It’s hard to put the event into words. Fifteen locals tried.
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
Just about every year since 2014, the Big Sky Shootout has been an end-of-season celebration of Big Sky’s winter culture, offering raw glimpses into the lives and imaginations of core locals. The packed movie theater is never polite nor too critical, and instead full of laughable outbursts and friendly faces.
Put on every winter by Second Season, the 2026 Shootout received a record number of film and photography submissions and enjoyed another sellout year, according to Second Season founder and CEO Erik Morrison.
During the 8 p.m. showing of the Shootout’s 11th year, Explore Big Sky tapped more than a dozen attendees—some award-winning creators, others just stoked viewers—and asked the same question: What makes the Big Sky Shootout special and unique?
Here’s what they had to say.
Erik Morrison: I would say it’s inclusivity and accessibility. Inclusive of everyone and every aspect of Big Sky life, and it provides access to everyone wanting to see and tell those stories.
Sean Efferson: It brings the community together for local talent to show their amateur videos in a way that brings people together to smile, and laugh, and cheer. And it keeps the Dirtbag thing together.
Rob “Switchy” Leipheimer: I think that it’s one of our greatest events for community, basically. Everybody comes together, and you can be a part of it by submitting a video and everybody’s involved.
Alison Adams: It’s just everything Big Sky. It’s only us here—and it’s for us, by us.
Heather Rapp: The Shootout rivals Dirtbag as one of the most important and exciting events in the ski culture of Big Sky, because it showcases not only the silliness or culmination of dirtbags, but also this culture in its formality. So you have people coming to the Shootout, or submitting to the Shootout, in whatever form that they want… Any sort of culture that Big Sky defines… whether that’s the ski culture, whether it’s the real estate culture, whether it’s the bar culture—whatever it is… This event is a chance to celebrate, comment on, and showcase Big Sky in whatever way people want which is really special and important.
Dan Whitaker: I’d say what’s special, unique, is how these roots are deepening every year with more energy, more creativity, and more awesome.
Morgan Brooke: I love the ability to see everything from the community through a unique, different perspective with the community coming together… It’s a great opportunity for my son, as a [Lone Peak] High School graduate, to be part of this and be part of the community and show his work as he goes into film school.
Matt Rolfson: It just tends to be a bunch of community shenanigans, a lot of good locals just having the best [time] they can with the season, and it’s a cool way to showcase what goes on here in the winter.
Amelia Fogg: I just like to see my friends and homies up on the big screen.
Tim Dietz: This event is a celebration of all my friends, all of the culture that we celebrate. The life we live—that’s all it is.
Callie Stolz Dominick: I think the Big Sky Shootout is an awesome event. Not only because it brings locals together and celebrates our ski community culture, but because it gets people outside, being creative, and we all get to celebrate them.
Andrew Robin: For me, it’s just always a good time to get together with my friends, and new friends, and old friends. We just all come together and have a good time… You’re seeing more of the town and getting more involved because you’re just thinking a little bit differently, and I just love that overall vibe of just bringing people together, coming up with something creative within this small town, and going from there.
Dave McCaffery: I thought the Shootout was amazing. The local flavor that it gives you of the town and the people, and the activities. Just really made something special, it’s really nice to see and I can’t wait for the summer [Shootout].
Andrew Belli: It’s cool that it inspires people that maybe aren’t always super excited to go out and shoot [photos and videos]. Like, sometimes you need a reason to go out and give your work a purpose, and it’s hard to find that if you’re not doing it for work, or the passion isn’t always there. Even if you’re a creative person and you struggle with passion at times, having the end game and the goal of like, ‘this is what it’s for,’ it creates that drive, which is really cool. And I think that’s an important thing for people to have, because it just pushes you to be more creative, and have more fun with it, and just be more involved.
John “Rocky” Allen: Every year it is a rejuvenation of the community that makes this place great. You get to recognize the people and the places and the faces that make living here more special than a lot other places that don’t have as close-knit a community as we have.
Online voting for peoples’ choice will open in the coming days, once content is uploaded to Second Season’s YouTube channel. Viewers can vote on the Second Season website.
Morrison is proud that the event’s success has enabled him to launch the second phase of Second Season, a self-sustaining nonprofit arm focused on providing information, PSAs and actionable community-building initiatives in Big Sky. He plans to launch that phase by summer, and looks forward to activating at the Big Sky Farmers Market.
