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Stopping by Drummond
12
Clockwise: Children were
treated to a full day of
swimming in the hot springs
at the Harvest Festival. An
old Lutheran church sits on the
grounds of Sleeping Buffalo
Hot Springs. Roger Ereaux,
owner of Sleeping Buffalo
Hot Springs for 20 years,
organized the Harvest
Festival as a way for local
businesses to thank the
Hutterites for contributing to
the communities along the Hi-
Line. A variety of vegetables,
eggs and baked goods were
on sale at the festival for
town folk to purchase.
and men joke about Hutterites don’t proselytize. They tend to stick to their own kind.
women drivers. Most And because they are different, Hutterites have been persecuted in
of them don’t swim the past. Founder Jacob Hutter was burned at the stake in 1536, and bigots
too well. Most of shoved his followers from one European country to another until the 1870s,
them vote and follow when they emigrated to the North American prairies.
politics. They pay As pacifists, they won’t serve in the armed forces and, during World War
and invited five Hutterite colonies, offering $1,000 in prize taxes. I, two Hutterite men died of neglect and abuse in a military prison in Fort
money for competitions in softball, horseshoes and tug-of-war. Except for their Leavenworth.
(The colonies competed hard, but they decided to split the money distinctive clothes As late as the 1950s, South Dakota law banned Hutterite colonies from
evenly.) and accents, they buying more land, and Alberta had a similar law until 1973.
Though the day was pretty disorganized and the rope- look and act a lot And in 1998, near Shelby, Mont., somebody burned a colony’s barn and
pulling contest never happened, everybody seemed to have a like any other bunch poisoned a well, acts that authorities treated as hate crimes.
good time. I know I did. I even made some new friends. of prairie farmers, which is what they are, and there are worse And that’s why I liked Ereaux’s idea of a Hutterite festival, one where
Like most Montanans, I’d seen Hutterites around. They’re ways to live. everybody is invited.
easy to spot, with their distinctive clothing and German accents, But Hutterites aren’t the same as most people. Even today, there are plenty of rumors and cheap stereotypes about
which turn almost every vowel into a dipthong, where words like They live communally, in colonies based on deep religious Hutterites.
“lost” come out as “lowest,” and “hog” comes out “hoe-aag.” But faith, and all major assets belong to the colony. None of them “I don’t even like to speak about it,” said Will Hauk, one of the handful
I never gave them a lot of thought, beyond appreciating the vege- have much to call their own. Preachers have a lot of authority. of non-Hutterites at the event. He’s been a friend of the East Malta Colony for
tables and chickens they sell at roadside stands. They seemed Women don’t. Most people leave school when they turn 15 and years, he said, and liked the idea of the festival: It might help bring people
to me stoic and shy, maybe a little standoffish, but pleasant they’re a little leery about the temptations of the world. Family together.
enough. and faith are crucial. Granted, Sleeping Buffalo is a long way from almost everything, and
At Sleeping Buffalo, I got a look at how they deal with each Not everybody is cut out for this kind of life. The Hutterites watching Hutterites throw horseshoes isn’t everybody’s idea of a good time.
other, in part because there weren’t many people like me hanging know this. But it might be your best chance to get to know some fellow Montanans.
around. I learned that, like people in any group, some of them “It’s the best life for us, but you’ve got to start out when Like everybody else, Hutterites have warts as well as virtues. Some folks are
cuss when they’re angry. When something sucks, they say it sucks. you’re just this high,” Mike Hofer told me, leveling his palm at nicer than others. Some are better looking. Some are funnier. They run the
Some overdrink. They get competitive when the game is close. They knee level. “You couldn’t do it at your age.” gamut.
crack wise: women joke about the helplessness of their husbands With the exception of some mission work in Nigeria, the They’re people.
14 M O N T A N A Q U A R T E R LY 15