Toucan Opens Tuesday, February 6
Yes, we made it...
Okay, so I know it’s been a little while since Toucan’s last dispatch—it turns out there’s quite a bit of work to be done to reinvent, remake, and reinvigorate an over 40-year-old business in a new location, a process we started all the way back in September of 2022—but we are pleased to announce that we made it, we’re here, and Toucan will reopen on Tuesday, February 6 in our new location at 1002 2nd Avenue North.
Yes, Toucan opens next week!
I was working on a dispatch a month ago that would have communicated another progress update, but then I imagined that everyone, for the most part, merely wants to know when this process is done. Enough already with the updates on the delays, whether they be inevitable or not. Just tell me when you’re open again. And so here we are: done (but for some landscaping that will necessarily need to wait until spring) and opening on Tuesday.
That’s right, Toucan opens next week!
We had no intention when we started this process to be opening in the middle of winter, a decidedly non-ideal time to introduce a refreshed iteration of a long-standing Billings business, the irony of rebirth in the season of dormancy and death. But then we actually haven’t had much of a winter in terms of its conventional conditions, with the temperature on this January day that I write this reading 62 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, what does winter in Montana even mean when it’s 62 degrees? The extreme temperatures well below zero a couple of weeks ago attempted to resurrect winter’s scorn, but the resultant broken pipes and flooded rooms rang of crisis rather than melancholy, and so I sought out the bell of Baudelaire to try to hear some ring of truth regarding the season:
“Nothing is as tedious as the limping days,
When snowdrifts yearly cover all the ways,
And ennui, sour fruit of incurious gloom,
Assumes control of fate’s immortal loom.”
In any case, whatever the nature of your winter-induced frame of mind, there is now the fact that Toucan is indeed back in business, however it is the weather might manifest, this business dedicated to the creative spirit with the same name as a tropical bird that in and of itself just might be the tonic your gin of ennui was missing. We know we have missed you. So please come see us so we can reflect and ruminate in person.
Because Toucan opens next week!
Come to catch up with not just us, the proprietors, Mark and Allison, and our accumulation of stories and gossip, ideas and initiatives, but the work of our Toucan family: artists and friends who make up this community enterprise dedicated to contributing to an improved quality of life in this place we all call home.
We know Toucan was on Montana Avenue for a long time and everyone got pretty comfortable with that, but we think you’re going to like our new facility in East Downtown even more, a state-of-the-art facility that rises to the modern moment of art and beauty in Billings. It’s the same Toucan, new and improved.
The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Toucan is now located at 1002 2nd Avenue North (it’s on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and North 10th Street), and is open 10:30 – 5, Tuesday – Friday, and 10:30 – 4 on Saturday.
We have a parking lot you can enter from 2nd Avenue, and that’s probably the easiest place to park, off the street, so you don’t have to contend with any wayward traffic. That’s where our main entrance is. You can also park at the curb on 10th (which you can see above) and come in the door there. Perfectly fine.
So, again:
Toucan opens on Tuesday, February 6.
Location:
1002 2nd Avenue North
Hours:
10:30 – 5 | Tuesday – Friday
10:30 – 4 | Saturday
We don’t plan on moving again, so: this is it.
We really look forward to seeing everybody. It’s been too long.
RE: TOUCAN, THE NEWSLETTER
Ostensibly an art gallery, gift boutique, and custom picture framing shop, Toucan is the physical manifestation of Allison’s and my vision and values with respect to art and design, beauty and existence. This newsletter is, of course, a literary realization of Toucan. A Toucan for readers, if you will. It also happens to be the best way to know what’s going on at the physical manifestation of Toucan. But as I’ve written before, it isn’t really marketing or promotion. It’s its own thing. Another kind of Toucan. Each can exist without the other, but maybe each is enhanced by the other such that they need each other. I don’t know, but what I do know is that now that the building project is complete, I can come back to this version of Toucan and you will be reading here in the coming months about all manner of things related to what Toucan is: art, artists, design, beauty, the human condition, the creative spirit, community. Local things. Other things.
I should also mention that we have some exciting new initiatives, opportunities, and events that I will be announcing in the coming months with respect to the new Toucan. This is the best place to hear about them, so stay tuned.
AND ONE MORE THING
Toucan opens next week, on Tuesday, February 6. We can’t wait to see you.
Looks great! Can't wait to see the new space in person!
A beautiful new space that totally aligns with Mark and Allison’s aesthetic ~ distinctive quality framing, beautiful gifts and art. An outdoor venue for art and music events; a gathering space for creatives of all sorts! Hooray!