While Cold Snap is about bringing art to southwest Montana, it’s also about community. Each year after the festival, we throw a great party and fundraiser for our local soup kitchen Loaves and Fishes. This event — Pray for Snow — raises tens of thousands of dollars to support those in our community who need it most.

Cold Snap kicks off with a screening of select films on the Thursday before Thanksgiving at our local theater here in Livingston, Montana: the Empire Twin Theatres. Then we follow it up on Friday with the Pray for Snow party and fundraiser featuring a community dinner, raffles, and silent auctions all benefitting Loaves and Fishes.

The history of the Cold Snap Film Festival goes back to a group of ski bums who just wanted to hang out and watch ski films. We joined the Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival and asked locals to show up for the film screenings at the Elks Lodge with donations for our food bank. They responded with enthusiasm and generosity that would eventually take on a life of its own. That was 18 years ago.

Our "backcountry film festival" eventually grew into a two-night event: the Cold Snap Film Festival and Pray for Snow fundraiser.

The film festival now features amazing films from across the outdoor world screened at our local theater in downtown Livingston: the Empire Twin Theatres. 

Pray for Snow is held the following night at the Livingston Depot Center with a community dinner, live music, raffles and silent auctions. This annual party brings our entire community together for an amazing cause: supporting our local soup kitchen, Loaves and Fishes.