Happy Friday, Beacon readers! Lauren Frick here, and it’s hard to believe it’s already Memorial Day weekend — the official unofficial start to the summer season. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard, “if you like it here now, just WAIT until the summer,” since I moved here in November, well, I could probably buy my ski pass for next season already.
But seriously, now that we’re starting to turn the corner into a couple months of endless sunshine and endless activities, I couldn’t be more excited. Fellow staff writer Mariah Thomas and I have even made a Flathead Valley summer bucket list — I would ask for suggestions, but since the list is already about 30 items long, I’ll let us take a swing at it first.
Enough about me and my plans. The real question is, what are your plans this holiday weekend? If you don’t have an answer to that question, keep reading. If you do have an answer to that question, still keep reading.
Before you get outside to enjoy some of the beautiful weather this weekend, make sure to check out the Whitefish Theatre Company’s final show of the season, Little Shop of Horrors.
Little Shop of Horrors is based on the cult classic movie from the ‘80s with the stage revival currently off Broadway selling out houses since 2019. The Whitefish Theatre Company will be bringing it back to its stage for the first time in nearly 30 years with a cast and crew that are a mix of community members from all over the Flathead Valley. The cast also includes a puppeteer and an offstage voice actor working together to bring the iconic man-eating plant, Audrey II, to life on stage.
Following a preview performance last night, the remaining performances will continue through the rest of the holiday weekend, as well as the weekend of May 28 through May 31 and June 5 through June 6. A special performance with an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter will be on May 30. Tickets can be purchased here.
If you’re planning on the word “inside” not even being in your vocabulary this Memorial Day weekend, then you can’t go wrong with the classic that is the Bigfork Whitewater Festival.
After hitting the half-century mark last year, the Bigfork Whitewater Festival is back again to kick off the summer and raise money for the Montana Kayak Academy. The beloved local event revolves around a stretch of the Swan River that runs through Bigfork, dubbed “the wild mile” for its Class IV whitewater rapids, and features slalom kayak and canoe competitions, a stand-up paddleboard flatwater race, raft races and at least one dance party.
Competition will kick off at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the Lower Slalom Race at Powerhouse/Sliter’s Park. For more information and a schedule of events, visit bigforkwhitewaterfestival.com.
Finally, you can’t really kick off the summer without a little bit of baseball (and by baseball, I mean eating a bratwurst and chatting with friends while a baseball game happens in the background).
Now in their fifth season, the Glacier Range Riders will be back in Kalispell for their home opener on Tuesday, May 26 against the Great Falls Voyagers. Can’t make it on the 26th? Not to worry, as the Range Riders will be home again on the 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and, you guessed it, the 31st.
In fact, with a franchise-record number of home games on the schedule this season (nearly 55, in fact), there’s plenty of opportunities to check out the Range Riders over the next three months. To buy tickets and for more information on the season, check out gorangeriders.com.
For more events and all the information you’ll ever need to know about summer in the Flathead Valley, make sure to grab this year’s copy of Glacier Journal at a newsstand near you.
Well, that’s all for me and the rest of the Beacon staff for now. Here’s the rest of today’s Daily Roundup, and we’ll see you Tuesday.
Can Glacier National Park Crack its Congestion Crisis by Scaling Up its Shuttle System?
Park administrators have shelved a post-pandemic vehicle-reservation pilot program in favor of a new plan to expand parking and grow its shuttle network. But without any guaranteed federal funding, some stakeholders worry they're moving forward without fallback plan.
Join us for the Glacier Symphony’s Season Finale. The “Resurrection” Symphony by Mahler culminates in what is perhaps one of the most thrilling final movements in the entire repertoire, providing an appropriate conclusion to this extraordinary masterpiece. The symphony stands as a unique musical statement regarding humankind’s quest for spiritual aspirations and fulfillment.
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