Flint Creek Valley Days

Three days on Broadway

Flint Creek Valley Days begins with children. In 2026 the kids’ parade went down Broadway Street at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 24. It opened a three-day celebration that the Philipsburg Chamber of Commerce, from its office at 109 East Broadway, holds each July for the mining, timber and ranching heritage of the valley. Philipsburg has long been the county seat of Granite County. From Missoula or Helena the road is Interstate 90 to the Highway 1 exit near Drummond, then south into town.

Saturday starts with the Philipsburg Rotary pancake breakfast at the local high school. The Flint Creek Valley Days Parade steps off at noon, and in 2026 that was July 25. By the chamber’s account the weekend brings thousands of tourists and Granite County natives back to Philipsburg, and numerous class reunions fall on it. The rest of the day is softball and horseshoe tournaments, with a kids’ carnival at Winninghoff Park. After dark there is a street dance with live music.

Classic cars on a closed street

On Sunday the downtown closes to traffic for the Flint Creek Valley Days Classic Car Show. The 2026 show, held July 26, was its 30th. Owners register at 10 a.m. and the show opens at noon. Visitors walk among the restored cars on Broadway while live bands play and food stalls serve. Awards are given downtown at 4 p.m., and the show is done by 5.

The chamber says the cars come from around the Northwest. The Southwest Montana travel guide says they come from all over Montana and out of state. In 2023 the show had more than 130 entries. The chamber’s listing for the 2026 show promised “a great time, fabulous people, and gorgeous cars!!!”

From the sawmill to downtown

The heritage the weekend celebrates is older than the event. According to a University of Montana column, Philipsburg was founded in 1867 and named for Peter Deiesheimer. It is the one town left standing among the mining settlements of Granite County, where 24 ghost towns remain. Southeast of town, the Granite Mountain mine produced $20 million in silver between 1885 and 1893. In 1892 sapphires were found in Rock Creek, and the mountains along it took their name from the stone. The Victorian storefronts of the boom years still line Broadway, the street the parades travel. Among them is the Philipsburg Theatre, founded in 1891, which the same column calls the oldest continually operating theatre in Montana.

The parade itself came later, and its exact age depends on the source. The chamber says it is believed to have started more than 70 years ago as a modest parade from the local sawmill to downtown Philipsburg. The Montana Standard, writing on July 16, 2026, put its first running at about 75 years ago. Over the years the weekend grew around it.

Some years it has also shrunk. The Flint Creek Trails Association usually puts on the Philipsburg Fun Run during Valley Days. In May 2020 the association cancelled the race. It explained that the race cost about $1,500 for shirts, insurance, prizes and timing, and that local sponsors normally covered that sum. “We cancelled this event not out of fear but out of respect for our local sponsors who have really taken it on the chin this spring,” the association wrote. It left open the chance of a pop-up race if conditions allowed by the end of July. That race would be free to all, with no shirts and no awards. “We would still time the event.”