RYEGATE - In these troubling economic times, Gordon Clark has dreamed up his own stimulus plan for the small town of Ryegate - a mountain man rendezvous.

"It's just a good time," Clark said. "And to show people what the town's about."

Best of all, it's free.

This weekend there will be free camping, a free dinner of cream can stew and roast beef, events and entertainment. All the visitors need to bring is camping gear, a favorite dish to share and some utensils.

No more boom

Ryegate, with a population now around 250, was a going concern years ago. When Clark, 65, was growing up in the town near where his grandparents homesteaded, the train still passed through, there were three filling stations, an International dealer, a lumber company, two grocery stores and 100 students in the high school.

He married his high school sweetheart, Shirley, and they moved away. Nine years ago, they moved back. The town has changed. Ryegate has become an older community with few jobs, he said. But it's still got a "great little grocery store," two bars, a café and a K-12 school. Best of all, it's a fairly inexpensive place to live, he said.

These are some of the amenities he'd like people to see firsthand.

"I'd like to get 500 to 600 extra people in this town (for the rendezvous)," he said. "I'm trying to get some people who haven't been here, and it won't cost them a dime.

"Nobody does anything anymore in these small communities for free, everyone wants to make money," Clark said. He's out to change that situation.

By rounding up sponsors, cajoling friends and neighbors and digging into his own pockets, the Ryegate real estate salesman has been able to organize the festival, which runs Friday through Sunday. Clark said the idea was born after he attended a neighbor's rendezvous.

Mountain time

Dwight Riley, aka Wind Walker, has been re-enacting the mountain man lifestyle for about 17 years. He fell in love with the gatherings after being invited by friends to attend a Red Lodge rendezvous.

"I've always been an outside-living person," said Riley, 70, a retired heavy-equipment operator. "I've always loved to camp, hunt and fish. One guy told me, 'You've rendezvoused all your life, you just weren't wearing the right clothes.' "

Riley invited some of his friends to the Ryegate camp, which will be situated along the banks of the Musselshell River, an area trapped and hunted by mountain men long before Montana became a state. At the camp, Riley and his friends will be dressed in period clothing. There will be a clinic on beaver trapping and beaver skinning. There will be mountain man wares for sale or trade, along with some knife- and tomahawk-throwing competitions and games for children.

"We're trying to entertain and educate people about it," Riley said, and he'd like to recruit a few more people into the mountain man way of life. "We need more people."

Riley said he enjoys a rendezvous because it allows him to step back in time to a place where "you don't have all the stress and cares of the modern-day world."

"We're trying to re-create the way the mountain men lived back then, and it's a hell of a lot better than this modern era," Riley said.

Contact Brett French at french@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1387.

If you go

The Ryegate mountain man rendezvous will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the banks of the Musselshell River. A free dinner will be offered Saturday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Participants are asked to bring their own utensils and a favorite dish. Roast beef and cream can stew will be provided. Free camping will be available. For more information, call 406-568-2435.