Non-profit bullishness admirable, necessary

Alex Strickland

It is difficult, when reading about the Madoffs and the Stanfords and the, well, government, not to think everything is going down the proverbial tubes.

There have been stretches over the last few months when the financial news ticker has seemed more like a body count than a bulletin, chronicling the demise of our institutions, real estate values and 401ks.

Because of that, it’s becoming pretty easy to embrace the alarmists (some of whom have been alarmingly right so far) and dismiss the optimists as naive — or insane — Pollyannas. But here in Bigfork, there seems to be many of the latter, and they seem sane enough to me.

Aside from some out-of-town bankers who are probably losing sleep over their Eagle Bend McMansion that’s languishing on the market, the Bigfork non-profit corps seems cautiously optimistic (see story page A1). Even better, they seem ready to take action; preferring to innovate and try new things rather than cry in a corner over their balance sheets.

From the museum to the ski club, Bigfork non-profits are looking into the future with confidence that their organizations have one. And that’s a good thing, because these community groups are the lifeblood of this place.

The people who run these organizations are realists too. They know money is tight and jobs are tough to come by. If you want to support the museum’s commitment to up and coming artists but can’t spare the cash, give them a call and volunteer some time.

There may not be a light visible at the end of the economic tunnel just yet, but Bigfork can take heart knowing that the groups that make this a special place to live are not content to let someone else lead them out, they’re already on the move.

Divisional tourney demands some fans

This Thursday through Saturday the Vikings and Valkyries basketball teams will be fighting it out in the Northwest A Divisional Tournament at Glacier High School in Kalispell. Neither team is going in as a top seed, but there’s no runaway favorites on the road to state, so anything can happen.

The boys kick off Bigfork’s effort at 4 p.m. on Thursday against Polson, who they beat last week ago and the girls play that night at 8 against Ronan.

It’s about as cheap as good entertainment gets and the teams could sure use the town’s support.