How Big Sky’s Community Support Group welcomes seasonal workers
By Fischer Genau DIGITAL MEDIA LEAD
Editor’s note: The Community Support Group is featured in “Stay for the Season,” a new EBS documentary about seasonal workers in Big Sky.
In Big Sky, seasonal workers outnumber full-time residents nearly two to one. According to a recent Big Sky economic impact report, 4,322 people traveled to Big Sky in 2023 to work as servers, lifties, cleaners, cooks, and otherwise to fill roles needed during the busy winter and summer seasons, compared to just 2,732 full-time residents. Big Sky’s temps travel from far and wide, with many coming from other countries on J-1 and H-2B travel and work visas, mostly to staff big resorts like the Yellowstone Club, Big Sky Resort and the Montage. Some of them have never seen snow. Others speak almost no English. And all of them are thrust into a brand new life that they have to navigate all on their own.
The Community Support Group is a new, independent organization in Big Sky designed to help this segment of the population. Founded in 2023, the CSG aims to welcome seasonal workers to Big Sky by organizing activities for them, introducing them to other seasonal workers, and directing them to resources that may help them during their stay.
“We’re just trying to give all kinds of options for people who work here to meet other workers besides just the ones they live with or work with, and to meet locals and to find out that we are a place that’s inclusive and welcoming and enjoys having these workers here,” Laura Seyfang, the CSG’s coordinator, told EBS.
During the 2024-25 winter season, the CSG organized 16 events for seasonal workers, including a welcome party at Tips Up, in-home dinners with locals and tubing at the Montage. The group also compiles potentially useful resources, such as social security information, health and accident insurance, transportation options, banking and emergency services, in a guide for seasonal workers available through Visit Big Sky.
The Big Sky Rotary Club and All Saints Church have hosted annual dinners for seasonal workers for over eight years. The CSG sprang out of that tradition, and multiple organizations and individuals have since gotten involved. The Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, Lone Mountain Land Company, the Yellowstone Club, and Big Sky Resort all have representatives volunteering with the CSG to create more opportunities for their employees.
“I tell our J-1s and our H-2Bs, ‘This is your chance to do things on TV,’” Michelle Nierling, the dining and culinary administrator at the Yellowstone Club, told EBS. “Visit [Yellowstone National Park], go mountain biking, go white water rafting… Any kind of first that they can do that they don’t have access to or have maybe never even heard of before, those are the things that I want them to do.”
Nierling works with the CSG to organize events, and last year she hosted one of the in-home dinners. Michelle says it’s one of the most rewarding things she’s done.
“I’m just very glad to be a part of it,” Nierling said. “It is one of the most important things to me here in Big Sky.”
Seyfang says she was motivated to launch the Community Support Group by her own experiences traveling to other countries.
“I know that when I went someplace by myself and didn’t know anybody, it was kind of scary,” Seyfang said. “But the things I remember about each of those work assignments now was how I felt and how somebody made me feel welcome there. So I want to replicate that for all these people that are coming here.”
Helping make connections
On Dec. 17, 2024, a local walking into Tips Up bar in Big Sky’s Town Center would have been greeted by an unusual scene: over 50 people packed in on a Tuesday night, hailing from as far away as the Philippines, Turkey and Argentina with many speaking in their native tongue. That’s a remarkably diverse group anywhere, but especially for a mountain town in southwest Montana.
The CSG was hosting their annual winter welcome party for seasonal workers, and volunteers from the group floated around the crowded room handing out packets full of information. The event was designed for seasonal workers from different employers to get the chance to meet each other, and to officially welcome them to their temporary home.
WATCH: The opening scene of “Stay for the Season” captures the Tips Up welcome party.
“We really help people network and meet each other,” Nierling said. “It’s great to see these friendships kind of blossom.”
Now, the CSG is gearing up for their summer schedule of events as a new batch of workers trickles in for the summer rush. Their first event will be a welcome dinner on June 10 from 5 to –8 p.m. at Fire Pit Park, and it will be followed by bowling at the Montage, discounted Yellowstone National Park tours, a series of in-home dinners with locals, community hikes, and more events listed online.
Challenges
The group will also arrange free rides into Bozeman for seasonal workers to go shopping. Most of them arrive in Big Sky without cars, so transportation can be a challenge. Many rely on coworkers and friends to get around, which makes it difficult for them to explore the area on their own, but Seyfang says that the Skyline Bus system has made transportation much easier.
Another challenge is housing. Employers are responsible for finding housing for many of their seasonal workers, but not every situation is ideal.
“Sometimes it’s a lot of people in a pretty small place,” Seyfang said. “But that’s something that’s getting better as we’re building more workforce housing and as there’s more seasonal housing.”
The other big obstacle that many seasonal workers face is the language barrier. Seasonal workers typically only stay for between four and 12 months, and those who don’t know much English when they arrive don’t have much time to learn.
Natalie Hernandez, a 33-year-old civil engineer and aspiring barista from Bogotá, Colombia, who worked at the Rainbow Ranch Lodge from June 2024 to June 2025, spent two of her evenings off each week driving to Bozeman with a friend to attend English classes.
“That’s exhausting for you to constantly have to be trying to translate and figure out what someone is saying, and I see that struggle with many of the folks,” Seyfang said.
‘Give them an experience they’re going to remember forever’
With the Community Support Group, Seyfang wants to help seasonal workers manage these challenges. She also wants them to have fun.
“They’re not going to remember work so much in 10 years, right? Give them an experience that they’re going to remember forever, and say, ‘Wow, that Montana was not only beautiful, but the people really made us feel good there,’” Seyfang said.
Moving forward, Seyfang wants to provide more opportunities for the community to get involved in the Community Support Group’s work.
“As the Community Support Group grows, I think we’ll just keep exploring ways to be more effective, and also ways to let more of the community members who want to get involved also engage,” Seyfang said. “Figuring out ways to connect with them is a great opportunity for our town to not just make a great human experience for them, but for us too.”
Big Sky residents can volunteer with the CSG through the Volunteer Big Sky Hub, or contact lauraseyfang@sbcglobal.net for other ways to get involved.
