Big Mountain name will live on at local businesses

By NANCY KIMBALL

The Daily Inter Lake

So, just what is in a name?

In the wake of last week's announcement that owners of Big Mountain Resort have changed the name to Whitefish Mountain Resort, the question arose, "What of the other local establishments who have pinned their identity to Big Mountain's fame?"

An unscientific telephone poll on Monday came up with a collective big shrug of the shoulders.

"It's kind of a moot point," Big Mountain Insurance owner/agent Jay Yost said.

The business took its name in 1980, Yost said, and it's not changing now. At one time, "Flathead" was sandwiched in the middle of the agency's name, but the extra baggage was dropped a couple years ago.

"It just identified us with the area, it's just a local name," Yost said of the Big Mountain name choice. They could have named it Whitefish Insurance, but Big Mountain seemed "kind of different, unique," he said.

Judging from the rest of the proprietors who could be reached by phone, a sudden rush at the local printers for redesigned stationery seems unlikely.

Big Mountain Chiropractic has no plans for a name change.

Likewise, Big Mountain Eye Care is perfectly content to stick with ophthalmologist Todd Erickson's choice of names.

Big Mountain Trading and Pawn already is headed for its final stretch, with plans to close its doors on June 30.

Julia Pulaski, the community manager for Big Mountain Apartments, just got the news for the first time but didn't have to think twice.

"No, the name won't change," Pulaski said.

"I'm not sure why we got this name in the first place," she said. "We're low-income housing here. There are just so many apartment complexes around here, and we've been here as one of the longest."

Even public servants gave it little more than a passing thought.

"They can name the hill whatever they want. We're the Big Mountain Fire Department," said Ben DeVall, chief of the Big Mountain Fire Department.

"We're not here for the hill, although the hill is part of our fire district. We're here for the people who live in the district," he said - a district which does, indeed, cover much of the geography called Big Mountain, from the resort's village area down to the lower stretches of Elk Highlands.

DeVall has been chief at the fire hall tucked off to the side of the village area for the past 10 years, and admits he doesn't have "a humongous history with it."

Still, "it's a little sad to me that it changed," he said.

He's aware of the Winter Sports Inc. board's stated need to distinguish itself from Big Sky ski area. But - citing a series of changes under three different ownership teams just in his 10 years - he wonders if it might just be the latest maneuvering from the marketing department.

"It's been that [name] for 60 years," DeVall said. "What I understand is they can't trademark the name. Hopefully they have a plan and they stick with it … But these new guys seem to be looking at it long-term."

He's heard some people say the name change is a great idea. Others say it's an "absolute waste of time." But, he added, "I honestly think the new management is doing a good job."

Business owners seem to have similar reactions.

"I don't think that's right," Pulaski said of the name change. "I've lived here all my life, and there's people who will always call it Big Mountain no matter what they do with it."

Yost adopted a laissez faire mindset.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but it's OK. It's not horrible or anything," he said. "It'll give the marketing people something to do."

He wonders if there might be some peripheral effects in the local business scene.

"For some people it will throw them for a loop," Yost speculated. The Big Mountain name "kind of identified them with the area. That's what our business did in 1980. [The resort] can say it's being confused with Big Sky, but not by those people in the know."

And, with what must have been a grin in the middle of his work Monday afternoon, an electrician at Big Mountain Electric shared his angst.

"They never called me," the electrician said, "and I'm a little hurt."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com