Wednesday, August 10th: Poetry. Local legend Dave Thomas reads from his new book of poetry, Old Power Company Road: Selected Poems 1980-2013. 7pm.

"Dave Thomas wouldn't be the remarkable poet he is if it weren't for the care and direction, strength and vision of the person he is on foot. His acceptance of the human condition wherever he find it is unconditional. We owe him a depth of gratitude for the gifts his poems are of our lives and histories here in Montana and wherever his travels take him. He is a watershed poet of the heart, the bard of stroll, chronicler of all things descent and deserving of our attention. Read his poetry for all its worth and see for yourself." -John Holbrook, author of A Clear Blue Sky in Royal Oak

David E. Thomas grew up on the Hi-Line in North central Montana. He graduated from the University of Montana then found himself on the streets of San Francisco where he began his literary education. Economic realities drove him to work on railroad gangs, big construction projects like Libby Dam and other labor intensive jobs. He has traveled in the United States, Mexico, and Central America. He has published four books of poems, Fossil Fuel, Buck's Last Wreck, The Hellgate Wind, and Waterworks Hill. He has poems in the anthologies The Last Best Place and Poems Across the Big Sky and New Poets of the American West and has published poems in Romania, Blue Collar Review, Cedilla 6, 7, and 8, and many other small magazines. His essay "Gothic Days" appears in The Complete Montana Gothic edited by Peter Koch, which also features Thomas's earliest published work. Most recently he has published poems and an interview in Talking River and poems in San Pedro River Review. He currently lives in Missoula, Montana.