Friends of Bigfork Fire Dept. give out 50k prize during annual fundraiser

The Friends of Bigfork Fire Department gave away $50,000 during their 15th annual fundraiser to a lucky person who was able to make the hole-in-one shot. Friends of Bigfork Fire Department President Jim Sticka said Kerry Viestenz from Oregon was the first to make the shot since the organization started offering the prize at the event.

“It’s funny, at one of our board meetings a couple of weeks before this fundraiser, we were talking about doing something else on the golf course rather than the hole-in-one because nobody ever got close to it, so that was something we were going to discuss later and then Kerry gets the hole-in-one. So it was really super exciting,” Sticka said.

Sticka said the fundraiser includes a golfing tournament, a tennis tournament, and a pickleball tournament all followed by a barbecue. He said there were 62 golfers playing in this year's tournament and each one got a shot at the hole-in-one at Eagle Bend golf course. He said Glacier Bank has continually sponsored a portion of the fundraiser over the years and plays an important role by paying the insurance for the prize money.

Viestenz was joined that day by his friends and an eye witness from Glacier Bank, who was required to watch the hole-in-one shot. He said he and his wife come to Bigfork often to visit relatives, and have local friends who convinced them to join in on the tournament around six years ago. Viestenz said he was ecstatic when he realized he got the hole-in-one prize.

“I was shocked, I was thinking, ‘is this real?’ Then I had to try and go on and play golf the rest of the day,” Viestenz said. “But I was so pumped up with adrenaline, I played awesome golf the rest of the day, I mean, what could go worse?”

Viestenz and three of his friends went on to win the entire golf tournament that day as well.

Sticka said the fundraiser raised around $30,000 for the Bigfork Fire Department. He said this is indicative of how much the Friends of Bigfork Fire Department raise annually. He said their charter states the group must support training and safety for the firefighters. They’ve spent around $335,000 on projects and equipment in past years. He said one of their first purchases was a live fire training building at the Echo Lake Station that allows firefighters to train in real-life situations.

“They enter and they are in real smoke and heat conditions. They go in with a buddy, and keep track of each other, go up and downstairs, and do all of the things they would need to do in any kind of a structure fire...They don’t have to talk about what it’s like to be in those conditions and actually be in a building where those conditions are occurring,” Sticka said.

Other projects and equipment that the Friends of Bigfork Fire Department fund include mechanical CPR devices for the ambulance, sleeping quarters for the fire station, power cots and power cot loaders for the ambulance and the “Jaws of Life” tool used to help extract people from vehicles, among many other purchases for the fire department.

Sticka said this annual fundraiser does more than just raise money for the group. He said the barbecue following the tournaments allows community members to meet first responders.

“Just the camaraderie that happens at the barbecue is just fantastic and it’s a wonderful thing to have a personal connection with your fire department, rather than just calling them in your time of need...so by having this event every year we connect the fire fighters and the community in a very personal way--- and that kind of thing is priceless, really. ” Sticka said.

Viestenz said he enjoys coming out to support the fire department and donated $10,000 of his winnings back to their cause. He said golf is his favorite hobby and he plays about three times a week with his wife. He said he feels “like the luckiest guy in the world,” and that it was a “no brainer” to donate a portion of his prize money back to the fire department.

“I’m a life-long golfer, I’m 69-years-old and I’ve had four hole-in-ones so far in my life, and of course, this is the only one that has ever paid me any money, all the other ones I’ve had to buy people drinks--- I end up losing money,” he laughed. “So this is very exciting for me,”