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The Vibrant Economy of Parties

By Beacon Staff

Weddings have their own economy, and it’s an especially vibrant one in Northwest Montana. It shouldn’t be surprising that people like to get married in the midst of Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake.

And with ample caterers, experienced event planners and dozens of other businesses geared toward celebrations, Northwest Montana is abundantly equipped to host weddings – and other festivities – of all sizes. At no time of the year is this more evident than during the annual Wedding and Event Exposition, put on by the Northwest Montana Wedding and Event Professionals (NMWEP).

This year marks the seventh annual exposition. It will be held at the Flathead County Fairgrounds on Feb. 21 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. At the expo, local businesses, such as caterers and jewelers and florists, will set up booths to display their products and services to potential brides and event planners. Marc Rold, NMWEP’s president, said the organization’s members can help with gatherings of all kinds, from Super Bowl parties to corporate conferences.

More than 100 vendors are expected at this year’s expo and Rold said more than 1,000 people will likely attend. The cost is $3 per person. Attendees will be treated to food and are eligible for prize giveaways.

“This is going to be a new record,” Rold said.

Northwest Montana Wedding and Event Professionals is a nonprofit organization with more than 100 members. It encourages cooperative marketing among its members and promotes them through a variety of advertising outlets across the nation, including travel magazines.

The association also connects its members with event planners. NMWEP members help with everything from coordinating guest accommodations and transportation to arranging the actual event details like ceremony sites and entertainment. Members include musicians, photographers, transportation services and more. Membership dues help pay for the association’s efforts.

While NMWEP members arrange all types of parties, weddings are the focus. The average wedding, Rold said, costs $29,000, though some cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. When a large wedding is held, it reverberates throughout the local economy, he said.

Guests stay at hotels, shop locally and pump their money into the area’s market. Rold estimates that events as a whole – weddings, family reunions, corporate gatherings and more – brought in $2.2 million to the valley’s economy last year. Destination weddings are one of the biggest moneymakers in the Flathead, with couples coming from all over the nation to take advantage of the area’s beauty.

Despite the poor economy, Rold doesn’t expect a major slowdown in the event and party business this year.

“(People) are still getting married,” he said. “The theory is that this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Gayleen Cooley, manager of the Kalispell branch of Fabulous Food, is a founding member of NMWEP. She said when she returned to the Flathead from Phoenix in 2000, bridal shows were being held at the Outlaw Inn. Because “you’re really limited when you’re in a hotel banquet room,” Cooley said only about 30 vendors could show up at a time.

On top of needing a better venue to hold wedding expositions, Cooley said event-related businesses in the area needed a more unified voice. So the NMWEP was formed and the wedding expos expanded greatly.

“We needed an association that could support each other,” Cooley said.

Last year’s expo was at the Hilton Garden Inn, which Rold said is a nice facility but too small. He’s happy with the fairgrounds and hopes to hold future expos there as well.

As the NMWEP continues to grow, the strength of its networking and marketing abilities expands as well. The expo is the perfect example.

“It’s a good way to reach people,” Cooley said.