Skijoring event is moving from Lakeside to Kalispell

The Flathead Lake Skijoring Championships held in Lakeside last winter are being relocated to Rebecca Farm near Kalispell.

The transition was confirmed Tuesday by Josh Galassi, a junior account executive at the Big Sky Public Relations firm that handles publicity and some marketing for Rebecca Farm.

“Rebecca Farms are taking it over and planning it and all that,” Galassi said. “It is totally in the hands of Rebecca Farms.”

The event will be held on Dec. 30 and 31.

Last year the inaugural event was hosted by the West Shore Visitors Bureau, a consortium of Lakeside-area business owners, and was held on a private airstrip at the Lakeside Club. The Lakeside Club has since been put up for sale and event organizers couldn’t get confirmation about whether it would be available, nor could they find another suitable space to accommodate so many visitors near the town, said Gina Jepson, promotions director with the West Shore Visitors Bureau.

“It will be a whole new event this year, that is my understanding,” Jepson told the Daily Inter Lake. “They are going to take that ball and run with it.”

Rebecca Farm, the equestrian venue that plays host to The Event each summer, is still finalizing many of the details because the decision was quite recent, Jepson said. The Kalispell Tourism Business Improvement District is considering an event grant application from the farm at their meeting on from 3 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce office.

The success of last year’s skijoring races had a lot to do with the success of local Lakeside business owners in raising funds to offer a large winner’s purse. That attracted better competitors and, in turn, more observers.

Jepson said they ended up handing out about $32,000 in prizes and the overall event cost about $50,000 to put on. It took them about three months to plan.

Jepson said she is confident Rebecca Farm will be able to find at least the same level of funding and has plenty of time to make the event a success.

“We were very fortunate in that regard that the businesses around really recognized the potential of this event and how great it could be,” Jepson said. “They have more of a reach, so I think it is going to be a really good thing for the valley in general. They have a lot more reach, more resources and more of a crew so they can make it bigger and better than ever.”

Jepson said that in lieu of planning the skijoring event, the West Shore Visitors Bureau would pour its efforts into making Winterfest into their marquee event.

They already plan on having some bar-stool races near the Lakeside town center and have had talks to attempt to have a skating rink, though she said they are still in the planning phase.

“The great thing about Winterfest is it is a community thing,” Jepson said. “We are planning to be more involved in it this year than we were last year.”

Whitefish holds the annual World Invitational Skijoring Championships as part of the city’s Winter Carnival. The dates of that skijoring event have not yet been announced, but the competition typically is held in late January.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.