03/18/2026
The Livingston Downtown Building Owners and Business Association (LDBOBA) Board has come up with ten items in their strategic plan for saving Livingston's downtown which we have put in the February 22 issue of the Park County Community Journal. . We are seeking partners in achieving the ten goals we have identified. We also put the following article in the same issue of the Journal that gives the research background for Items 3-5 of our goals. We would love to hear from anyone concerned about the downtown over the next 10 years. You can just go to our web site at livingstondowntown.org and reach out to us. We would love to hear from you!!
ARTICLE IN THE PARK COUNTY COMMUNITY JOURNAL
LDBOBA Seeking Community Collaborators on Long-Term Economic Health Projects
Livingston’s Downtown Association, the now twenty-year-old Livingston Downtown Building Owners and Business Association (LDBOBA) has recently published its “Downtown Long-Term Economic Development Objectives & Priorities,” as an advertisement in this issue of the Park County Community Journal.
The organization says its 10 objectives are research-based initiatives it considers vital to the health of the downtown and city at large, and it will be looking to collaborate with a wide variety of community entities and expertise in order to cooperatively achieve these goals.
So, what is some, for example, of that research bearing on Objectives 3-5 of the ad?
Historically, the interstate highway system bypassed the town where once traffic passed through its center. While this had obvious benefits for those on longer hauls, the design also accentuated an isolating effect as it routed traffic at three access points, exits 330, 333, and 337 all about two miles from the traditional center of Livingston.
This bypassing of communities along I-90 has led to the demise of historic downtowns in places like Columbus and Belgrade and their role as the commercial centers of those towns, something they had enjoyed before I-90 and MDOT came along. There is no getting those downtowns back.
Research from Institute for Tourism and Recreational Research, (ITRR) at the University of Montana in Missoula, has indicated some approximately 1.9 million cars pass by Livingston every year. Those are potential customers for our downtown, restaurants, galleries, and other commercial enterprises. If some of the travelers along I-90 do turn off at Exit 333, for example, only 5% who make that turn-off come to Livingston’s downtown or even know it exists.
While Livingston's heart has much to offer travelers, that center point structure mitigates the contact. According to ITRR's numbers, 83% of travelers going to Yellowstone National Park on I-90 come from the east, thus giving Livingston a potentially strong initial advantage over other communities west of Livingston in offering travelers stay in and recreation by looping through the core of the city before taking the cut south for the park's northern entrance. Sitting by historic design just 52 miles from Yellowstone, Livingston's location even inspired one resident to trademarked the name “base camp for Yellowstone” some years back.
But if travelers remain ignorant that downtown Livingston even exists, it voids that advantage and, again according to the ITRR research, travelers then simply turn south at Exit 333 and miss entirely the other riches of the beautiful, historic original rail gateway to the first national park in the world.
The LDBOBA plans to draft further articles on its advertised “Objectives and Priorities” in the Park County Community Journal in the future. This week it includes more information about creating a “Better Balance in Business Spaces Downtown.” It is part of the dream so many share to make Livingston’s downtown commercial space just that as Livingston grows
If you or your organization are a restaurant, gas station, accommodation including Air Bnb;s and are interested participating in the blue signs at exit 337, in learning more about these pieces of so many efforts by the people of Livingston, have questions, are interested in furthering their advancement, or would like to partner with the LDBOBA on any of their objectives, you can contact them at its website at livingstondowntown.org or call Patricia Grabow at (406) 220-1056. We would love to hear from you! We are in this like salt in the stew!!
