Montana Folk Festival could be a scorcher, new app helps check your sunscreen

The Montana Folk Festival is just about to begin in Butte and it's going to be a hot one.

"I’ve just been trying to hang out in the tents that they’ve been putting up everywhere and drinking lots of water," says Brandi Shipp, a volunteer for the 2024 music festival.

And is she wearing sunscreen?

"No. I’m trying to get as much sun as I can, ok?" says Shipp as she gestures and her friends giggle.

Shipp is one of hundreds of volunteers working in the heat and sun to set up for the Montana Folk Festival.

While she's decided not to use sunscreen, caregivers from Intermountain Health caution that because of Butte's elevation, adding skin protection is a must this weekend.

"We’re pretty darn close to the sun just because of our elevation, so those rays are getting down to the ground more than they do in a place with a lower elevation," says Jerri Doyle, oncologist service director at Intermountain.

Doyle says skin cancer is one of the most common types of cancer and sunscreen application is one way to prevent it.

MTN met with Doyle in the cancer clinic at the hospital where she showed us a piece of technology that will help determine if sunscreen is blocking out all the harmful rays.

Everything was a deep purplish blue color on a UV-detecting iPad, but when sunscreen is applied, the color started changing to a deeper shade of blueberry.

"It’s going to be hot and we want people to be safe but we want them to have fun," says Doyle.

Doyle and her team will be handing out chapstick, sunglasses and sunscreen, as well as little UV patches shaped like hearts and stars that turn purple when it's time to reapply sunscreeen.

"I’m putting my sunblock on. I’m wearing my shorts that I cut into shorts this morning — jeans I’ve cut into shorts this morning. Um, lots of water and I always just tell people that I’m cool as a cucumber so I’m actually cool all the time," says Chyenne Baird, another Montana Folk Fest volunteer.

People can stop by Intermountain Health's booth at the Original Mineyard — also known as the Main Stage — on Friday night and Saturday during the day to check out their sunscreen application.