Concert stage proposed for Peace Park

The recently created Great Northern

Veterans Peace Park could soon be home to a permanent outdoor

concert arena.

The Whitefish Chamber of Commerce is in

the process of raising funds to build the outdoor facility that

will be named in honor of the Montana Band. Proceeds from the

upcoming three-day Montana Music Festival will go toward the

project.

Talks of building a band shell at Depot

Park were quashed earlier this month when the Depot Park master

plan steering committee unanimously decided they didn’t want a

large permanent structure in the park, nor the potential large

crowds.

“I don’t think big events are

appropriate for this venue,” committee member John Phelps said.

Whitefish Chamber of Commerce director

Kevin Gartland favored Depot Park as a site for the band shell

because of its proximity to downtown businesses.

“Not everything done downtown is good

for downtown businesses,” committee member Rhonda Fitzgerald said.

She said that Winter Carnival is typically “terrible for

business.”

Gartland questioned whether that was

true, but said he would go along with the committee’s decision. The

Chamber has since moved their attention to the Peace Park near the

city cemetery and Ramsey Avenue.

Building a band shell as a tourism

enhancement project was identified as a goal during the Chamber’s

Whitefish 2020 planning process. The shell could be used as often

as 100 times a year for events such as Festival Amadeus, the

Stumptown Hoedown and Oktoberfest.

Gartland envisions a Fourth of July

event next year. He checked out the area this July 4 and says its a

perfect place to watch the city fireworks show.

Plans for the Peace Park reveal a

covered stage built to replicate a traditional Montana train depot.

Trains cars will be used as a backdrop to the stage.

The land at the Peace Park, which is an

old gravel pit, will be graded with bulldozers to accommodate

seating in the bowl that looks toward Whitefish Lake and Big

Mountain. A pond will be installed at the bottom of one of the

wintertime sledding hills, while the main flat area will be used

for vendors and open space.

Parking could be at the vacant Idaho

Timber lot south of the Peace Park. Eventually a pedestrian path

will connect the park to downtown, but that project is many years

out, Parks and Recreation Director Karl Cozad said.

“We are in the preliminary planning

stages,” he said.