BOZEMAN — You may remember Midtown Tavern. Well, after two years the space is being revived. An all-new event center catered to the culture and community here in Bozeman is opening.
“I just thought this was a beautiful spot here. I met with the developers and asked if they would let us put some life back into it. And they said yeah,” says Josh Perkins, the owner of Midtown event space.
Josh and his four managing partners, Nettie Cane, Kyle Robinson, Kalani Madrona, and Devon Soldberg, walked me through their vision for this new event center.
“One of the reasons we decided to do this was, with this being such a college town, there's not anywhere for people under the age of 21 to enjoy music, to just have a good time,” says Josh.
Kyle Robinson, a former attendee of Montana State University tells me, for folks under 21, “This space will allow them to have a safe, consistent space to go. A great alternative to house parties, and things where it could be potentially dangerous or where substances that shouldn't be there are there."
And although this Midtown event space will provide a safe hangout for our younger community members, the events they hold won't just be for those under 21. The team tells me they will host every type of social gathering from brunches to burlesque shows, music events, wedding receptions, and more.
“We're really trying to make this space an event space for the community and for bringing back 7th Street's life. That's something that hasn't been going on for a while” says Devon.
The midtown event staff is deeply rooted here in Bozeman. They have seen the way it’s changed over the years. I asked Nettie Caine, who was born and raised here, how she’s seen this space evolve.
“Being from Bozeman, it hasn’t been utilized in a really long time. I've seen it go through multiple different businesses. Growing up on this street and around this area, it’s exciting to have the community be back together and working together,” says Nettie.
Going from the beloved Ferraro's to Midtown Tavern and now to an event center, this space off 7th has been a Bozeman staple for years. But will this event center be short lived?
“The thing about this space is we’re not sure how long we’ll be able to have it because there’s a lot of development that's going on around midtown,” says Josh.
Boundry Development is partnering with HRDC and announced a new affordable housing project just south of the Midtown space. The project will take place in multiple phases but will eventually provide almost 100 apartments. And as for Midtown? That space is expected to be bulldozed and turned into a parking lot in phase 3 of the affordable housing project.
“I know the city is growing. We have a lot of different things that are coming into play. But a lot of times you can have a say in how the city grows. And we want to have a say in it as well,” says Josh.
As of now, the city has not yet approved this project, so It’s undetermined how long Midtown Event Space will have. But Josh and his team tell me regardless of how much time they have, they’re still excited to offer this event space to the community.
“That's the reason why we live here. We don’t live in Bozeman for some of the hustle and bustle. We live here because we want to enjoy our life, the quality of living. And we’re going to try to get that done here in this space,” says Josh.
