Rain Barrel Workshops
By Tracy Wendt, Executive Director
In 2018, I moved to Great Falls to work for the Sun River Watershed Group. I had been working on flood recovery projects for the Big Thompson Watershed Coalition in Colorado, and was excited to bring ideas from that organization to my new work area. One of those ideas was the Rain Barrel Workshop. We had held a successful workshop in Colorado, and I hoped it would be a popular event here as well – and it has been! In 2025, SRWG will hold our fourth rain barrel workshop on May 10 in Fairfield. More on that to come…
At a rain barrel workshop, participants register and pay online (fee varies depending on the size of barrels we’re able to acquire and the amount of sponsorships we receive). At the event, participants receive a barrel and a tote bag containing rain barrel hardware, instructions, tips for maintenance, and some SRWG swag. Participants learn how rain barrels help conserve water by capturing rain for lawn and garden use, reducing the strain on municipal water supplies and reducing nonpoint source pollution. SRWG helps participants drill holes in their barrels and provides instruction and tips for installing the barrel at home, then the fun begins. SRWG supplies paint, stencils, and other implements for decorating the rain barrels. And some of them turn out to be real works of art!
In 2020, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, SRWG decided to host our first rain barrel workshop. Not the best timing, but we had funding from Project Rain Barrel, barrels from Coca-Cola High Country, and Cascade Conservation District (now High Plains Conservation District) helped us get an education mini-grant through the Montana Association of Conservation Districts (MACD). We held the event at the Beacon Icehouse, located on the Sun River in Great Falls, because it has plenty of room for our event attendees to spread out. The weather was beautiful. The event sold out. Cascade Conservation District sponsored lunch for attendees, and it ended up being a really nice day and a successful event. We held another workshop in 2022 using the same format. In 2024, we held a workshop in Choteau with funding assistance from MACD through Teton Conservation District.
This brings us to the 2025 event. The Fairfield Bench has experienced water shortages, affecting irrigation, groundwater recharge, and municipal water supplies, which has resulted in restrictions to personal water uses, such as watering your lawn and garden. For this reason, our next workshop will be held May 10 at the Fairfield American Legion Park (or inside the community hall, in case of bad weather). We are partnering with Copper Creek Coffee to provide breakfast or lunch for each participant. And we’re adding something new this year, borrowed from my experience in Colorado: local artist Lena Lyth will be creating one of her Trout Barrels, which we will auction off to help raise funds for future events (image below). Lena will be painting the barrel at the workshop, we’ll have a raffle for a couple weeks, then we’ll announce the winning bidder at a pint night at the end of May. Be sure to check our webpage and Facebook for more information.
Registration is open now for this year’s workshop. CLICK HERE for more information. Our 2025 event is sponsored by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), US Bureau of Reclamation, Bells Brewery, and Coca-Cola High Country. We are currently looking for sponsors for our 2026 workshop, which will be held in Great Falls. Contact Tracy or Madison if you are interested in being a sponsor.
