Jeff Whitesell, chief pilot of Miss Montana, adjusts her propeller governors after a test flight on May 12, 2019. The World War II era aircraft spent months being repaired at the Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula before making the journey to Normandy to help celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-day.
Paydenn Shelton stands among her birthday decorations with her father, Cody Mason, right, before her birthday parade at January-Wabash Park in Ferguson on March 6, 2021. Six-year-old Paydenn is battling a stage 4 neuroblastoma and could not have a typical birthday party due to COVID-19. Her mother and the Ferguson Police Department organized a drive-by parade for her, including the police, fire department and other community members.
President Donald Trump greets the crowd at his Missoula Rally on Oct. 18, 2018 at the Minuteman Aviation Hangar. The rally was held at the hangar to facilitate simple exit and entry for the President, who didn't have to leave the tarmac.
Melissa Renfrow, second from right, girlfriend of shooting victim Craig Williams, releases a red balloon in his honor at a vigil held on March 30, 2021 in St. Louis after a neighbor fatally shot Williams a few days earlier during an armed standoff during which the neighbor believed Renfrow was at risk of being harmed. Renfrow is pregnant with Williams' child. "He was my best friend," she said. "I don't know what to do without him here." Renfrow says Williams would never have hurt her, and is upset the shooter is not in police custody.
Marla Loring, center, holds an image of her niece, Ashley Loring Heavyrunner, during the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Vigil at the University of Montana on Jan. 19, 2019. Heavyrunner has been missing since June 5, 2017. The 20 -year-old college student disappeared from the Blackfeet Reservation just before she was set to move into a new apartment in Missoula.
Three firefighters battle a bush fire on Mount Sentinel outside of Missoula, Montana as a helicopter drops water from the Clark Fork River on the area. The blaze started near the University of Montana housing villages on Aug. 20, 2020 and spread up the hill, stopping at the fire road. It was started by two children playing with a lighter behind the housing buildings.
Teddy Nichols, 7, helps load a pumpkin into a truck at the "Pumpkins for the Pov" Pumpkin Harvest on Sept. 26, 2020. The harvest, an annual event, brought about 25 volunteers together to pull nearly 2,000 pumpkins out of a field near Evans Tree Farm on Mullan Road. The pumpkins will be sold at around town to benefit the Poverello Center.
Two veterans from the Ole Beck Veterans of Foreign War Post 209 in Missoula check out the WWII B-25 Bomber Plan, Maid in the Shade, after landing at the Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula, Montana on Aug. 31. A crowd of veterans, museum-goers and plane enthusiasts gathered to watch the landing and explore the plane, one of only 34 of its kind still flying.
Seven-year old Maya Waller shows off her "mud fashion" gloves while helping in her family's garden plot at the Siren Road Garden on May 30, 2020. The new garden is the first of its kind on the far west side of Missoula. Maya created mud 'gloves' and 'boots' for herself using a garden spigot and a mud puddle while her mom and dad pulled weeds from their garden plot.
Climate protestors stand on ice blocks, holding hands under the Higgins Avenue Bridge in downtown Missoula with nooses hanging from above around their necks in order to emphasize the urgency of the climate situation. The demonstration took place on Aug. 22, 2019 in front of a crowded downtown park to raise awareness ahead of the world-wide school strikes for climate.
Seven-year-old Kaylin Sanders picks up speed on her sled while enjoying the first big snowstorm of the year at Compton Hill Reservoir Park in St. Louis on Jan. 27, 2021. This was Sanders first time sledding. "You have to be careful, or you could hurt your leg or your pinky like I did," she advised. Sanders says her favorite part of sledding is rolling in the snow when she falls off.