The Baxter is a community center that hosts more than 100 events each year from weddings and holiday parties to conferences and fundraisers. Take Back the Night back is one of the many events that The Baxter is proud to collaborate on with local and non-profit organizations in Bozeman, including Montana State University, Students Against Sexual Assault, Not in Our House and the Help Center’s Sexual Assault Counseling Center. Take Back the Night is a week-long series of events held every year to protest violence, particularly sexual violence, against women. The events provide an opportunity for both men and women to come together to take a stand against violence and provide those who have been impacted with an opportunity to speak out and heal. Jack, a long-standing staff member of The Baxter, remembers participating in the Take Back the Night march in the spring of 2009 as a student attending MSU. The evening began with a rally on the steps of the Strand Union Building (SUB) at MSU. Chicks with Sticks, Bozeman’s premier bucket band, lead everyone in the march from the SUB to The Baxter. Chicks with Sticks celebrate’s life’s diversity in its many forms, and is known in the Bozeman community for being active in supporting gay and lesbian issues, women’s empowerment and other social justice work. “There was a mass of people, mostly MSU students, marching with the Montana Women’s Chorus and Chicks with Sticks down Main Street,” Jack recalls, “We walked all the way from the SUB to The Baxter where there was a Rock Against Rape Concert in the Ballroom.” Jack distinctly remembers the concert that night...
