Bear Creek Saloon and Steakhouse
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| Headquarters | Bear Creek, Montana, USA |
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| Services | Saloon and Steakhouse |
| Owner | DeArmond Family |
| Website | www |
Bear Creek Saloon and Steakhouse is a restaurant in the small town of Bear Creek, Montana. The Saloon is family owned by (Bobby) Pits & Lynn DeArmond since it was purchased in 1982. The restaurant houses fund-raising pig races throughout the year that use full grown pigs in the summer and piglets in the winter, which are overseen by the Carbon County Health Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Saloon was involved in a lengthy legal battle over the legality of pig races with the Montana Board of Horse Racing, and it was eventually made legal in House Bill 433 in 1993. The Saloon is located seven miles outside of the city of Red Lodge, Montana on Montana Secondary Highway 308. Owner Bobby "Pitts" Dearmond was born and raised in Spearman, Texas before moving to Montana in the late 1970s.
The saloon and steakhouse was bought in 1982 by the DeArmond family, and at the time was only a bar. A kitchen was added and began serving Mexican food in 1984. The bar's main clientele is tourists, but due to the 1988 Yellowstone Fires there was a sharp downturn in tourism in 1988. The DeArmond family developed the idea of pig races to draw more customers to the area and started the races in 1992. In 1994 the menu was switched to a classic saloon and steakhouse, to which it remains today. Bobby "Pitts" was featured on ABC Good Morning America a couple of times during this period.
The pig races are the main attraction at the Bear Creek Saloon. As told by the Füd Report from Montana, the racetrack is a short oval that is surrounding a golden statue of a pig, set up like a "minor league stadium" . The pigs start in a gate much like horse racing, and each race starts with the playing of "The Call to the Post" over a loudspeaker. The pigs race around the track to a trough full of vegetables. There are a total of 12 races each night, one every 15 minutes, and each race has five pigs racing.
The pigs are provided by a local 4-H club, and each pig can be purchased by a sponsor every racing season. The sponsor names the pig and a jersey made for it. Some past pigs names have been "Pumpkin Butt", "Raquel Belch", "Knuckles", "Pig O'War", "Ursowla Hamdress", and "Notta Hot Dog". After the racing season is over, the pig is slaughtered and the sponsor has the option of donating the meat to charity or to keep it themselves. Pig Sponsors also can purchase billboard space around the racetrack, adding to the "stadium" effect. Some sponsors in the past have been the Riverboat Casino in Billings, Montana, the U.S. Bank in Red Lodge, Shipton's Big R ranch supplies in Billings, and Maxwell's restaurant in Cody, Wyoming. The Carbon County Health Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversee the health and condition of the pigs.
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Wikipedia