Unleash Your Inner-TARTress

The final stop on Tour de Pants landed us in Bozeman at TART, an incredible contemporary art gallery and boutique (or TARTique as they prefer to be called!) on Friday October 22nd. All of the incredibly gorgeous handmade artwork, stunning jewelry, ceramics, sassy note cards, funky hats and clothing, and much more is all crafted from the hands of Montanans!

The open house for Red Ants Pants was all in the hands of the Tartress Herself, Anna Visscher, and the evening was an incredible success. Although we were feeling a bit road weary from a long drive north on I-25 from Denver to Montana that included a lengthy shopping session at an outdoor outlet store in Wyoming (we Montana ladies never pass up a good deal on wool long underwear!) and sadly Sarah tagged her first deer of the season. Why sadly you ask? Well, it was the mighty Chevy and not Sarah’s riffle that claimed a deer outside Sheridan, WY. Consider how severe the consequences could have been: an all too quick of a reaction resulting in a swerving truck and Anthill screaming down the Interstate at night in traffic; the truck, Anthill, Sarah and Maggie came through unscathed with the exception of a slightly dented front bumper. However, the deer didn’t fare so well. Considering the thousands and thousands of miles Tour de Pants has danced across the country, for this to be the first animal-vehicle encounter, we feel lucky.

Road kill aside, our arrival back in our home state was nothing short of gorgeous! Sunshine and warm temps greeted our cheeks as we strolled through leaf-padded streets to the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture where the fabulous Tart resides. Our host Anna and her crew did an incredible job of serving guests ants on the log, cold beers from Big Sky Brewery, and cheesecake with red ant frosting. And it didn’t take long for all of our RAP fans, some old and new, to cram into the gallery and try on pants and gush over stunning silver hoop earrings, laugh at the array of nutty holiday cards, and check out the two new samples styles of our soon-to-be-launched USA-made Red Ants Pants hats!

Many thanks to the women of Tart and their lovely artists for hosting such an incredible event. Plus, both Sarah and Maggie and many other guests were able to stock up on unique and funky presents for the holidays! Anna offered a 15% discount on any item in her store for those wearing their old or new RAPs. What a deal, ladies!

And with our final event in Bozeman behind us, we take with us the wonderful memories of our fall tour. Our most heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to our Denver party hosts Gwen and Trinity, the women of Chelely Colorado Camps, Erin Howe and her husband Mark for letting us crash at their home in Colorado, Shanan at Abbondanza Organic Seeds and Produce, and Anna and her Tart crew. Also, we can’t possibly do a Tour de Pants without our wonderful customers and supporters! Thank you, thank you!

As quickly as the beautiful weather turned to gray and snow in the mountains, Tour de Pants has come to a close. Sarah’s off to play hunting guide to her visiting cousins and when she’s not stalking wild game through the woods, she’ll be sewing her very special Halloween costume (let’s hope there will be pictures!). Maggie’s ready to stretch her legs and get her quads in shape for the upcoming ski season–she was just nominated to the United States Telemark Regional Ski Team!

Happy Fall to our Red Ants Pants family. Stay posted for more fun from Montana and learn about some very exciting upcoming events (hint: you might want to visit to White Sulphur Springs in July!).