Making a cute little town better

The transformation is sudden. One day, a summer vacation hotspot. The next, Montana’s Christmas Village. That transformation of Bigfork, now in its 41st year, is the work of the Bigfork Elves.

The story of the Elves begins with Frank Crain, Don Thomson, and Edd Blackler. Because the Three Wise Men are part of another Christmas story, we’ll just call these three the Luminaries. Anyway, as the story goes (well told in a 1997 Eagle article by Kay Bjork), these men wanted “to make a cute little town better” during the Christmas season. So, with Crain’s organizational skills, Thomson’s flair for the dramatic, and Blackler’s aesthetic sense, they set about with a plan to decorate Bigfork for Christmas.

The first year’s efforts (this was 1981) were modest, decorations consisting mostly of greens gleaned from the forest with the help of forest service technician Rick Trembath. But by the time the concept of the Elves caught on a year later, the idea had grown. Perhaps the most significant advance came when Noma Worldwide Light Company in Chicago donated about 36,000 Christmas lights to the project.

Now just to put that donation in perspective, 36,000 Christmas lights are equivalent to about twice the wattage used to light the Eiffel Tower. Or put into local terms, the power consumed by a string of twenty Chevy Volts humming up Highway 35. (Think about this next time you try to make a left turn out of Harvest Foods.) It’s kind of an understatement to say that by the second year, the Luminaries had made Bigfork a bright spot on the landscape of Northwestern Montana.

Just about the turn of the century, the Luminaries turned the project over to Doug Avril of Flathead Lake Lodge, who enlisted the help of his loyal assistant Deb Kampsula. Doug and Deb managed the effort until 2017 when they turned the project over to Michele Shapero, affectionately known to her Elfin colleagues as “Michelf.”

The 2015 recipient of the Red Hen Award recognizing her ability to get things done, Michele set about formalizing Elfin accounts and procedures. She started by changing signatories of the checking account from Doug Avril to herself. Getting Doug off the account was easy, but getting herself onto it was trickier. Neither Doug, nor the lodge, nor even the Elves owned the account. In fact nobody really owned it. Although the tax ID of the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork (CFBB) was on it, the CFBB had forgotten about the account. And considering the liabilities associated with the electricity, ladders, and lift trucks used by this loosely organized group of enthusiasts, the CFBB wasn’t keen on claiming it.

So Michele put the Elves on an independent footing with the formation of a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization formally titled the Bigfork Elves, Inc. She moved what assets there were to the new organization, bought some insurance to cover any liabilities, and soon had the operation standing on its own. Michele now heads a three-member board of directors, currently including herself, Jane Edwards, and Eve Lefcourt.

“My husband and I are so crazy about Christmas that we even named our son Nicholas after Saint Nick,” said Eve Lefcourt. “And when we researched the Flathead Valley before we moved here, upon discovering that Bigfork was Montana’s Christmas Village, we knew it was the place for us. This will be our seventh season as Elves.”

The Elves’ season traditionally begins with the Bulb Twisting and Tree Gathering Breakfast the Saturday two weeks before Thanksgiving. Bulb twisting (that is tightening and testing) used to be a significant effort as a large proportion of the incandescent bulbs burned out each season. With the conversion to LED technology, only about 10% as many bulbs burn out, so the task goes quicker. (And with the more efficient technology, that string of Chevy Volts representing power consumption has now been trimmed to a single vehicle, or about ten percent of the power consumed lighting the Eiffel Tower.)

Tree Gathering is accomplished by a hearty group of amateur lumberjacks who help private property owners (with their permission, of course) by harvesting about 800 trees averaging about five feet tall. Got some spare evergreen trees? Bring them to town on Tree Gathering Day and see how they can transform a community.

The season continues as Decorating Day opens with coffee and pastries around a fire pit in the parking lot of the Bigfork Inn. Usually there’s a group of about 200 locals and visitors, some who have flown in just for the event. Participants are welcomed, encouraged, and instructed in the intricacies of light and bow technology. Toot Sward, the “Bow Babe,” provides the highlight of the instruction as she explains how to apply the bows to the trees so they’ll come off in the frigid cold of January: “Three wraps and no knots,” she admonishes.

“We’re probably the most photographed pair of Elves,” says Donna Lawson of herself and Gretchen Gates. Definitely the most welcomed pair, they’re known as the “Beverage Babes” and have traversed town on their golf cart for the past twenty years or so distributing coffee, cocoa, and “Christmas Spirits” to the working Elves.

The Elves’ efforts visually transform the town, but that’s really just the surface, says Rick Trembath (the original forestry scout). “It’s a community event that brings people together to meet and greet and do a project that benefits everyone. Regardless of how our outlooks and opinions may differ, this is an opportunity to celebrate and enjoy what we all have in common: Our community.”

This year the Bulb Twisting Breakfast begins at 8:00 Saturday morning, November 13, at the Garden Bar. Decorating Day is Saturday, November 20 with pastries served and speeches made starting at 8:00 in front of the Bigfork Inn. “Bring your Elf hats for Decorating Day, if you have them,” says Michelf. “Otherwise, we’ll provide them. And, as if you were at the North Pole, dress warmly.”