Concerts & Montana History
Mission Mountain Wood Band At The Aber Day Kegger
The Aber Day Kegger occupies a special place in Mission Mountain Wood Band history because it brought together the group’s Missoula roots, large outdoor crowds and reputation as one of Montana’s most exciting live acts.
A University Of Montana Tradition
The Aber Day Kegger was held in the 1970s as a benefit associated with the University of Montana library. Montana PBS documents the event as a major Missoula cultural gathering, and surviving posters, stories and photographs show how deeply it remains embedded in local memory.
The event combined the scale of an outdoor festival with the atmosphere of a university fundraiser. Music became one of its defining features, and M2WB grew into a staple act during the Kegger’s later years.
The Band And The Crowd
Mission Mountain Wood Band was built for this kind of setting. Its blend of vocal harmony, roots instrumentation, country rock and extended stage energy could reach a large outdoor audience without losing the informal personality that made the musicians popular around Montana.
As the band’s reputation grew beyond the state, returning to Aber Day also reinforced its connection to Missoula and the University of Montana community where the original lineup had formed.
A Landmark In The Live Story
Historical descriptions of M2WB often mention Aber Day alongside national touring, New York clubs and television appearances. That placement shows the event was not merely a local footnote. It was one of the concerts that defined how people in Montana remembered the band.
Video material from the 1970s also preserves scenes associated with Aber Day, helping later audiences understand the scale and atmosphere that written descriptions alone cannot fully capture.
Music, Posters And Montana Memory
The visual culture around Aber Day is nearly as memorable as the music. Posters associated with the event have become collectible pieces of Montana art, and Missoula artist Monte Dolack, who also designed the Mission Mountain Wood Band logo, is closely connected with that visual history.
This overlap between music and graphic art strengthens the event’s place in Montana culture. It was a concert, fundraiser, social gathering and design tradition at the same time.
Later Tributes And Reunions
The Aber Day tradition continued to echo long after the original Kegger ended. Mission Mountain Wood Band participated in later performances that deliberately referenced the event, including a 2017 reunion concert in Polson presented as a tribute to Aber Day.
For M2WB, the Kegger remains one of the clearest symbols of the period when a Montana college band became a regional institution.
Why Aber Day Still Matters To The Band Story
Many touring acts can point to famous venues, but M2WB had an event that was inseparable from its home-state identity. Aber Day placed the musicians in front of a large Montana audience while they were simultaneously building a career outside the region. That combination turned the Kegger into a recurring symbol of “coming home.”
The event also provides a strong intersection between the site’s concert history, visual material and pages about individual musicians. It is one of the places where the social history around the band becomes just as important as a set list.
