Greetings, Beacon Nation! Lauren Frick here, reporting for “clopener” Roundup duty as I had the pleasure of closing out last week with you, and the even greater pleasure of starting this new week with you. For those of you who have never heard of the term “clopener” or experienced the unadulterated joy of working back-to-back closing and opening shifts (bonus points for the retail and service industries), consider yourself fortunate.

I’ve got a couple of Whitefish news items to kick off your week. First, the North Valley Food Bank is in the midst of their FEED KIDS Food Drive — a monthlong food drive aimed at combating the gap in access to nutritious meals for kids while on summer break.

“When school lets out for summer, many families in Montana lose access to the consistent, nourishing meals they receive during the school year,” the food bank said in a press release earlier this month. “With 1 in 6 children across the state experiencing food insecurity, summer can be a particularly challenging time for families working to make ends meet.”

The food drive, which continues throughout May, calls on community members to donate kid-friendly meals and snacks to the food bank to fill its free grocery store shelves before school is out. All items donated will be available for kids and parents and guardians during free grocery store hours, both in the free grocery store and in the kids corner, where kids can play and fill their own snack bag while their parent or guardian shops.

The food bank is requesting the following non-perishable donation items: applesauce cups, macaroni and cheese, tuna packets, nuts, cereal, oatmeal, crackers, peanut butter, jelly, fruit cups, popcorn, fruit snacks, soups, goldfish, trail mix, granola bars, meat sticks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, diapers and children’s vitamins.

Donation stations include: Safeway, Markus Community Market, Third Street Market, Whitefish High School, Whitefish Middle School, The Skola, Whitefish Christian Academy, Children’s House Montessori School, St. Charles Catholic Church, Whitefish First Presbyterian Church, United Methodist Church, and at North Valley Food Bank, 251 Flathead Ave. Financial donations can also be made online. 

Typically, I love doing the newsletter on Fridays because I get the chance to tell you all about the fun weekend events on deck. But hey, who says you can’t get out and have fun on a weeknight too. 

For those of you looking for some Thursday night plans, Swift Creek Cafe, 307 2nd St. E., will be opening a new exhibition by Whitefish-based artist True Archdale at 6 p.m. May 14. The event is free to the public. 

The special summer exhibition from the contemporary multimedia artist features a collection of original prints that explore memory, identity, place and ancestral presence through bold abstraction and layered symbolism.

Rooted in her upbringing on the Fort Peck Reservation, Archdale’s work brings together contemporary visual language with references to Indigenous resilience, story and continuity. Her prints move between geometric fragments, symbolic forms and shifting narratives — creating spaces where personal and collective memory intersect.

“Much of my work explores the way memory survives through fragments,” Archdale said in a press release. “I’m interested in the traces people carry — through family, landscape, symbols and inherited stories.”

Known for expressive compositions that blend abstraction with layered symbolic imagery, Archdale’s work reflects movement through time while honoring enduring cultural presence. The exhibition highlights both new and recent prints created as part of her evolving body of work.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for ya today. Make sure to check out the rest of today’s Daily Roundup, which includes a selection from of our 2026 primary election coverage.