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BLOTTER: Camper catches fire in Somers
Reports from Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, based in Bigfork. July 16 In Somers, a camper was reported on fire off the highway near Marco Bay. Kids were reported riding through Bigfork on dirt bikes with no helmets. July 17 A firearm was found during a hotel room cleaning. July 18 A person reported their dog was attacked by the neighbor’s dog on their own property. July 19 A dog was reported left in a car. July 20 A woman reported her aunt and boyfriend shoved her and attempted to take her cat. Shoplifting was reported at a retail store. July 21 A dog was reported left in a vehicle. A verbal argument was reported between a woman and her ex husband. A large bonfire was reported at a residential property. A party was reported for noise and a fire at the public dock beach.
HAPPENINGS: Flathead Cherry Festival, Bear Fair, Bring Your Own Book Club
WEDNESDAY, July 24Forest Insects and Disease Workshop led by Montana DNRC at Swan Valley Connections, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. More info at swanvalleyconnections.org/events. Bigfork Farmers Market Cooperative at 22 Swan Way in Bigfork, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ImagineIF Bigfork Kids Wednesday Workshop, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Free community dinner at Bethany Lutheran Church, 6 p.m. Bud Mackenzie’s “And Then Came the Taliban” presentation at Bigfork High School, 6 p.m. THURSDAY, July 25Drop-in fiber circle at Fiber, 11 a.m .to 1 p.m. SATURDAY, July 27Flathead Cherry Festival in downtown Polson, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. More info at http://tinyurl.com/FlatheadCherryFestival. Swan Valley Connections Bear Fair at Swan River Community Hall, 12...
Wheels of Time: Stagecoach tours at Wrangler Springs Ranch
Dale Mee and Doug Howser are hooking the horses up to the stagecoach before the summer heat fills the barn, their mustaches waxed to hooked points “for historical accuracy, and a little drama.”Bigfork Stagecoach Rides and Rentals is new to Wrangler Springs Ranch this summer, but stagecoaches have been running in the Flathead since its early years of settlement. The coach Mee and Howser pulled on Friday, a tall, rambling yellow and red wagon, is called a Yellowstone stagecoach. It used to run through Yosemite National Park. Similar coaches would have run through Glacier National Park. The job is a...
Woods Bay author’s book delves into secrets of Flathead Lake
When Butch Larcombe was a kid, he spent his summers out on Flathead Lake, fishing. A fourth-generation Montanan raised in Malta, along the hi-line, Larcombe found escape from the heat and wind when he visited his grandparents in Lakeside. He also found mysteries hidden in the deep, cold waters. “I used to spend a lot of time on the lake fishing with my grandfather and my dad, and I would hear little snippets of stories, some of which I kind of fleshed out in [‘Historic Tales of Flathead Lake’],” Larcombe said. Larcombe’s new book, “Historic Tales of Flathead Lake,” is...
Bigfork Library design team had a focus on ethical building practices
The new Bigfork branch of Flathead County Library — set to open August 6 — is one of a series of projects worldwide that aims to draw awareness toward unethical practices in the building industry, according to the firm behind the branch’s architecture.The Design For Freedom movement is an initiative started by the Grace Farms Foundation, a nonprofit which runs Grace Farms, a “center for culture and collaboration” based in New Canaan, Connecticut, according to its website. The movement requires selected pilot projects to ethically source at least five materials for the construction. The Bigfork library is an anomaly among...
Adaptive recreation program makes splash during watersports week
Sitting on a sit water ski in Echo Lake, Erik Barnes yells “Hit it!” Quickly he’s carving through the wake behind the boat, at one point hitting a wave and jumping three feet before tumbling into the water. It was 90 degrees on Tuesday afternoon at Echo Lake, the water was a warm 74. Children, parents, caregivers and participants of DREAM Adaptive Recreation lined the shores of the lake, in lifejackets and on various sorts of watercraft, with beaming smiles and cheers of encouragement. It was a perfect day for boating, which is exactly what DREAM Adaptative Recreation participants took...
Freemasons award annual trades scholarships
Bigfork Masonic Lodge 150 held their scholarship award luncheon July 8 and presented three Bigfork High School students with $1,000 scholarships each. This year’s awardees were Kris Burggraf, Ivy Everson and Delcy Stewart. Burggraf will delve into Culinary Arts at Flathead Valley Community College, Stewart will study cosmetology at Crevier’s Academy, and Everson will pursue nursing at Montana State University. The Masonic Lodge is able to offer these vocational scholarships each year through an investment account created from the sale of the now-VFW building. The Masons also recently gifted the Bigfork Community Choir $200 for books and five Kindles to Bigfork ACES for their afterschool program for children. “Without trades, where is the country going to be?” Master of Lodge Jeffrey Sweet said. “There’s going to be nobody to do electrical work or fix your car or build houses. That’s important, so we want to get kids into the trades... Every little bit probably helps them out.” From left, Jeffrey Sweet, Master of Lodge , presents an award to Delcy Stewart with her mother Emily on July 8. (Courtesy photo)
Botello talks a wide range of issues facing Flathead Forest
Anthony Botello recently had a good look at the Flathead National Forest. Many would say the best part of the Forest.Last month he floated down the South Fork of the Flathead River from Big Prairie to Meadow Creek with staffers in the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. It was a sort of homecoming for Botello. In 1993 he worked on the Spotted Bear District in a Forest Service exchange, where some staff went to the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho, where Botello was normally stationed, and he and other firefighters went to the Bob.“It’s a gorgeous landscape,” Botello said...
Flathead Forest OKs 3 projects to reduce wildfire risks
Work is expected to begin this fall on projects aimed at reducing the severity of wildfires at three locations around the Flathead Valley. The Flathead National Forest on Wednesday approved up to 1,633 acres of fuel breaks along Ashely Lake west of Kalispell, Good Creek northwest of Whitefish and Lion Hill near Martin City. Each of the projects is located within a so-called wildland urban interface where forested areas abut residential communities. The work on Ashley Lake is planned for 330 acres near Rand Creek along the north shore. Private homes and two public campgrounds encircle the lake. The Good Creek fuel...
Forest management could help Montanans breathe easier next fire season
We’ve all watched the white haze roll in on an otherwise sunny afternoon and lost the mountains and buttes on the horizon with it. While this haze produces some awesome sunsets, wildfire smoke also brings a slew of issues with it. There’s the omnipresent tickle in your throat to start, and if the fires are bad enough or close enough, they can cancel outdoor activities and make others extremely difficult and uncomfortable. Not to mention the looming possibility of having to evacuate should the fires get too close for comfort. This discomfort can even become harmful. Over the last few...
Bigfork revives community choir for the summer
Warm light fell through stained glass and poured over a dozen singers, some still in their work clothes, as the Bigfork Summer Community Choir filled Community United Methodist Church with music Monday night. The summer choir began June 10, resurrected after a near 23-year hiatus from the last Bigfork community choir. “There aren’t a lot of churches that have choirs anymore, and there’s lots of reasons for that,” Community United pastor Wendy Ochs said. “People enjoy choir music and people love to sing, so we just thought it would be fun to give an opportunity for anyone in the community...
Navigating local and national tensions
This week will mark one year since I moved to the Flathead. My friends came up from Wyoming for Under the Big Sky; six people and three dogs packed into our two-bedroom house with no AC over the course of the festival. I’m sitting in kind of an odd spot, where I’m not from here originally but interact with locals as a big part of my job. I go to local government meetings and try to keep up on social issues. I hear, and more often read on Facebook, the hateful comments about tourists and out-of-staters. At the same time,...
Black bear euthanized after breaking into vehicle at campground
State wildlife officials trapped and euthanized a black bear at a Northwest Montana campground on Monday after it broke a vehicle window to get food in a cooler. Montana Fish, Wildlife Parks received reports of the bear getting into unsecured food at the Flathead National Forest’s Emery Bay Campground and Goose Head dispersed camping site, also known as FK & L, on the north end of Hungry Horse Reservoir. Conflicts included breaking a window of a vehicle to access a cooler and getting into a tent at Emery Bay. A camper was cited for disobeying the Flathead Forest food storage order. Montana...
State wildlife agency gives boost to native rainbow trout species
Most rainbow trout swimming in Montana’s waters are not native to the state — with the singular exception of the redband trout in the Kootenai drainage. While common throughout most of Montana, rainbow trout largely exist in the Treasure State because of widespread stocking. The Columbia River interior redband trout, or redband trout, is native to Northwest Montana by contrast and lives primarily in disconnected streams across the Kootenai drainage. “Redbands are an interior rainbow trout that is native to Montana. It's something that makes them pretty unique that we want to protect because their populations are few,” said Dillon Tabish,...
Despite summer heat wave, 20,000 music fans attend Under the Big Sky
Fans and water misters were as ubiquitous as cowboy hats as concertgoers did their best to beat the sweltering heat during the opening day of the Under the Big Sky music festival Friday.The annual festival, now in its fifth year, has consistently featured some of the biggest acts in country and folk music on its stages, as well as some local favorites in Northwest Montana. Around 20,000 people were once again expected to flood into the Flathead Valley, according to organizers, which is on par for the last four festivals. Headliners like Miranda Lambert, Billy Strings and the Turnpike Troubadours...
Adaptive exercise in action: Chair yoga comes to Bigfork
Ten people sit in fold-out chairs, barefoot, in the Swan River Community Hall waiting for Krista Sanderson to start class on Thursday. Sanderson started chair yoga in March as a way for people with mobility limitations to get in a good stretch and work on balance, flexibility and core strength. The yoga teacher, artist and mother has been teaching yoga in the Flathead for 17 years, and practicing ever since she sustained a running injury training for the Chicago marathon. Her doctor told her to try yoga. “At the time, I was like, ‘I don’t want to do yoga!’ But...
Sportsman’s Bridge project will begin with new fishing access site
Montana Department of Transportation has announced significant progress on the Bigfork Sportsman’s Bridge project, with plans largely complete. The first step in the process will be construction of a new fishing access site on the west side of the Flathead River off Oldenberg Road. “After recent delays, we are excited to have this project moving forward,” Bob Vosen, MDT Missoula District Administrator, said in a press release. “Construction of the new bridge is anticipated to begin in 2025, once the new fishing access site has been built.” Once the FAS is operational, bridge construction will begin. This schedule is subject...
Bigfork School Board tables sports and activities cooperative agreement
Bigfork Public Schools Board of Trustees tabled a decision on their cooperative sports and activities agreement with Swan River School after a decision by the Swan River board to limit the time their teachers can be outside of the classroom to coach high school sports. “To me it’s always been collegial, a lot of their kids are coming from that school to this school. It might have more history to it, but to me, they’re fine with our staff missing time to coach their kids, but they don’t want their staff missing time from school to coach our kids, and...
Happenings: Vacation bible school
Bigfork Summer Community Choir welcomes all singers 15 and up to practices at the Community United Methodist Church Mondays at 5:30 p.m., directed by Dr. Art Crane and Dr. Jordan Neiman. Bigfork Community United Methodist Church hosts Vacation Bible School August 19-22, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Children ages three to twelve are invited for breakfast, bible stories, music, games, crafts, science, raptors and more. Register at bigforkumc.org/vacation-bible-school, call 406-837-4547 or email bigforkcumc@gmail.com for more info.
BLOTTER: Boat sinks in Echo Lake
Reports from Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, based in Bigfork. July 8 A rooster was reported found on the caller’s property. A 22-foot surfboat was reported fully submerged about 12 to 15 feet deep at a dock in Echo Lake overnight, Bigfork Fire Department was called to assist. July 9-10 No reports July 11 A car was reported broken into. A man was reported walking down the road for three hours with a backpack. July 12 No reports July 13 A verbal dispute between a husband and wife was reported. Teenagers were reported setting off fireworks. Several cars parked in a no parking area around a blind corner were issued citations. July 14 Trespassing was reported on private property.
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The Bigfork Eagle – established in 1976 – provides the community of Bigfork with news, sports and entertainment coverage through our regularly updated news website and weekly print edition. Reinvented in 2019 after a few years hiatus, the Eagle has come back to serve the community with strong local news.
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