Bigfork soliciting entries in logo design contest

As part of a re-branding project, the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce has opened a contest allowing members of the community to help design the new face of Bigfork.

Participants must develop an original design and cutline that will serve as the new official logo of Bigfork.

The new design will replace the decades-old logo currently displayed on everything from the chamber’s newsletters to locally sold merchandise and the big wooden welcome sign at the intersection of Montana Highway 35 and Grand Avenue.

According to the Bigfork chamber’s executive director, Rebekah King, a state grant coupled with a donation from First Interstate Bank has allowed the chamber to develop a new website that will be complete within the next couple weeks.

The new website created the perfect opportunity, King said, for the chamber to look at giving the Bigfork brand a facelift.

“This is an exciting time for Bigfork. We, as a community continue to grow stronger, more passionate, more diverse and more energetic every day,” King said in her announcement of the contest. “Our rebranding is the perfect way to display the pride we all have in our beautiful village we call home.”

The current logo featured on various signs and products across Bigfork displays the town’s name in black scripted font surrounded by trees and water. Underneath, what King described as a “very generic cutline” reads “Where Flathead Lake Begins.”

The new logo must follow the current color palette and should reflect aspects of the Bigfork community.

King said the chamber decided to open the competition to both professional and amateur designers in order to give everyone the chance to contribute to their efforts to re-energize the town.

The competition winner will receive recognition for their design on the Bigfork.org website as well as an announcement in the monthly newsletter, spring luncheon and holiday banquet, a Bigfork gift basket and an honorary chamber membership good for five years or the duration of the design’s use, whichever is longer.

No monetary compensation will be given to the contest winner, and he or she must give up all rights to the logo once the chamber chooses a winner.

Submissions should include a logo and a brief paragraph outlining the design of the logo emailed to chamber@bigfork.org.

Chamber members will judge each entry in the blind without the names attached to the logos.

The competition will end at 10 a.m. on April 2.

For competition questions, contact King at chamber@bigfork.com.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.