Glacier Park employees reunion

Two years ago, Glacier National Park celebrated its 100th anniversary, and what an awesome Park it is. Glacier is “the Switzerland of America.” It is “the Crown of the Continent.”

Last month, the magnificent Glacier Park Lodge, in East Glacier, celebrated its own centennial by hosting a former employees reunion. More than 500 special guests attended the ceremonial meetings for this once-in-a-lifetime event. That week, lodging was nowhere to be had in the town of East Glacier. The place was packed.

Two Glacier Park “legends in their own time” were guest speakers for these festivities — long-time hotel director Ian B. Tippet and former 11-year veteran employee and head bellman of Many Glacier Hotel John Hagen. Hagen is the founder and long-time president of the Glacier Park Foundation. He is also a co-editor of its magazine, “The Inside Trail.”

Glacier Park Lodge is a monumental work of art, with its huge, vertical, bark-covered logs that hold up the immense ceiling of its 180-foot long lobby. My wife and I had a room off of the third floor balcony there on our honeymoon. The second and third floors are completely ringed with rustic balconies.

The lodge incorporates Blackfeet Indian decor with its old Great Northern and Rocky Mountain goat themes. Two additional assets to the main hotel are the grand annex (a huge inn in itself) and the cute Swiss-style, three-story, employees chalet, in plain view of the Great Northern trestle and railway station. This chalet looks like an overgrown Swiss cuckoo clock.

Former employees shared decades-old stories of beloved times working in the lodge and were reacquainted with the glorious mountains and old hiking trails. The next generation had a chance to find out how wonderful it was for mom or dad to have worked in such a beautiful place.

Dan Manka

Fairmont, W.Va.