efforts.
“As our Helena brand states, we are Montana’s hometown,” Opitz said.
She said people like it that “Helena is a step back in time and not trying to be shiny or silver. We are patina.”
“In general, the sentiment we hear and have heard from visitors for years is they wish they would have known more about Helena,” Opitz said. “There is so much to do here and they will plan to come back.”
Alysia Ryan, executive director of the BID, said she has had a sneak peek of the new Heritage Center.
“I am so excited. It is going to be fantastic,” she said, adding she was a fan of the previous museum.
She said downtown Helena businesses are excited about the museum opening and will replace signs with ones that mention the museum. She said there will be clear signage for pedestrians and drivers.
“You can’t go to the museum and immerse yourself in history and not see historical Downtown Helena.” Ryan said. “That is how I feel anyway.”
“We seem to have a significant opportunity now,” said Brian Obert, executive director of Montana Business Assistance Connection, adding the museum’s expected draw “gives us the opportunity to then monetize those visitors coming in …”
He said the groups are now trying to execute a plan to get people to the other amenities, including the Archie Bray, Myrna, Grandstreet Theatre, Montana Club and WILD Montana.
“It’s hard for a community to capitalize monetize tourists unless we get them to stay for an amount of time,” Obert said.
“This is going to be a substantial museum in our mind it could be something like the Buffalo Bills Center of the West in Cody. That’s good for us,” he said.
The trip then becomes a destination activity — it’s not just a small western museum it’s something even bigger — and then it will have spillover effects into the other museums and other event spaces or activities in the region such as Townsend and Lincoln, Obert said.
“Now we have the ability to have an anchor plus these other activities. We see that as a very big opportunity for the Helena region,” he said.
Dean, who takes office Jan. 1, said developing heritage tourism resources and greater economic development opportunities stimulated by the Montana Heritage Center’s opening will be a priority in her first year as mayor.
“Creating additional rich experiences centered around heritage tourism is a unique opportunity for Helena and I’m going to advocate for making the most of this exceptional moment for our community,” Dean said.
Photos: Have a look inside the Montana Heritage Center opening in Helena soon
