Glacier National Park Fund to make former Sunrise Bakery its new home

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

The Glacier National Park Fund will move into the former Sunrise Bakery building this fall.

The Fund is the official non-profit fundraising arm of Glacier National Park, and has three full-time employees and one part-time employee. Its offices are currently located in Whitefish on Wisconsin Avenue.

The move will bring the organization closer to Glacier.

"We're real excited to be in the gateway of Glacier National Park," Fund Executive Director Jane Ratzlaff said.

The lease is for five years and will give the Fund a high-profile presence for folks traveling to Glacier.

In April, Steve Marquesen purchased the building from Joe and Sue Smith.

The Smiths purchased the business in 2003 from Gary Morton, who had run the bakery for about 12 years before that.

Marquesen owns the Nite Owl and Back Room restaurants.

The Fund had looked at other properties in recent months, including the new Glacier Discovery Center on Nucleus Avenue, but this location gives the fund the highway frontage that businesses like during the summer tourist season.

Ratzlaff said the plan is to move in Oct. 1.

The Fund was created in 1999 and since then has provided key funding for many Park projects, from funding research on bighorn sheep and wolverines, to fixing trails that were damaged by the 2006 floods.