Paintings, Partials and Pies (No. 137)

First Aired May 20, 2013

Since 1991, the Backroads crew has traveled across Montana visiting its unique people and places. The series airs regularly on MontanaPBS.

An all-new edition of Backroads travels to Polson for the Flathead Cherry Festival to follow competitors in the cherry pit spitting and cherry pie eating contests. Then tells the story of Hobson dentist Virgil Stewart who began his practice in 1912 during an era when most rural Montanans could not afford such care. But ‘Doc’ Stewart couldn’t turn anyone away. For 50 years he filled and straightened teeth often receiving nothing more than a chicken, some flour or an appreciative handshake. The next stop is the Sweet Grass Hills where local residents take us to an unexpected natural wonder rising out of the prairie. It is a tight squeeze to get into this limestone cave, but you’ll see why it is worth the effort. And finally you’ll meet an eastern Montana man whose passion for art has literally spread all over the town of Forsyth. However Bob Watts has become better known for a different set of paintings, and it is not what he paints, but how he paints that gives him the notoriety. William Marcus hosts the program from historic locations around Havre and Chinook.