Polebridge Merc changes hands

The Polebridge Mercantile will celebrate its centennial this year with a new owner. Will Hammerquist has purchased the iconic North Fork business from owners Stuart Reiswig and Flannery Coats.

While Hammerquist may be the new owner, he quickly deferred the success of the Merc to its bakery staff, which has gained accolades over the years for its melt-in-your-mouth pastries and other goods.

“It’s not about who owns it,” he said last week. “It’s the bakery.”

Reiswig will continue to stay on as a baker and operations manager, along with veteran bakers Jake Coats, Dan Koestler, Julie Nelson and Lauren Amato.

They all use techniques and recipes handed down by former owner and baker Dan Kaufman. Coats learned from his sister, who was taught by Kaufman when she purchased the establishment five years ago with Reiswig.

On a busy summer day, the Merc will sell 300 huckleberry bear claws out of its small kitchen.

Hammerquist, 34, said he has no big changes planned for the Merc, but he is working on a nature trail that he hopes will connect the property to the nearby North Fork of the Flathead River, with interpretative signs that talk about the region’s history and natural beauty as well as the expansion of the Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada.

A Kalispell native, Hammerquist has strong ties to Glacier Park. He was the Glacier field office director for the National Parks Conservation Association for several years and has been good friends and roommates with Reiswig since he came to Montana. Hammerquist also owned a recreational equipment rental company in the North Fork which he has since sold.

Hammerquist’s father, Kirk, is a well-known contractor in the Flathead and has ties to the Merc. Back in 1988, when the Red Bench Fire blew through the area, an ember caught under the roof. If not for the watchful eyes of a Merc employee, it would have burned down.

After the fire, Kirk repaired the roof with two pieces of shiny tin. They still stick out amongst the patina-hued older sheets.

The Merc was built by North Fork pioneer Bill Adair in 1914 with its trademark false-front Old West theme. Adair’s cabin, which is now the Northern Lights Saloon, was built in 1911. The original barn burned down in the Red Bench Fire.

The saloon will continue to be owned and operated by Reiswig’s parents, Bob and Kathy.