Bigfork High School's new concession stand in the works

By FAITH MOLDAN

Bigfork Eagle

The Bigfork Booster Club moved closer to the finish line of the concession building and rest room project.

With a combination of Booster Club funds, money from the school district and student activity fees, Porch Construction will begin building a new concession building within the next week or two, according to Bigfork Schools Superintendent Russ Kinzer. The Booster Club also received a $30,000 interim loan from Flathead Bank of Bigfork.

Porch Construction was the sole bidder in the second bid process.

"They worked with us on getting the cost down," Kinzer said of the company. "They were really good at allowing us to look for more funds."

Porch's original bid in January came in at $235,000, but the figures were reworked at the request of the Booster Club.

Porch Construction, the Booster Club and school district hope to have the building completed and ready for use at the start of the fall sports season, or soon thereafter. Kirt Taylor will be doing the excavating at the site.

Plans for the 30-by-46 foot, two-level building have undergone changes since the original bid was opened in July 2006. The then-2,700 square foot building drawn up by Frank Becker was estimated to cost around $200,000. That equaled to $75 per square foot for the building that was to include storage areas, locker rooms, concession stand and restrooms.

The building's plans still include concessions and restrooms, as well as a storage area and space for locker rooms in the future. Kathy Boiteau, former Booster Club member and co-organizer of the project, said the coaches at the school decided they didn't want locker rooms to go into the building at this time. The building will be plumbed for the possibility of locker room usage. The space will be used as a warming area and the building will be built into the hill along the southeast side of the track and football field.

"There's potential to add other things in the future," Kinzer said.

After the only bid submitted in July was opened, the plans for the building were put on hold. The bid was just for the shell of the building and came in at $160,000.

"The bid was reasonable," Kinzer said last year. "It's not a real large project."

The new restrooms and concession stand would complete a project that began six years ago when Bigfork High School had a rundown athletic field, old bleachers, poor lighting, a dirt track and "dismal rest room facilities." The rest rooms are still lacking, as the Booster Club currently rents portable toilets.

Boiteau said they would not proceed with a project that was unusable after the bid was opened. Moving on from that point, the cost of the building was re-estimated to $250,000. The new price tag made the Booster Club, which had a considerable amount of money set aside for the project, consider other options such as building the concession stand in stages. Other options included working with the district or conducting more fund-raising. The all-weather track and bleachers that were completed three years ago were a joint effort between the school district and the Booster Club.

Late in the fall of 2006, Boiteau and the Booster Club applied for a grant through the Hamburger Helper "My Hometown Helper" program in hopes of gaining up to $15,000 for the project.

Hometown Helper began ins Sept. 2006 and ran through May 31, 2007. The program awarded up to $15,000 each month, either in one lump sum to an organization or divided among a number of different organizations.

Boiteau, along with Patty and Vernon Smith and Bobbi Wolstein, stayed on after serving as elected officers in the Booster Club in order to see the project through.

"We didn't feel we could up and leave them," Boiteau said of the new Booster Club officers. "It obviously needs to be done. It's something the entire community can use."

Wolstein said completing the project as something the former officers were all committed to.

"We didn't want to leave it undone," she said.

The Booster Club raised $908,094 between 1992 and 2006, and gave more than half of that amount — $519,796 to Bigfork schools. The money was raised from selling hot dogs, T-shirts and Booster clothing, to running football camps, raffles and "anything you can name." Other Booster Club projects and donations have included $8,100 in scholarships between the years 1999 and 2006. The club has also fixed a bus used for a variety of high school activities.