Three local cheers

This past Wednesday, June 14, was Flag Day, and for the second time this year 60 flags were flying on Main Street in Kalispell. Those same flags also were displayed downtown on Memorial Day, flanking the street from the courthouse to Depot Park.

Kalispell's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2252 has been collecting donations since February from downtown merchants and local residents and has raised $2,000 for the flag fund. The flying of the American flag brings back a city tradition dating to the 1970s, when Main Street was similarly bedecked with the stars and stripes every patriotic holiday, explains VFW Cmdr. Carey Dill.

The VFW is hoping eventually to have a hundred flags stretching all the way to Idaho Street.

You still can get a glimpse of Main Street dressed in Old Glory this year - on the Fourth of July, Sept. 11, and Labor Day (Sept. 4).

If you can donate to the fund, send your check to the VFW c/o Flag Fund, 111 S. Main St., Kalispell, MT 59901. For more details, call the VFW at 752-6111.

Elrod School in Kalispell has nothing but gratitude for Wal-Mart.

The corporate giant donated earlier this year to the Michael Lavin Fund. The community rallied to help the Elrod sixth-grader and his family as he battles a form of cancer rare for a child his age. He returned home this spring but continues treatment through Seattle Children's Hospital.

The store then recognized an Elrod teacher, Sharon Sinclair, as the Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year, presenting her a Wal-Mart gift card and the school $1,000.

Wal-Mart also contributed $1,000 to the Elrod Destination Imagination teams, a program in which students take on a teamwork problem-solving challenge. The Elrod team chose a category that allowed members to use only items from an approved list to design their solution. Two teams from Elrod traveled to Tennessee last week to compete in global finals.

Finally, the store filled a prescription for an Elrod student whose family could not afford the medication.

"Wal-Mart has been extremely supportive of our school all year," Elrod principal Jeff Hornby said. "They have directly benefited all the students with their contributions as well as many other families associated with Elrod. We just thank them for being such a great community partner with Elrod."

A cemetery to call its own is an essential part of any community, large or small. The Bigfork Community Cemetery is just five years old, but it has more than 250 plots sold, reports cemetery board member Cherie Hansen. Phase I of the project is plotted for 1,504 sites.

An irrigation system was installed recently, and landscaping has begun under the design of landscape architect Chris Moritz. The Bigfork cemetery is on 10 acres at the corner of Swan River and Lee Roads.

Board members thank everyone who contributed to make the project possible and invite anyone who would like to sponsor a tree to give them a call.

Call Hansen at 837-5531.