Taste of Bigfork a culinary wonderland

The veterans of Taste of Bigfork are easy to spot along Electric Avenue. They're the ones with modest plates, walking slowly from restaurant to restaurant, spreading out their consumption over the event's full four hours.

The newbies are easy to see too, sitting on a bench holding their bellies only an hour in.

Despite a sluggish economy and a mediocre weather forecast, ticket sales for the event were brisk and the temperature wasn't. Bigfork Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bruce Solberg said 290 of the event's 300 tickets were sold and participants enjoyed a beautiful spring day.

"We had people from Darby, Missoula, Plains and Condon," Solberg said. "It brought in people from quite a ways away."

Featuring nearly 20 chefs from eateries spanning the whole culinary spectrum, the event is a high point for many, and one of the Village's kickoff events for the busy season.

And, it all goes to worthy causes.

Each year a portion of the money raised goes to Habitat for Humanity, which constructs homes for the less fortunate. The rest goes to a different group every year. For 2009, the recipient was the LEAP after school program. Operated by Cathy Gaiser, LEAP is a program for elementary and middle school kids at Crossroads Christian Church where they can work on homework, get tutoring and participate in a wide variety of activities, including gymnastics.

To remind those stuffing their faces downtown of where their money was going, kids from the program put on a gymnastics display for an hour of the event in front of the Bigfork Inn. With a full complement of mats and more than one trampoline, overstuffed participants were treated to an aerial show of flips, somersaults and spins.

"So many of the people who come from out of town say 'it would be so cool to have something like this where I live,'" Solberg said. "We're so lucky that we have so many participating chefs that just do it automatically."