BIGFORK — Volunteers in Bigfork have worked diligently to turn their home into a Christmas community for 40 years — so much so, that their Christmas village has drawn regional and national attention.
Michele Mank, who has been the Bigfork Christmas Village head elf for nearly a decade, knows firsthand what it takes to put this holiday extravaganza together, but she and her team of volunteer elves have it down to a science.
"And we have got this down it literally takes us about two and a half hours to decorate,” Mank said.
Decorating Morning takes place the Saturday before Thanksgiving with "Undecorating Day" on the last Saturday of January. That means residents and visitors get to enjoy the Christmas magic for two months.
Although they get it done quickly, the work is nothing to dismiss.
"It's a lot,” Mank told MTN. "We've got almost two miles of garland, and we've got over a mile of lights."
There are so many things to see and experience at the Bigfork Christmas Village. One thing you'll notice is the 700 Christmas trees with red bows attached to nearly every post in town.
The granddaddy of them all is what's known simply as the "town tree.” The lighting of it is a treasured ceremony complete with festive music that attracts a huge amount of people.
The main street in Bigfork is known as "Electric Avenue" and hundreds of folks have definitely been rockin' down to it.
"I like to kind of have a similar parade every year, so people can have just a consistent experience that they can go home and tell their kids about," said Adam Heggelund who is in charge of the Christmas parade.
The Bigfork experience also includes festive shops with storefront windows decorated like days gone by.
"Each different business takes very special care and attention to curating the Christmas spirit into their storefronts, into their stores,” noted business owner Brittain Kovac. “And then beyond that, there's a lot of effort to promote local artists -- not just from the Bigfork area in the valley, but as well as Montana."
Karen Osborne's specialty is chocolate, and she works her wonders at Birch Provisions. She was making white chocolate peppermint and midnight truffles when we stopped by.
"It's very special. It's a special community, and it's a really neat thing to be a part of,” Osborne told MTN.
There are more goodies available at Electric Avenue Gifts, "They're truffles made in Bonner, Montana, with Flathead cherries, owner Laura Meissenburg said.
Across the street, you can check out a gingerbread house contest. And to top off the night, you might want to take in a show. Brach Thomson produces two of them.
"The theater's important, but if you don't have those restaurants and the coffee shop to go to beforehand; if you don't have places to shop in town — this town is just a neat town because it's got everything."
Apparently, a lot of people feel that way to the point where the festive spot no longer just belongs to Bigfork — it's now known as Montana's Christmas Village.
