This Montana Town Is Building the Ultimate Potato Cookbook

The Manhattan Potato Festival is turning 40 in 2026 with a big celebration planned for Saturday, August 15. The theme for this year is Heritage: A Journey Through the Years. Four decades of spuds, stories, and small-town magic? That’s something worth celebrating.

To mark the milestone, festival organizers are putting together a special commemorative community cookbook, and they want to hear about all of your favorite potato recipes.

If you live in Montana and have a love for potatoes, now’s your chance to cement your family’s legendary scalloped potatoes, secret potato salad, or “grandma-won’t-give-you-the-full-recipe” casserole into local history.

Get our free mobile app

This isn’t just a recipe roundup. The cookbook is a joint effort with the Manhattan Area Museum & Historical Society, which means they’re also looking for recipe excerpts, old photos, and even local ranch brands from the area. Basically, if it tells the story of Manhattan's history, and maybe involves butter, it is exactly what they're looking for.

Potatoes and potato farming have long been a part of the foundation on Manhattan. Families have farmed that area for generations. The Manhattan Potato Festival is a celebration of that longstanding legacy.

Organizers are also hinting at a few other special projects in the works for the 40th anniversary, so expect this year’s celebration to be bigger than ever.

If you’ve got something delicious (or historic) to share, email your submissions to phebner@bresnan.net with “Community Cookbook” in the subject line. The deadline is March 31.

Boil it. Mash it. Bake it. I'll be sending over my Grandma's famous potato soup recipe. Let’s make this the most Montana cookbook ever.