When was the last time you walked into the building at 77 Lone Peak Drive? Plenty of people in Big Sky still call it Chopper's. Since April 2025 it has hosted a high school prom, a property-tax Q&A, youth art camps, cooking demonstrations and, on November 1 and 2, a DÃa de Muertos celebration. It is already working as an arts center. What it can't do yet is hold more than one of those things at a time.
On October 22, 2026, the Big Sky Resort Area District board voted another $1 million in resort tax money toward the remodel. That award goes at exactly this limit, which is also why the Arts Council's December calendar is spread across Big Sky.
Thirteen Years of Chopper's, Then a Closing Date
Chopper's Grub & Pub was a sports bar, grill and casino in Big Sky Town Center. It ran for 13 years. According to Explore Big Sky's November 2024 report on the sale, it had been closed for more than two years by then, and locals expected another restaurant to move in.
That didn't happen. The Arts Council of Big Sky closed on the purchase on November 15, 2024. A major lead gift from Big Sky resident Don Grasso made the deal possible. The Arts Council's project page puts his gift at $3 million.
The move was about space. For years the Arts Council rented an office and one multipurpose classroom at BASE, and it had outgrown both. With a single classroom, it had no dedicated venue for larger programs or visiting artists. The Arts Council has also said the new center is meant to complement the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center and the school district's arts facilities, not compete with them.
Open Since Prom Night
The first event in the building was the Lone Peak High School prom in April 2025. By that month it had set up an interim office, event venue and art-class space inside the old bar. The restaurant kitchen wasn't set up for cooking, but a prep kitchen was still usable.
Here is how the first stretch went:
- April 2025: The Big Sky Center for the Arts opens with the prom.
- Through spring 2025: More than 50 events with 40 community partners, including youth art camps, cultural cooking demonstrations and a property-tax Q&A.
- July 2026: Mariah Gladstone, founder of IndigiKitchen, leads a 20-person workshop on Indigenous food traditions on the building's back patio. Each guest took home a handmade ceramic bowl made by Arts Council pottery instructors.
- August 2026: In its latest project update, the Arts Council reports more than 60 partner organizations, more than 80 programs and events, and more than 3,000 people served. Youth programming is five times what it offered before the move.
- November 1–2, 2026: DÃa de Muertos fills the building with a public altar, ofrenda-making, storytelling, the Parade of Catrinas and an evening fiesta with DJ QueenE. Local schools visited on the second day.
The Arts Council's offices now work out of 77 Lone Peak Drive, so the lights are on there most weekdays.
One Room at a Time
All of that happened in a building with about 4,000 square feet of program space spread over two stories. In its own words, the Arts Council has had to turn down many ideas because it "can't host multiple activities at the same time until we remodel the space."
The Arts Council's December calendar shows what that means in practice. Its December listings are at Morningstar Learning Center, Bucks T-4, the Big Sky Waypoint and the Big Sky Chapel, not at its own building. Pottery still runs out of BASE because the clay studio hasn't moved. The center can hold one big event, like a prom or a two-day DÃa de Muertos. It can't hold a kids' class, an evening concert and a pottery session on the same Wednesday.
The Phase I plans are built around that problem. Here is the building today next to what the Arts Council has planned:
| Today | After the planned remodel | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Two stories, about 4,000 sq ft of program space | Four stories, 10,500 sq ft of program space |
| Classrooms | Shared, one activity at a time | Five classrooms |
| Pottery | Still at BASE | Pottery studio in the building |
| Kitchen | Old restaurant kitchen, prep kitchen only | Teaching kitchen |
| Music | Event space as available | Basement "sound garden" for performance, practice and recording |
| Outdoors | Back patio | Rooftop venue |
| Radio | None in the building | Home for KLPK 98.3 FM |
The Arts Council's August update also lists a youth art classroom, a gallery and multipurpose classroom, and a performance and event space in Phase I. "These dedicated spaces will allow multiple programs to happen at once," the update says.
What the October Vote Paid For
That's the gap the resort tax money is meant to close. At its October 22 meeting, the Big Sky Resort Area District board finalized $6,516,643 in fiscal year 2027 allocations across eight categories. According to Explore Big Sky's coverage of the meeting, the Arts Council received $1 million for the Big Sky Center for the Arts building transformation. That was just above its $999,999 request.
It isn't the district's first award for the building. The fiscal year 2026 allocations also list $1 million for "Big Sky Center for the Arts - Capital for a Building Transformation." Before that, in January 2025, Explore Big Sky reported that the Arts Council had asked for $2 million and the request was pushed to the next year's nonprofit funding cycle. Resort tax has now backed the building in two straight cycles, a million dollars at a time.
The October award is for the building, not for programs. The arts category totaled $1.5 million across four requests. The other big pieces went to programming: the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center got its full $250,000 request, and the Arts Council's Music in the Mountains summer series got $245,500 of the $255,000 it asked for.
On its project page, the Arts Council says its capital campaign is in a "quiet phase" with one-third of the needed funds raised. That count includes the Grasso gift and $1 million from the district. The next goal is enough major partner support to reach two-thirds. The page names only one district award, so it was likely written before the October vote. As of the August 2026 update, Phase I construction was still described as ahead, with no start date published.
Development Director Katie Alvin puts it this way on the Arts Council's project page:
"There's so much creative energy in the community that's ready to be tapped, and this creates the space for that."
The Radio Station on the Floor Plan
The radio station is the planned piece people know least about. The remodel plans include a new home for Big Sky's low-power FM station, KLPK 98.3 FM. As of the most recent update, the FCC's facility record for KLPK-LP showed a construction permit with the status "CP OFF AIR," dated February 3, 2026, not a broadcast license. For now, a local station run out of the old Chopper's is part of the plan, not something you can tune in to.
Walking In This Winter
Big Sky Resort opens on November 25, so Town Center is about to get busier. Here's what to know about the building between now and then:
- The building is open. The Arts Council's offices are at 77 Lone Peak Drive, and its project page invites people to stop by.
- Most winter classes are elsewhere for now. The December listings are at Morningstar Learning Center, Bucks T-4, the Big Sky Waypoint and the Big Sky Chapel, so check the venue on each event before you drive over.
- The calendar is on the Arts Council's site. Upcoming programs are posted at bigskyarts.org.
- Questions about the project go to development. For details or to get involved, the Arts Council lists Katie Alvin at [email protected] or 406-995-2472.
Since the purchase in November 2024, the old sports bar has gone from a building people expected to reopen as a restaurant to one that has held more than 80 programs and events, and it now has two straight $1 million votes behind its remodel.
I'm Tyler, and I spend a lot of time around Town Center and the canyon. If you want to talk about how places like 77 Lone Peak Drive fit into everyday life in Big Sky, or what's changing around Town Center this winter, Tyler Garrison is glad to sit down with you. Schedule a free consultation.
