Bigfork’s bank building gets new owners

Dustin and Molly Cumming closed on Bigfork’s “bank building” last Tuesday and started construction that week, determined and excited to bring a new set of businesses to the 100-year-old downtown fixture.  

“We’re honored to own the building, so really understanding and knowing its history is important to us,” Molly said. The couple has been working with local historians and old-timers to learn more about their latest purchase. 

The building at 548 Electric Avenue was first Fodness International Bank, changed to The State Bank of Bigfork around 1911. Since then, it has been a professional building, laundromat, H&R Block, and most recently, Showthyme Act II, which closed its doors in September.  

“Through all those different iterations of the building, it had some deferred maintenance, needed some love, that kind of thing,” Dustin said. “Being that it was a prominent historical building in Bigfork, we thought there was an opportunity to come in and kind of freshen it up a bit, clean it up a bit. A lot of businesses have been in there, but none have really invested in it.” 

The Cummings opened Bigfork Wine and Whiskey just down the road on Jan. 1 of this year. Serial entrepreneurs, the couple met through work and own a variety of businesses down the Bitterroot and in Missoula. Dustin owns a construction company, AllHaus, which has offices throughout Texas, Arizona and Montana. When they were looking to start their family, Bigfork seemed like the place.  

“Bigfork is better, I enjoy it more, it’s one of the best towns in Montana. We wanted to make sure we were contributing members of that,” Dustin said.  

The Cummings had been thinking up another project for Bigfork, and when the bank building came on the market, it seemed like a no-brainer for them. While the new building will have a bar and restaurant element to it, they plan on keeping it separate from Bigfork Wine and Whiskey.  

“We’re really proud of this concept and what it’s become, but this is going to be an entirely different concept. We’re going to try and bring a different offering to Bigfork to keep the community and visitors and tourists interested in coming to downtown Bigfork,” Dustin said.  

The old brick walls will remain intact, as well as the molding on the ceilings and the facade on Electric Avenue. The front of the building will hold an AllHaus showroom, designed to display their best work. A mural of downtown Bigfork in the 1930s, complete with the old bank building in frame, will cover one interior wall.  

There are plans for a restaurant that can be accessed through the building’s second entrance on Electric Avenue, and a speakeasy with access from the back of the building. The Cummings plan to stick with local suppliers for their food and drink.  

The main changes to the building will be the internal layout. Dustin explained that the building has held a century of ideas, but with no real rhyme or reason for the layout each time the businesses inside changed. A bank vault in the speakeasy, kitchens and dining rooms on mismatched levels, and a dish pit and storage bar downstairs are some of the quirks the old building has to offer.  

“It’s all a great space, but it needs to be tied together, it needs some continuity. So the concepts we’re working on will allow some more natural flow to it,” Dustin said.  

Bigfork Wine and Whiskey’s manager Beth Woods will move to the new location, and contractor Shane Sherman will be instrumental in the business as it progresses. Dustin anticipated dozens of year-round jobs would be created through the new business. 

Though there is no concrete timeline for construction, the AllHaus office is expected to be completed first with the restaurant and speakeasy to follow. In the coming weeks, Bigforkers can expect to see the outside painted, designed to clean up rather than completely alter the building’s face.  

“Coming to town and opening a restaurant takes risk, but seeing that it's paid off and it's been well-received and then following our gut with the [bank building], knowing that the vision that we have is something we believe in and something hopefully other people will believe in too encourages us to take another step forward,” Molly said.