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By CANDACE CHASE

The Daily Inter Lake

Kalispell's VFW thrives in new facility

The Kalispell Veterans of Foreign Wars post reached a milestone this year.

After 65 years in a three-level building on Main Street, Post 2252 moved to a brand new one-level facility on First Avenue West.

"It's beautiful," said Jim Aho with a smile. "The other place was a dungeon."

Aho, VFW quartermaster, and Doug Dall, lounge manager, couldn't be happier with the airy, spacious facility. The post gained 15 on-site parking spaces plus a leased lot with 20 additional spaces at the rear.

The former Main Street location had next to no official parking.

"Just curbside," Dall said. "That was it."

VFW members weighed making costly repairs and upgrades against building new. But renovations would not have added parking or solved the problem of a building divided into three levels.

"A lot of our customers are elderly and handicapped," Dall said.

The VFW made a wise decision to invest in a new 7,146 square-foot club with a large lounge, complete casino, banquet meeting room and adequate parking. Since moving in May, the post has more customers than ever before.

"At least double the number of people," Aho said.

According to Dall, the location closer to residential areas has helped with walk-in traffic. It was the former location of Skyline Bowl which burned down a few years ago.

He expects the impending addition of pizza, hot dogs and open-faced sandwiches to increase business even more.

"People at surrounding businesses keep asking when we're going to have food in here so they can come for lunch," Dall said.

With air conditioning keeping the interior at 70 degrees, the club had paying customers even at mid-morning recently. Some played the machines while others engaged in conversations in the pleasant chill of the bar area.

"It holds a real nice consistent temperature," Dall said.

Other cool attractions include seven new large television sets, four pool tables, a sophisticated sound system and first-class air handling which keeps cigarette smoke from permeating the air. The VFW's budget-friendly prices provide perhaps the biggest customer incentive.

"We try to keep it affordable," Dall said.

Every Wednesday, patrons play pool for free and drink $1 Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. The club has two happy hours each day.

As a nonprofit, the post operates the business under a club license which allows them the privileges of a for-profit bar and casino license, including serving the general public.

The VFW invests any excess revenue over expenses into services to help veterans as well as the community. Some of these community activities include Patriot's Pen and Voice of Democracy essay contests and Patriotic Art competition for youth.

VFW members share their facility with similar groups. The amenities attracted the Marine Corps League and the United Veterans of the Flathead, which meet in the facility's large banquet area.

"It's well laid out," Aho said.

From the front entry on First Avenue West, a customer enters first the bar and lounge then passes through a hall which connects to the meeting/banquet room. Large accessible restrooms are located off the hall with the latest in privy high-tech like self-flushing toilets.

A storage room and offices for Dall, Aho and VFW Commander Cary Dill and other officers line the south side of the building.

Aho said some other posts in Montana have settled for putting up simple metal buildings to serve their membership and the public. But Kalispell decided to go first-class.

"We wanted to match the other buildings in the area," he said.

According to Dall, the design began with him drawing his optimal layout on a napkin many years ago. From there, architect Bill Grant of AD Graphics produced the plans along with Abel Engineering. Steve Young of the Building Company served as general contractor.

As with many projects, the road to completion was bumpy.

The VFW expected to start construction in July 2005 with a move-in date of November 2005. Instead, work began in July 2006 and was completed in May 2007.

"It was much delayed," Dall said.

Costs escalated to $830,000, mainly due to an unforeseen requirement to excavate some concrete long-ago buried on the site.

According to Dall, the City of Kalispell reversed an earlier decision to leave the concrete in place after the contractor had excavated and filled the site. It was an expensive change but the VFW soldiered on.

"We had a lot of help from customers and members," Dall said.

Craftsmen discounted labor for painting, electrical, heating and air conditioning as well as hanging Sheetrock. The result was a club with all the latest safety features, unlike their former antique building on Main Street.

"We're all fire-sprinklered," Dall said.

He said that delivery men for local distributors were dazzled by the one-level, handicapped-accessible storage area. At the old building, they had to carry all the supplies downstairs to a storage room.

"I told the delivery guys that they should donate a couple of checks a year just for the money they save on chiropractic work," Dall said with a laugh.

Even with about seven years as manager, Dall said he's "just getting the hang" of running the new operation. It requires a lot more work due to the size and volume of business.

Dall expects even a greater boost in business in the winter when the pool teams and dart teams fire up. Word has begun to spread about the banquet facilities, attracting weddings, the Army Birthday and other celebrations.

"We've got a private entry for parties," he said. "The banquet area is non-smoking so we can have kids in there."

Dall said he's lucky to have a lot of good help including Pearl Rivera, casino manager, and night bartender Dawn Brown who just earned the title of Best Bartender in the Flathead for the second year in a row.

The new building has done more for the VFW than just attract more customers to the lounge. Membership has swelled by 20 in just the last few months.

Aho and Dall credit the renewed interest to their new and much-improved facility.

"I've been told it's the nicest lounge, meeting room and bar in the area," Dall said. "It turned out real well."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com