Trout Creek students experience Nutcracker

Students from Trout Creek School took a field trip to Missoula last Friday to experience a traditional holiday masterpiece.

The entire school attended Garden City Ballet’s (GCB) production of The Nutcracker. Sixty students, kindergarten through 8th grade, boarded a bus and headed out of town to take part in the awe-inspiring event.

Fourth grader Maddie Wormwood said she had a wonderful time getting dressed up to attend the event, sporting her special Christmas dress and fancy leather jacket.

“I think the play was pretty cool,” she said. “The best part was when an old man, disguised as a woman with lots of makeup, was wearing a huge dress and had lots of gingerbread men hidden under it. The gingerbread men escaped from the dress and started running all over the place!” she said laughing with excitement.

Finding cultural and artistic variety can be a challenge within Sanders County boundaries. Many kids never receive exposure to performance arts at all. Thanks to GCB, they continue their tradition of funding a performance for small and rural schools in the Missoula area.

“To offset the cost of this special Friday matinee show, we reach out to our community and raise funds each year. GCB is grateful to our donors who make holiday dreams come true,” according to their website.

Trout Creek was one of seven schools who were selected to attend this year’s show. Other schools who were fortunate enough to experience the holiday spectacular were Florence, Superior, Clinton, Seeley Lake, Corvallis and Lolo (homeschool).

Last Friday’s matinee was sold out. Currently, there is a 300-student waiting list for next year’s presentation, and most likely will continue to grow. GCB stated these numbers confirm that “this is a very popular event in our community.”

If interested in donating to GCB, they can be contacted at P.O. Box 3555, Missoula, MT 59806, or by emailing [email protected].