The Red Lodge Music Festival (www.redlodgemusicfestival.org) brings top high-school musicians to train with professionals. Both students and faculty perform over a nine-day span in mid-June.

The Red Lodge Rodeo is on Fourth of July weekend.

Mid-July brings the Beartooth Rally and a huge swarm of Harleys to town, making Red Lodge into the Sturgis of the Rockies.

The last weekend in July is devoted to the Montana Old-Time Fiddle Contest (www.montanafiddlers.org).

Mountain men (406/446-3043, www.redlodge.com/rendezvous) descend on Red Lodge in late July and early August. The encampment on the south end of town features music, dance, black-powder shoots, and trade goods, including buckskin garments, black-powder rifles, Indian beadwork, and pewter ware.

Red Lodge’s ethnic diversity is celebrated each August during the Festival of Nations (www.festivalofnations.us). Lots of music, lots of food, and lots of people fill downtown. The town fills up for this celebration, so be sure to book rooms in advance if you want to stay in Red Lodge during the second week of August.

It may take an early March trip to Red Lodge to really believe that there is such a sport as ski-joring. Visit the rodeo grounds for the National Ski-Joring Finals, and watch horses pull skiers around a circular course loaded with jumps and gates.

The town’s Winter Carnival happens around the same time of year.

A personalized event can be yours at the Canyon Wedding Chapel, four miles south of Red Lodge (406/446-2681 or 800/823-2681). Both religious and civil wedding ceremonies are accommodated here.