Tourists to the area often try their luck digging for sapphires in ancient gravel deposits. Visitors enjoy great local hospitality, befitting of an old cowboy and mining town. The Grizzlies hang around the University's athletic department and are famous for smashing opponents in the Big Sky Conference, especially in men's basketball and football. As might be expected in a college town, many tea sippers populate local hangouts. Away from the university, Missoula is a regular sort of town.
Many folks work in forestry and forest products industries.
When in Missoula, Montana beer lovers stop at the Bayern Brewery for a mug of Bayern Pilsener or Bayern Amber, brewed by the resident Master Brewer. The brewery, the only German microbrewery in the Rockies, is know for its quality lager beers. Before leaving, patrons often pick up a baseball cap, stitched with the nifty Bayern logo. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Wildlife Visitor Center draws many nature lovers and conservationists to Missoula. Visitors to the Center enjoy educational displays, a wildlife art gallery, a gift shop, and a taxidermy collection of major mammals of the region, including a grizzly bear, a wolf, and a mountain goat.