Stand at the corner of West Park and Second in Livingston and almost all of Cold Snap is within a block of you. Dan Bailey's sits at 209 West Park Street. Gil's Goods is next door at 207. The Livingston Depot Center is across the street at 200 West Park. The Empire Twin Theatre is around the corner at 106 North Second Street.
The tickets for Thursday's films don't come from a website. You buy them in person at the fly shop's counter for $10 each, and you tell the staff which showing you want.
That $10 ticket is the part of the weekend most people hear about. The money comes mostly from the night after, which costs nothing to get into.
A Ski-Film Night That Outgrew the Elks Lodge
Dan Bailey's calls 2026 the festival's 18th year. It started as ski bums who wanted to watch ski films together. The group joined the Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival and asked people coming to screenings at the Elks Lodge to bring donations for the food bank.
Dale Sexton, the shop's owner, told the Livingston Enterprise about the move before the 2025 edition:
"We showed films for many years at the Elks Lodge and eventually outgrew that space. As it continued to grow, we moved to Livingston's Empire Theatre and added the Pray for Snow Celebration at the Depot Center."
The host fits the event's age. Dan and Helen Bailey opened their fly-fishing business in Livingston in 1938, and the shop has been at 209 West Park since 1956. The theater is older than the shop's current address. According to the Livingston Enterprise, it opened in 1935 as the New State Theater, a single screen with 685 seats. Today it has two auditoriums, seating 277 and 113. The films now play there twice in one afternoon and evening.
The lineup isn't limited to ski movies anymore. Dan Bailey's says the films should celebrate "the natural world, human-powered adventure, environmental justice, and inclusivity in the outdoors." The festival awards $2,000 in cash prizes to filmmakers. In 2025, the Enterprise reported that "Bridgers," directed and edited by JP Fletcher, won both the Judges' Choice and Audience Choice awards, so the jury and the crowd picked the same film.
The Two Nights, Side by Side
Here is the 2026 schedule as Dan Bailey's has posted it.
| Cold Snap Film Festival | Pray for Snow Celebration | |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026 | Friday, Nov. 20, 2026 |
| Where | Empire Twin Theatre, 106 North Second Street | Livingston Depot Center, 200 West Park Street |
| Time | Screenings at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. | Starts at 6 p.m. |
| Cost | $10 per ticket, bought at Dan Bailey's | Free |
| Also | Pre/post-party at Katabatic Brewing, 3:30 to 9 p.m. | Silent auction, raffle, live music, dancing, food and beer |
The two-showing format isn't new. Dan Bailey's 2025 finalists post listed the same 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. times. The Katabatic party covers both, opening an hour before the early show and running past the start of the late one. The brewery's taproom is on West Park Street too, so Thursday stays on the same few blocks as Friday.
Where the $42,378 Came From
Dan Bailey's reports that the weekend raised $42,378 for Loaves and Fishes in 2025. The shop's Cold Snap page credits most of that to Friday: "In 2025, Pray for Snow raised over $40,000 for our local soup kitchen!"
The free party is the fundraiser. Nobody pays at the Depot door. The night runs on a silent auction and a raffle, with food and beer from Follow Yer' Nose BBQ, Gil's Goods and Neptune's Brewery, and all proceeds go to Loaves & Fishes. The festival page describes Friday as a community dinner with raffles and silent auctions, all for Loaves and Fishes.
The total is growing. Before the 2025 festival, Sexton told the Livingston Enterprise that the previous year had raised "over $37,000 for Loaves and Fishes" and that he hoped to beat it. The 2025 total of $42,378 beat that mark. This year the shop's event page says, "Last year we raised a record amount. Let's do it again!"
Put the two figures next to each other. A filmmaker prize pool of $2,000 sits beside a soup-kitchen total above $40,000 from the free night. The films get people downtown on Thursday. The auction tables at the Depot on Friday raise the money.
A Short Walk to 301 South Main
The money goes to Loaves & Fishes at 301 South Main Street. The City of Livingston lists it as serving free meals every day from 4 to 6 p.m. The Livingston Enterprise has reported that the kitchen runs every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. On nights without enough volunteers to serve a hot meal, it hands out cold sack dinners instead.
That last detail matters if you want to help beyond Friday night. The same Enterprise article says Loaves & Fishes needs groups to serve meals and suggests three or four people per group. You can call 406-222-4824 to volunteer or donate items, and tax-exempt donations can be dropped off at 301 South Main. A work crew, a ski group or a book club that buys raffle tickets on Friday could also take a 4-to-6 shift in January.
Before You Head Downtown
- Buy Thursday tickets at the shop. They're sold at Dan Bailey's, 209 West Park Street, at $10 each. Say whether you want the 4:30 or 7:30 showing when you pay.
- Start or finish at Katabatic. The pre/post-party runs 3:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday.
- Park once on Friday. The Depot has its own lot along Depot Rotary Park. The building is the restored 1902 Northern Pacific depot, used as a community and event space outside its May-to-September museum season.
- Check which Neptune's is pouring. Neptune's Brewery supplies Friday's beer. Its site lists a taproom at 119 North L Street, open 2 to 8 p.m. daily. Neptune's Taphouse and Eatery at 232 South Main is a separate business. Its site says it is temporarily closed for repair and renovation.
- Expect food from both ends of the valley. Follow Yer' Nose BBQ serves house-smoked meat from its spot at 4 Overlook Road in Emigrant. Gil's Goods, next door to Dan Bailey's, is known for fresh-baked bread, wood-fired pizza and burgers.
The Depot's Next Two Weekends
Pray for Snow is the first of several holiday events at the Depot. Eight days later, on Saturday, Nov. 28, Light Up Livingston runs from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Depot Center and Park. Santa lights the trees at 5:30 p.m., more than 100,000 lights on 38 trees, and they stay lit through the season. The Holiday Lights Committee and donors pay for the tree lights. The Downtown Livingston Business Improvement District, the Tourism Business Improvement District and the committee pay for the 90 snowflake lights on downtown light poles. The event falls on Small Business Saturday on purpose, to bring people to downtown shops and restaurants before and after.
The Historic Livingston Christmas Stroll follows on Friday, Dec. 4, from 4 to 8 p.m. downtown. The next morning, Dec. 5, the city's Livingston Holiday Market fills the Civic Center at 229 River Drive from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $1, and the market features local makers and nonprofits.
From the Thursday before Thanksgiving through the first weekend of December, the Depot and the blocks around it host something almost every weekend. Cold Snap comes first, and it's the one that pays for meals at 301 South Main.
Buy your raffle tickets on Nov. 20 and stay for the auction. If you'd like to know what your own place near West Park Street, or anywhere in Park County, might be worth heading into next year, Brian Heck offers a no-pressure conversation. Request a Home Valuation whenever it's useful to you.
