Page 8 - Flathead Beacon // 12.25.13

8 | DECEMBER 25, 2013
NEWS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Kalispell Parks
and Recreation
Director Mike Baker
slices a cake at his READER
retirement party
Friday, Dec. 20.
POLL
GREG LINDSTROM
FLATHEAD BEACON
FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Should John Walsh be Appointed
to Senate if Sen. Max Baucus

Becomes Ambassador to China?

41% YES 59% NO

TOTAL VOTES: 41

Would You Vote for Former
Gov. Schweitzer if He Ran for

President?
Kalispell Parks and Rec Director Bids Farewell

Mike Baker retires what you feel is that the people you worked system with winding paths that led from
with and the job itself, it meant so much to the urban center to the rich scenery on the
after 25 years
me,” Baker said, adding, “That was a real outskirts. The aquatic center at Woodland
thrill.”
Park surfaced. The youth rec program bal-
He was born and raised on the other looned to more than 50 opportunities for 53% NO
47% YES
By DILLON TABISH of the Beacon
side of the state, but by his late teens, the youngsters to be active outside.
TOTAL VOTES: 221
Twenty-ive years ago, Lawrence Park
high-country allure of the mountains and Then there’s the Kidsports Complex.
was a dumpsite and gravel pit lingering in lake of western Montana drew him away. When Dan Johns and others proposed
the heart of Kalispell. Kidsports Complex He worked for the state’s Department of utilizing the 138-acre School Trust Land
was an empty prairie blanketed in alfal- Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the State on the north side of the city, they found a Should Congress Raise the
fa. The city’s outdoor recreation program Parks Department before joining the city steadfast partner in Baker. With the help Minimum Wage?
had barely two options for young boys and of Kalispell in 1988.
of Baker, Kidsports has grown into a re-
girls.
At the time, there were only two city gional destination with its congregation of

It was Mike Baker’s passion for the out- employees in the parks and recreation youth athletic ields.
doors and his determination to share that department. A year after Baker arrived, “It was Mike’s relationships and build-
sylvan experience with his community Jennifer Young came aboard, and the duo ing partnerships that made it happen,”
that led to several transformative changes began to revitalize Kalispell’s outdoor op- Young said of the department’s successes
in Kalispell’s neighborhoods.
portunities. They applied for any grant over the years.
All these years later, Baker is retiring they could, including a successful bid to “Parks and recreation is what the com-
as the city’s parks and recreation direc- the Land and Water Conservation Fund munity is about, and it was Mike’s dream 52YES
48NO
% %
tor. Last Friday the city of Kalispell rec- that helped transform a dumpsite into one that it be important in our community.”
TOTAL VOTES: 162
ognized its longtime steward and hosted a of the most popular city parks, Lawrence, Finalists to replace Baker are being in-
celebration in City Hall for the exiting out- which burgeoned with the help of a new- terviewed the irst week of January.
doorsman.
found citizen’s group.
[email protected]
“You can’t really describe the feeling:
The city also began developing a trail
ONLINE POLL RESULTS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC

A Time for Family,

Friends, and Cheer!

Bank Local with

THREE RIVERS BANK