A look back, a look ahead

Beginning in this week's Eagle you'll find a selection of photos that we're calling the Year in Review. It's by no means a comprehensive look at Bigfork over the past 12 months, but it hits some of the high points. At the very least it highlights some nice photographs and memories. The second half of the package will be in next week's paper.

The year in review for me is a disjointed one, as I only came to Bigfork in September. Before that it's all secondhand or from back issues of the Eagle. The end of the year is always a good time to reflect, as our arbitrary calendar encourages us to take stock before a give ourselves a clean slate.

For me this year has been a whirlwind of jobs and towns and friends and family and always mountains. A fine year, indeed.

I learned that public relations is not a field I can stay in, at least not until I'm ready to retire. I learned that there is life after Missoula, something anyone who went to college or lived there can attest is a sometimes questionable fact. It is a fun and vibrant town and there are plenty of days where I still miss it.

But opportunity doesn't always come in the forms you expect, and for me it came cloaked in the guise of a small weekly in one of the world's most beautiful spots. I moved to Bigfork in September expecting to be a reporter with plenty of time to ski when winter set in. The rest is, as they say history.

Bigfork has proven itself to be a wonderful town, with generous, caring people who have plenty of ideas if not the money to make all of them happen. I've been pleasantly surprised to find plenty of young people here and many fully engaged retired folks who have no interest in checking out of the world to their own private paradise.

Plenty of issues that dogged Bigfork will be back in 2008, including stormwater problems, a school bond and the looming neighborhood plan. I'm sure there will be plenty of new ones. But as we put this year to bed there's an opportunity to take stock of where the community is and what really matters here. Is it the lake's water quality? Is it that nebulous "atmosphere" of Bigfork that so many people want to maintain? Is it lighting standards or road widths or school facilities or affordable housing?

Of course it's all of these and plenty more. Bigfork is either growing or dying, depending on who you talk to and it either needs this or that. A dynamic community needs dynamic people and there is no shortage here.

So here's to 2007, Bigfork. I'm glad to be on board.

See you next year.

—Alex Strickland