Building business

In this day and age, when the big retailers have a huge impact on our buying habits, it is important to keep small business alive.

Columbia Falls is not a tourist town. But it is a route both in and out of Glacier National Park. And business visibility is so crucial in catching the eye of travelers. That goes for residents of the north Flathead Valley as well as tourists. Businesses on U.S. Highway 2 are on the route. That's not to say that an overwhelming number of tourists patronize any of those merchants. But they do need food as well as fuel for their vehicles.

A group of Columbia Falls business people gathered Tuesday morning during the monthly Chamber economic development meeting. There were people representing banking, the lumber and medical industries and several small businesses. Each gave a report, sharing information with fellow merchants.

Topics discussed included the possibility of a flooring research and development center coming to town. Freedom Bank President Don Bennett spoke about the Columbia Falls industrial park. Two-and-a-half years ago, Mountain West Economic Development signed a purchase agreement to purchase the park and has been making payments on the option. At the time, Bennett was chairman of MWED. Bennett said Tuesday that MWED has exercised its option on the park and the tentative closing date is Sept. 27. But, he said during the meeting, there is also interest in purchase of the park by another party.

Bennett said, "We want Columbia Falls to benefit from the park itself." Mike Strotheide, president and CEO of MWED, also spoke about his company's interest in the industrial park.

Gary Sparr of Glacier Bank said there is interest from two parties in purchasing the former Citizens Bank building. Paul McKenzie of Stoltze Land and Lumber said that the lumber market continues to be soft — the demand for wood down and production up. According to Dee Brown of Canyon RV and Campground, due to the late opening of Going-to-the-Sun Road, tourism in Glacier National Park was down 2 percent, but "seven weeks of fill-in tourists was there."

State Farm Insurance agent Lyle Mitchell showed preliminary plans for a sign that will welcome everyone to downtown Columbia Falls, or uptown, since the downtown area is up the hill. He said the goal is to have the sign in place by the beginning of next year's tourist season.

Local barber Barbara Jenkins said trees were being planted "along the boulevard" through the Tree City USA program.

Also speaking during the meeting were Ann Markel of Imagine Health, Sally Petersen of Funtastic Finds and Carol Blake of North Valley Hospital, as well as Chamber Executive Director Carol Pike. According to Pike, the operation of Eagle Transit in Glacier Park was an "overwhelming success" this year. During the off-season, the buses are being used for transit in Flathead County. Eagle Transit buses provide transportation for a number of Flathead Valley Community College students.

Petersen reported on the progress in organizing a Farmers' Market in the Columbia Falls business district, beginning next year. She also asked for ideas on how to leverage Night of Lights (Nov. 30 this year) in order to benefit local businesses.

With Petersen's guidance, the Chamber will schedule "Business After Hours" events, starting with a networking opportunity on Thursday, Nov. 8 at Freedom Bank, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Petersen said that the Whitefish Chamber's "Gone Fishin'" networking events are of value and are well attended. Initially, Business After Hours will be featured on a Thursday evening every other month. Imagine Health hosts the Jan. 10 event.

A lot of business is about working together and helping each other to be successful. And Columbia Falls merchants have the right idea.

Joe Sova is managing editor of the Hungry Horse News.