After winning a lengthy legal battle and freeing up more than $100,000, seven downtown Kalispell property owners threw a party in the street. Actually, they threw a few parties in the street, right in the center of town.
They called these festivals “Thursday!Fest,” with an exclamation point in the middle. And the gatherings weren’t really as much for the property owners as for a specific cause: the revitalization of downtown Kalispell. Call it a party with a purpose.
So here they are, the Beacon’s “2009 Businesspeople of the Year,” the seven board members of the Kalispell Business Improvement District (BID): Bill Goodman, Janet Clark, Tim Price, Marshall Noice, Jon Fetveit, Margaret Lekander and Melanie Cross.
Now that the BID is fully operating with a team of idealistic board members and an annual budget, in conjunction with the Kalispell Downtown Association, Noice believes they hold the key to downtown Kalispell’s often-discussed resurgence.
“There’s a lot happening,” Noice, owner of Main Street’s Noice Studio and Gallery, said.
Kalispell isn’t unique in its struggle to balance the viability of its downtown with the advancement of box store sprawl. The topic can raise heated conversation at any tavern or grocery store line in Montana’s fastest-growing cities, as well as communities across the nation.
But Goodman said the BID, now that its hands are no longer tied with litigation, has the ability to make tangible improvements to Kalispell’s core. The will to change the landscape has long been there; now the money and manpower resources are there too.
“These are people committed to putting their money and their energies where their mouths are,” Goodman, chairman of the BID, said.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be available over the next several years and the board is looking to hire a full- or part-time administrator. Since all of the board members have full-time professions, an administrator would be able to dedicate more hours to executing the board’s decisions. The board works directly with city officials.
By state law, 60 percent of property owners within a proposed district’s boundaries must give approval through a petition. Kalispell approved its district in 2004, but a partnership of dissenting property owners sued. Business Improvement Districts accumulate money through property tax collections within the designated district boundaries.
After making its way all the way to the Montana Supreme Court, the case was ruled in favor of the BID, making 2009 the first year the board was able to operate with funds. Kalispell joins a list of fewer than 10 cities in the state with a BID, including Helena, where city officials largely attribute their major downtown facelift to the district.
Helena’s BID is either solely or partly responsible for one of the more well-known concert series in the state, multiple landscaping and infrastructure improvements, and a public trolley system, among other features. Business improvement districts also work to fill vacant stores, orchestrate marketing campaigns and solve problems such as insufficient parking.
The Thursday!Fest celebrations during the summer drew large crowds each week for live music, food and beverage vendors, and local arts and crafts vendors. The BID board viewed the series as the first major project of its core revitalization efforts. The gatherings brought attention and cash to downtown businesses, often providing the biggest moneymaking day of the week for some, Goodman said.
“All that stuff was brand new to Kalispell,” Goodman said.
Next year’s Thursday!Fest series will be “bigger and better,” Noice said, with the KDA playing an enhanced role. Last summer, Goodman used his liquor license to serve alcohol from street vendors. Now that the KDA has all of its paperwork in order, Goodman said the organization is able to obtain individual event alcohol licenses, allowing it to gain revenue off of alcohol sales.
The money sharing and overall cooperation between the different individuals and entities, Goodman said, signifies an important shift in philosophy. The BID, with a board consisting of property owners but not necessarily business owners, has a much larger budget than the KDA. But the downtown association represents a larger swathe of merchants. Both groups bring something to the table.
“Before, everything downtown was individual,” Goodman said. “We can get a lot more done now.”
But the BID’s board members shouldn’t be underestimated as individuals either. On their own time, they go to city council meetings and were active in lobbying for the U.S. 93 Alternate Route. And between them, several new businesses have sprouted up or expanded in the past two years.
Goodman opened up Red’s Roost earlier this year to compliment his Red’s Wines and Blues, which recently transitioned its menu from bar fare to a full-scale barbecue joint. Just down the street, Clark, co-owner of the Kalispell Grand Hotel with her husband Butch, opened up the Kalispell Bar.
Also in the past few years, Price has remodeled his Flathead Health and Fitness gym on First Avenue West and helped his wife, Lynde Price, open up Fawn Boutique on Main Street. Lekander, owner of Wheaton’s, and Noice continue to operate Kalispell mainstays. Fetveit owns properties throughout downtown.
And perhaps the most visible embodiment of the BID’s philosophy is Cross, who Goodman calls “dynamic” with “big energy.” In December of 2007, Cross opened up Camas Creek Yarn, which has grown into one of the busier niche retail stores in Kalispell.
Noice said Cross took an old building, spruced it up while maintaining its original character, and turned it into a thriving business. Noice hopes more people can do the same with Kalispell’s several empty storefronts.
“Camas Creek is the perfect example of what the BID wants to see,” Noice said.
Along with Thursday!Fest, the BID is planning shoulder season events in the fall. Efforts to advertise and promote downtown will also expand. And the hiring of an administrator would bring significant changes as well.
Also, the group set up a Web site at www.downtownkalispell.com, which has a thorough business directory and events calendar, along with maps, news and featured shops and restaurants.
“We’re all committed to making downtown a more vital community,” Noice said.