Peoples of Havre

When we want groceries, we drive either 45 minutes (to Chester), or an hour (to Havre). Today, needing to stock up upon returning from our Denver vacation, I chose Havre (prounounced Hav-Er-- not to be confused with the French city of Le Havre, which is pronounced much differently.)  Havre is a city of roughly 10,000 inhabitants, though its shops and businesses serve a broader community beyond residents of the city proper.   Havre is where country people in North-Central Montana go to do business and run errands.  You can find anything you should require in Havre, and if you can't find it, you probably didn't need it anyway.  Thus the unofficial city slogan of, "Havre Has It!"

One thing that Havre does have is diversity.  Four distinct groups of people that I notice when I go to Havre are: Town People, Country People (I guess that's me now), Hutterites, and Native Americans. I suppose a lot of Canadians go to Havre as well for shopping.  Town People and Country People can be difficult to distinguish, but Country People tend to be forming a line at the parts counter in the local implement dealership (yes, I have already found myself there more than once!), and are often dressed in their 'work' clothes-- straight from the farm.

Hutterites are a religious denomination, who, from what little I have learned, are similar to Menonnites. They are easy to pick out due to their distinctive way of dressing.  As a former textiles and clothing major in college, I am very interested in their clothing.  Women wear dresses and keep their hair covered, and men wear dark pants with patterned shirts and suspenders. Often, men have beards.  Sleeve styles for both men and women are slightly leg-of-mutton, and most things look to be homemade.  I would like to learn more about Hutterite dress.

Havre is very close to two of the seven Indian Reservations in Montana-- Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy. Because of this, it is extremely common to see Native Americans around town.  In Iowa, we have extremely low numbers of Native American population, so it still catches me to see so many around Montana, and especially in Havre.  I am not very knowledgeable at all about Native American history and culture at this point, but I am very interested in learning more.

(Photo taken from Wikipedia)