Bibler tours feature focus on tribal rugs

Each spring since 2004, the Bibler Foundation has worked with the Flathead Valley Community College Foundation to offer guided tours of the Bibler home and gardens as a scholarship and program fundraiser for the college.

The home is filled with antiques, sculptures and heirloom Persian carpets, and surrounded by tens of thousands of tulips and daffodils accented with ponds, waterfalls, fountains and wooden foot bridges.

The home and gardens are generally accessible only through the college foundation tours in May and July.

This Mother’s Day weekend, the Biblers’ complete collection of Persian tribal rugs will be debuted.

In conjunction with the collection’s premiere, Persian rug expert James Opie of Portland, who worked with the late Sam and Jean Bibler to establish the root of their collection, will be at the Bibler home to help kick off the spring tours.

“This is an unprecedented invitation to see a world-class Persian tribal rug collection with examples dating from the late 18th century to the early 19th century and meet the author who literally wrote ‘the books’ on Persian tribal rugs,” Bibler home and gardens manager Rande Simon said.

Opie wrote two richly illustrated volumes now considered textbooks on the origins of design motifs in Persian tribal weavings. Opie also wrote an article featuring the Bibler tribal rug collection that was published in the summer 2010 Hali, the London-based publication dedicated to exotic rugs and weavings.

The Mother’s Day weekend kick-off events also will feature a champagne brunch prepared and served by the college’s culinary arts students. Guests will have the opportunity to stroll through the gardens and relax in the Bibler home.

The kick-off is from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. May 7 and 8. Tickets are $75 each and limited to adults 21 and over.

One-and-a-half-hour guided tours of the Bibler home and gardens also will be available from 10 a.m. to noon May 14 and 15 and guests will have the opportunity to address questions to the Biblers’ head gardener. Tickets are $10 for adults and $3 for children.

That same weekend, a special two-hour tour will be offered at 2 p.m. each day with the opportunity to view the complete Bibler rug collection in addition to the home and gardens. Tickets for the special tours are $20 per person.

Tickets for all tours are limited and must be purchased in advance through the Flathead Valley Community College Foundation Office by calling 756-3963 or by visiting www.biblergardens.org. Proceeds from all ticket sales will benefit student scholarships and programs at Flathead Valley Community College.