First Best Place and the Columbia Fall High School class of 2013 are in high gear this week preparing for “an evening of epic proportions.” On Friday, March 23, Columbia Falls will host the Showcase and Endowment Ball as a fundraiser for the two groups.

The evening kicks off at 5:30 p.m. with a dinner and live auction at Glacier Discovery Square before moving down the road to Columbia Falls High School for a ball that will feature food, games and live music by the Copper Mountain Band. Tickets for both events are $50 or $12 for just the ball.

First Best Place is a community action group and its primary goal is to help build stronger communities in the Flathead Valley and specifically Columbia Falls. One of its most notable projects is the Glacier Discovery Square, a community center on Nucleus Avenue.

For more information about the showcase and endowment ball on Friday, March 23, visit www.firstbestplace.org or call (406) 892-1363. All proceeds from the casual and semi-formal event go toward the First Best Place project and the Columbia Falls High School Academic and Alumni Fund.

 

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Whistling Andy Distillery in Bigfork is releasing a new whiskey on St. Patrick's Day.

The Whistling Andy Distillery opened its doors on New Year's Eve 2010 and has since been creating a wide variety of spirits at its location along MT Highway 35, just south of the Swan River. Spiced Rum, Gin and Vodka have all become regular offerings from the distillery and they will now be joined by a barrel-aged, one-year whiskey called Harvest Select.

According to the distillery, Harvest Select Whiskey is made with grain from Lake Seed in Ronan for an American-style spirit consisting of barley, wheat, corn and rye, aged in white oak barrels from Tennessee. According to a press release, the whiskey “has a sweet, fruity nose leading into warm spiciness mid-palate and finishes smooth with accents of toasted caramel and well-rounded oak flavors.”

Whistling Andy Distillery will be releasing one barrel of the whiskey on Saturday, March 17 and there will be limit of two bottles per person. After that, the whiskey will be available at state liquor stores in the Flathead Valley, Missoula and Bozeman.

For more information visit www.whistlingandy.com or call (406) 837-2620.

 

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Singer, songwriter and farmer Chuck Suchy will play the KM Theater in Kalispell on Saturday, March 17. An active musician since the 1980s, Suchy has released six studio albums and played on the iconic stage of "A Prairie Home Companion."

Born and raised in Mandan, N.D., Suchy played his guitar at area clubs and lounges when he was a young man. In 1982, when a friend gave him a recording of Canadian musician Stan Rogers, who also sang about life on a farm on the Great Plains, he began to write his own music. Since then, Suchy has sang about life in the Heartland from an insider's prospective, one that has made him popular among fans.

“If he's not one of the great American songwriters, I don't know who is,” said Rod Kennedy, founder of the Kerrville Folk Festival, held every summer in Kerrville, Texas.

He's been called an "undiscovered treasure" and, according to Suchy's website, his music reflects the vast changes that have occurred across the plains. His show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door and children under 12 get in for free.

For more information about the artist, check out chucksuchy.com.

Here's a look at his work:

 

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I've been to most dark corners of the Pine Tree State, since I am a native "Mainer," but I've never been to "Almost, Maine." Mostly due to the fact that it doesn't exist. But the “remote, mythical” town in the north woods will be brought to life this week at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish.

Almost, Maine takes place on a clear Friday night in the middle of winter when everyone in town is falling in and out of love, often with hilarious results. The play is being headed up by first-time Director Scarlett Schindler, an experienced local actor, and a full cast of 15 performers. Working with such a large cast is one thing that excited Schindler.

“Having such a big cast worked well with one of my goals as a new director: I wanted to see some new people auditioning who hadn't braved it yet, and help grow our base of actors at WTC,” Schindler said.

The play is split into nine vignettes and includes a variety of different stories. It's been praised by critics and was originally written by John Cariani.

Tickets for Almost, Maine are $8 and are available at the door. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. on March 10 and 11 and is appropriate for adults and older students.

For more information call (406) 862-5371 or visit www.whitefishtheatreco.org

 

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Tammi Fisher has been involved in a lot of community activities since becoming Kalispell’s mayor, but never sumo wrestling. That’s about to change.

Fisher will be packing on the inflatable pounds at the Relay for Life Kickoff Party at the Flathead County Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 3. Doors open at 4 p.m. and a spaghetti dinner will be served at 5 p.m. Individual tickets to the event are $10; Family of four tickets are $25 and cancer survivors have free admission. Tickets include dinner and Monte Carlo play money.

This weekend’s precursor to the Relay for Life will include carnival games, a poker table, bingo, raffles and live and silent auctions.

Attendees will also be able to step into the ring with Fisher, who joked that her foray into sumo wrestling will probably be short lived.

“I would imagine it will be a short match and I will get pummeled,” Fisher told me about her sumo wrestling prospects.

Still, even if it means getting humbled in the ring, Fisher said she's more than happy to support the Relay for Life any way she can.

“I have been involved with Relay for Life since 2002 when I walked in the relay with my late husband, John, who was fighting cancer at the time," she said. "He passed in 2003, and I continue to support Relay for Life as an organization that has helped so many cancer survivors and victims.”

The Relay for Life is an annual event that is held at different dates across the country and raises money for the American Cancer Society.

This year’s relay is scheduled for June 22 in Kalispell.
The Whitefish relay is June 15.
The Columbia Falls relay is July 13.
The Bigfork relay is July 20-21.

 

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If you want your work to appear on the same pages as John Irving and Tom Brokaw, the clock is ticking. The submission deadline for the twice-annual Whitefish Review is March 15.

Published twice a year, the Whitefish Review features stories, interviews, conversations and art from established and emerging authors. This year the nonprofit publication is pushing forward with its first themed issue, which will focus on the wilderness and be guest edited by ecologist and writer Cristina Eisenberg.

“We will publish writing and art that explore the untamable and wild in astonishing ways, from wolves howling at the door, elemental forces ranging in the mountains, and wild, creative urges surging deep within hearts and minds,” Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg, who lives in Bigfork, is working on her second book and recently earned a doctorate in forestry and wildlife at Oregon State University.

Content for the summer issue can be submitted at www.whitefishreview.com.

 

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The folks at First Best Place in Columbia Falls have started up their first-ever membership drive.

 

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The Montana Council of the Boy Scouts of America was honored by the National Park Service for volunteer work in Glacier National Park during the 2010 centennial year. That year the group contributed more than 4,500 hours of volunteer work to the park.

In 2010, which was also the Boy Scouts' centennial, more than 250 scouts from Montana and Alberta painted buildings, rebuilt picnic tables, cleared brush and picked up litter. Because of their work, the scouts are being awarded the National Park Service George and Helen Hartzog Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service by a Youth Group.

Glacier's Superintendent Chas Cartwright said in a press release that many of the projects the scouts were involved with may not have been completed otherwise.

“Our joint centennial year was an opportunity to have the scouts involved with the park and reinforce the value of stewardship of our public lands,” he said.

Local scout leader Jim Atkinson said the Boy Scouts have a proud tradition of doing service projects with the Park Service and he was happy to continue it: “I'm honored to have been involved with this special once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.

A formal presentation of the award will take place sometime in May.

 

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