Columbia Falls Farmers Market Brings Food, Fun, and More to the Community
Most evenings in Columbia Falls are fairly mellow and quiet. You might find a few fishermen along the Flathead River, families enjoying dinner at our local restaurants, or folks taking a calm evening walk or bike ride as the sun sets peacefully behind Columbia Mountain. But every Thursday evening from 5:00-7:30 p.m., a bevy of prepared foods, fresh produce, local crafts, and music fill the grounds of Glacier Discovery Square, transforming downtown Columbia Falls into a lively center of entertainment.
This summer’s Columbia Falls Farmer’s Market has featured an exciting array of goods and events, including regular educational presentations on a variety of topics, the addition of fresh veggies from the Columbia Falls Community Garden, the introduction of the new Glacier Mountaineering Society exhibit in the Legacy Archive, and the debut of Pie in the Big Sky (scroll down to read more).
Be sure to bring your friends and family to the next Farmer’s Market and experience the vibrant and diverse spirit of Columbia Falls! It’s a great opportunity to visit with your neighbors, spend time with your loved ones, or simply relax and enjoy the atmosphere. Come be a part of your community and enjoy the Farmer’s Market every Thursday from 5:00-7:30 p.m. through September 15th.
If you are interested in becoming a vendor at the Market or if you would like to volunteer to help with the Farmer’s Market, please click here or call Market Master Cindy Shaw at (406) 892-0318 for more information.
Jami Sieber in Concert: Sunday July 31, 6pm
Every summer, our community finds itself flushed with exciting events. Between the infinite recreational possibilities of the outdoors and the expansion of gatherings and events, it seems as though even the longest of our summer days are never long enough to fit in all the fun. This year, Heritage Days will feature all the usual fanfare, and First Best Place will help wind down the weekend with a performance by composer and electric cellist Jami Sieber, who will perform in Columbia Falls on Sunday, July 31 at 6:00 p.m.
Jami’s music is an otherworldly experience not to be missed. Internationally recognized for her performance style, her ambient melodies speak to her audiences without words, and her music is punctuated with spoken word poetry and visual elements. Inspired by her experiences with the Thai Elephant Orchestra, Jami creates sophisticated music that communicates with her audience in a way few musicians are able to. As Victory Music says, “…these musical paintings hang, framed in her own passion and dreams. If you’ve ever taken a journey of the soul, be it to another place or your own backyard, this music will play back every scene.”
Tickets prices are $15 advance and $20 at the door. Tickets are available to seniors and youth (under age 18) for $10. Tickets can be purchased at all local Montana Coffee Traders outlets, on the home page of our website, or by calling 892-1363.
Please take a moment to see Jami’s work for yourself (and you can see more here):
Don’t miss the opportunity to see Jami Sieber live in Columbia Falls at the conclusion of Heritage Days weekend. Come to Discovery Square on Sunday, July 31 at 6:00 p.m. to take part in this incredible experience.
Pie in the Big Sky!
We want to thank everyone in the community who has been supporting our amazing farmer’s market every Thursday from 5:00-7:30 p.m. Last night was the third market of the season, and we were pleased with the turnout of folks who came to enjoy the food, crafts, and music that filled Discovery Square.
This week marked the addition of a new element to our farmer’s market: a booth featuring hand crafted pies from Pie in the Big Sky, our youth-operated culinary arts and sustainable business education program. Local pie queen Jean Flynn has begun instruction of four Columbia Falls youth in the art of making unique and delicious baked goods to be sold at the market every week.
The future location of Pie in the Big Sky is currently under construction at Discovery Square. A full-scale commercial kitchen is being built in the former drive-up area, where Pie in the Big Sky will eventually be headquartered. Students will operate the pie shop and provide a mouth-watering array of hand made pastries available for purchase at the walk-up window of the shop.
Until then, make sure you stop in at the farmer’s market to get you hands on some of these sweet goodies! Our bakers sold out of slices this week, so get there early to make sure you get a taste of these amazing treats!
What a Workday!
Once again, we are lucky enough to have been blessed with a fantastic group of volunteers. On Friday, June 10th, thirty volunteers from Leadership Flathead joined forces with First Best Place to make progress on the construction of our future pie shop, while others made general improvements around the Square.
The program is Pie in the Big Sky, and we are building the shop in the former drive-up at the Square. The pie shop will serve as a hands-on learning environment for student interns to learn about sustainable business principles and culinary arts. Our goal is to complete construction this summer so we can begin experimenting with recipes, programming, and the kitchen itself before we open the shop to the public this fall.
Last Friday with the help of our volunteers, we accomplished all of the following:
- Demolished old structures in preparation for construction of the kitchen
- Painted the pie shop exterior
- Removed the unhealthy, overgrown Junipers next to the pie shop to make room for a strawberry-rhubarb garden
- Pruned the bushes around the Square
- Painted chipped and weathered picnic tables
- Removed old benches to make way for new ones in the native plant garden
- Replaced old trash cans with new ones
- Installed a much-needed dishwasher in our kitchen
- Painted the bathrooms on the main level of the Square
- Installed wireless local area network in our computers
We are eternally grateful for everyone’s hard work. Together we accomplished an incredible amount of work in just a handful of hours, and we want to remind everyone that it’s folks like these that make our projects possible. Here are some photos from the workday; check ‘em out!
If you want to join the Department of Doing and become one of our volunteers, click here to get started and tell us how you’d like to help.
Volunteer Workday on June 10th!
Exciting news! We are absolutely giddy about our upcoming project plans for the Pie Cookery at Discovery Square. What was once a drive-up teller area for the old bank will become a commercial kitchen where student interns will learn about sustainable business and culinary arts. Students from FVCC and CFHS will run the business and bake home-style pies to be sold to benefit First Best Place programs.
Next week, on June 10th, we will be hosting a HUGE workday for the pie cookery, along with a few other maintenance projects around Discovery Square. Come to the Square at 540 Nucleus Avenue and join us from 1:30-5:00 p.m. for the workday, and from 5:00-7:00 p.m., we’ll enjoy a barbecue party to celebrate the hard work our volunteers have put into the Pie Cookery and our Showcase fundraiser back on April 30th.
Come help us make this amazing project a reality! Come prepared to work indoors or outdoors, and wear clothing you won’t mind getting dirty in! This is your chance to join the department of doing!
Catching Our Breath
WHEW! Well, it’s been almost two weeks now, and the dust from The Showcase has finally settled. The Square almost looks like itself again, we’ve connected with most of the auction winners, and people have posted lots of cool photos from the event (check out these Chris Petersen photos on the Hungry Horse News website)!
We are SO thankful to all the sponsors and volunteers who helped make this event happen. The appetizers were delectable, the music was fantastic, and First Best Place president Hilary Hutcheson even got a pie to the face! What more could you ask for in an party? Plus, thanks to all the generous donors and party guests who contributed to and attended the event, we were able to raise over $20,000 for our programs that will build quality of life amenities for the community.
So, a huge THANK YOU! to the community. You’re what makes our home the First Best Place to live.
The Showcase is coming!
First Best Place is preparing to raise funds in style as we gear up for a spectacular, high-class party on Saturday, April 30th at 7:00pm. Don’t miss the Showcase! Bring a donation to make at the door, an appetite for local food, and a desire to learn more about what we’re doing to make our community the First Best Place.
The event will feature an assortment of local food and beverages, booths for each of our programs so you can learn more about each one, and we will hold several live auctions throughout the evening to raise funds for our programs. Auction packages include a wide variety of goods and services related to each of our nine main programs at First Best Place. Check out the auction packages listed below for details on their contents. (Please note that the contents of auction packages are subject to minor changes without notice.)
Youth Center Auction List
Community Garden Auction List
Farmer’s Market Auction List
Library Auction List
Legacy Archive Auction List
Old Red Bridge Auction List (Package #1)
Old Red Bridge Auction List (Package #2)
Health Education Center Auction List
At 9:00, we will wrap up our sustainable community showcase and roll out the (free) headlining performance of the evening, the Cold Hard Cash Show. The Cold Hard Cash Show is a Johnny Cash tribute band so good you won’t believe your ears, so plan on moving your feet to some great tunes!
If you have questions about the Showcase or about First Best Place, give us a call at (406) 892-1363, or use the Contact link on our website to send us an e-mail.
The First Best Place
If you are from the Flathead Valley, you probably don’t need us to tell you why we call it the First Best Place – this breathtaking place seems a world apart from anywhere else. More beauty, more space, more wildlife, more recreation, more freedom, more air, more sky, more everything.
Those of us who are lucky enough to live here…. well, we feel pretty lucky.
Mission and Vision
First Best Place is a community benefit group that is working to build quality of life amenities for our residents. Simple enough, but with pretty serious goals.
We believe that small communities such as ours are unique. By building on opportunities for outdoor adventure and economic prosperity, while preserving the unique small-town character of the area, we can help ensure a sustainable community for generations.
All of the projects that we are involved in connect to this idea of sustainability. By helping to create opportunities for job training, education, business development and youth activities, as well as creating places for people to gather and interact, we believe we will help connect the community and help it to thrive.
We invite you to explore our website to learn a bit more about these efforts. You can become a part of the Department of Doing – volunteer for one of our projects, make a contribution, share our story with friends. Our success has been entirely because of the overwhelming support we’ve had from the community – from the hundreds who have volunteered, to the amazing financial support of businesses and individuals, to the astounding participation we’ve seen in events and activities in our little town. It is humbling. Please join us.
Want to help?
Your financial contributions make our projects possible. Click to make a donation today.
