Making a Mess
by Adrien Costa
Behind the scenes of the Wretched Mess Fest.
If you happen to have been walking around West Yellowstone in the late 1960s, you may have noticed a peculiar-looking Volkswagen van, sporting moose antlers up front and a tail out back. The quirky guy driving that van, a transplanted advertising executive from San Francisco, was David Bascom. Urged by his doctor to get out of the city and release some stress, Bascom moved to West Yellowstone and took up a new hobby: fishing.
In his free time out of waders, Bascom’s eclectic wit and creativity as a writer and artist were able to shine. He began steadily putting out satirical, sometimes self-deprecating cartoons and articles promoting the place, and activity, he’d come to love so dearly. Operating under the pseudonym Milford “Stanley” Poltroon, Bascom’s Wretched Mess News shipped out enough publications to spur the creation of a real post office in town, putting West Yellowstone on the map for good. Hanging out with local anglers of legend like Bud Lilly and Cal Dunbar, Bascom indelibly tied himself to the history of West Yellowstone, which, by the 1980s, had become a full-fledged fly-fishing mecca.
The Wretched Mess Festival goes, without a doubt, far beyond t-shirts and rubber tomahawks.
Indeed, an astounding amount of people and fly shops started in West Yellowstone and its surroundings in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, and many have moved on to create even bigger, better things in the fly-fishing industry.
Nowadays, it’s easy to dismiss West Yellowstone—with its busloads of tourists and stores full of t-shirts, rubber tomahawks, and national-park postcards—as a tourist trap. But under the surface, a core group of locals are hanging on tightly to what made its name in the first place.
Carrie Coan, executive director of the West Yellowstone Foundation, had the idea to start an art festival in town. Marysue Costello, a longtime local and former head of the Chamber of Commerce, recalled the days of David Bascom and in his memory urged Coan to call it the Wretched Mess Festival. After focusing the inaugural event on art, Coan approached Joe Moore and Dinah DiMeolo of Big Sky Anglers—a guide service and fly shop, formerly Bud Lilly’s Trout Shop—about incorporating fly fishing into the following year’s event.
Since then, the Wretched Mess Festival has quietly remained true to its roots and history, with the goal of bringing together anglers of any experience level. “It’s really neat seeing everybody get together and share that community atmosphere that sometimes gets lost at the big shows,” says DiMeolo. “We have a youth fly-tying corner where kids that have never touched a vice can learn. Experienced anglers have the opportunity to talk to reps and ask questions like ‘Why is my cast going a certain way?’ or ‘Can I try this rod out?’ and they’ll walk out to the pond and work on their casting stroke or whatnot. We have that close-knit community of people—including lifelong fishermen in West Yellowstone—who are so willing to help others, willing to shake your hand and take you out to the pond and teach you something, whether you’re 10 or 80. Which is kind of hard to come by these days.”
The casting competition at the Bob Jacklin pond has become a main attraction at the event, attracting big names from the fishing world and occasionally, a surprisingly adept local politician or two. With youth, intermediate, and professional categories, anyone can enter to win quality prizes—“really nice fly rods,” says Moore—and have a blast.
Beyond community, education, and competition, the festival hosts a free wader-repair station, chalk art commemorating David Bascom, booths and reps from a variety of fishing brands, and two nights of live music from local bands.
Nowadays, it’s easy to dismiss West Yellowstone as a tourist trap. But under the surface, a core group of locals are hanging on tightly to what made its name in the first place.
Explains Moore: “I want to be clear—this isn’t a Big Sky Anglers event. This is an event that the whole community puts on. It’s a really unique thing; even though we’re all competing professionally for the same business, we’ve always been able to set that stuff aside and go fishing together, grab a drink together, catch up about life together, and put on this festival together.”
“And listen to good music and eat good food!” DiMeolo adds.
And what a place to do so. The casting pond was built in the 1970s by Bob Jacklin himself, right by the historic Union Pacific Dining Hall, which was designed and constructed in 1911 by the same folks that built the Old Faithful Inn. The old railroad used to run right through, and the gorgeous space has been repurposed to host community events, complete with high timber ceilings and pillars of rhyolite rock. Outside, live music is set on a stage with the century-old structure, and the lazy sunsets of late summer, as a timeless backdrop.
The festival hosts a free wader-repair station, chalk art commemorating David Bascom, booths and reps from a variety of fishing brands, and two nights of live music from local bands.
The Wretched Mess Festival goes, without a doubt, far beyond t-shirts and rubber tomahawks.
“People tend to forget,” says Moore, “that most of us live here because Yellowstone Park is here, the Madison River is here, the Henry’s Fork is right around the corner, you have world-class lake fishing here too… it’s all about being outside. There’s the idea that West Yellowstone doesn’t have much to offer and is a tourist trap and that’s not true. There’s been some shift of businesses that have come to town in the last few years and made people think the town is full of junk, but it’s not. There remains a core group of people here that care about it as a community and want to show it off, and this festival ties all of that together.”
Be sure to join in the fun at this year’s festival, September 5-6. More information, an event schedule, and more history can be found here.