Montana Folk Fest 2014: Art Car Culture

Montana Public Radio

Published July 30, 2014 at 1:28 PM MDT

1 of 16

"Extremo" dancing with his monkey mask to Michael Jackson tunes that blasted from a speaker built into the side of the "art car."

Christopher Allen

2 of 16

Scott Campbell, AKA "Extremo the Clown, AKA Portland Monkey Man talks with a Montana Folk Festival visitor next to his 2003 Chevy Astro which he converted into a bronze-colored work of art on wheels.

Christopher Allen

3 of 16

Extremo Van

Christopher Allen

4 of 16

Extremo Van

Christopher Allen

5 of 16

Extremo Van

Christopher Allen

6 of 16

Extremo Van

Christopher Allen

7 of 16

Extremo Van

Christopher Allen

8 of 16

Reverend Bill's Vacation Bible Camp is literally a holy rolling station wagon of heresy. Probably.

Christopher Allen

9 of 16

Reverend C.E. Linville - Bill was his Labrador who died at the healthy age of 17 - built the construction orange satirical art car in honor of his canine friend, but says most people don't get it. And that's just how he likes it.

Christopher Allen

10 of 16

C.E. Linville drove the 1972 Chevrolet Kingswood to Butte, Montana all the way from Portland, Oregon to take part in the 2014 Montana Folk Festival art car exhibit.

Christopher Allen

11 of 16

Cheekily titled "The ChewBaru", Rex Rosenburg constructed his art car out of a 1995 Subaru and more than 150 pounds of dentures, partials, toothbrushes and dental tools.

Christopher Allen

12 of 16

Car creator Rex Rosenburg says "The ChewBaru" has driven almost 90,000 miles, through 38 states since first gumming into the Houston art car parade in 2006.

Christopher Allen

13 of 16

"The ChewBaru"

Christopher Allen

14 of 16

Business owner Howard Davis originally created the "Phone Car" to promote his telephone company. Now the street legal art car travels from its home in Avon, Mass., to festivals and parades across the country.

Christopher Allen

15 of 16

"The Shiniest Oldsmobile on Earth" by creators Bob Corbett and Renee Scherrer, they transformed the 1970 vehicle using nearly 700 pieces of mirror in 1990.

Christopher Allen

16 of 16

Car co-creator Bob Corbett was a visual artist and building engineer who passed away in 2008. He was good friends with the preeminent daredevil Evel Knieval, loved palindromes, and often went by his artist moniker "OXO."

Christopher Allen

The 2015 Montana Folk Festival starts on July 10. To tide you over until this weekend, here's a great recap and slideshow about the musicians and the crazy art cars on display at last year's festival.

The fourth annual Montana Folk Festival recently took over Butte, Mont., fulfilling its annual promise of music, dancing, food, and a big hill to climb. Montana Public Radio's Christopher Allen was there and shares this behind the scenes recap of not only the music and the performers, but also some quirky examples of folk art never before seen at the Montana Folk Festival.