People dressed up in animal costumes at the 2023 WildWalk festival in Missoula, Montana.

The WildWalk is April 20th, 2024

You’re invited to join the pack: celebrate your connection to the WILD! Dress up as your favorite flora or fauna and walk, hop, or crawl down Higgins Ave towards the XXXX’s!

Parade start 11:00am (staging begins 10:30am).

Sponsored by

Attention!

Aerial view of downtown Missoula with locations for staging of WildWalk parade.

WildFest

WildFest picks up at 11:30am where the WildWalk parade ends at the XXXX’s and BN Plaza with live music, food trucks, and fun activities hosted by local organizations dedicated to sharing knowledge with our community about wildlife and conservation.

Interested in being a vendor at this year’s WildFest? Please fill out this form: WildFest Vendor Registration

Sponsored by

WildWalk Artist in Residence

Shelby Baldridge is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Missoula, Montana. She works fluidly between sculpture, painting and installation and currently teaches a Drawing Foundations course at the University of Montana as an adjunct instructor.

Regardless of the medium, Shelby’s work centers the nonhuman world and draws from themes related to biological evolution and the connections between species, as well as the sense of wonder that can arise from encounters with the natural world. Her sculptural work utilizes easily obtainable materials such as chicken wire, papier-mâché and repurposed fabric that contrast the natural, organic forms she creates.

Baldridge was born and raised in Montana where she enjoyed ample access to the outdoors and cultivated a curiosity for natural sciences like botany and ecology at a young age. She received her BFA in painting from the University of Montana in 2012, and later completed an MFA in Visual Studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR. She is thrilled to reconnect to the Missoula art community and greatly enjoys teaching art as well.

Shelby looks toward camera in black and white image.

Photo credits to Daruma Party & Grey Cap Media.