VFW in driver's seat for Bigfork car show

Bigfork’s Rumble in the Bay car show will have new leadership this year as the Bigfork VFW Post 4042 takes the reins of the Labor Day weekend event.

Rumble in the Bay founder Jill Mehall, a Bigfork business owner, recently told the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce board of directors she has turned over ownership of the show to the VFW for use as a fundraiser.

Post Commander Delaney Carlson said the veterans group has been looking for a viable summertime fundraiser, and he believes the car show is just the ticket.

“We’ll run this with great enthusiasm,” Carlson told the Chamber Board. “We have a lot of good ideas for growing it.”

VFW member Ed Mitchke, who has car-show experience and will help organize the show planned for Sunday, Sept. 2, said he’d like to get other veterans organizations such as the American Legion Riders and Patriot Guard motorcycle groups involved to grow the event.

“There’s the potential for a lot of different things,” Mitchke said.

Some Chamber board members were miffed over the organizational change because they thought the Chamber had “ownership” of the car show. Board member David Vale said that without any registered trademark, the Rumble in the Bay name essentially is the “extent of the intellectual property.”

Mehall, who owns Creative and Native in downtown Bigfork, said she has concerns about how the Chamber represents its members. She said she has invested $10,000 in Rumble in the Bay since starting the show in 2007 and she wanted to turn the event over to a worthy nonprofit group.

Vale said he feels the car show is “being sold out from under” the Chamber.

“Events like the car show do have value and we believe we have ownership,” Vale said at the February board meeting.

“The Chamber has put a lot of effort into the car show and should have a significant amount of ownership,” he said after the meeting.

Carlson noted it’s not the VFW’s intention to take the decision-making away from the Bigfork community.

“We’re here to promote the community, not destroy it,” he told the board. “I have a duty to my constituents to pursue [this event] to the utmost. We have no intention of alienating the community. We’re sensitive to the needs of the community.”

Chamber board member John Lang suggested the board “take a step back” and appoint a committee to work with the VFW.

“We need to put this together with a win-win attitude,” Lang said.

The popular car show is expected to be staged in the downtown area again this year. Last year Mehall toyed with the idea of holding the show at the Bigfork High School parking lot after complaints surfaced about carbon monoxide fumes and the show crowding access to downtown businesses. In the end Mehall opted to keep the event downtown.

Chamber President Gretchen Gates, who was out of town during the February board meeting, said this week that Bruce Solberg, the Bigfork Chamber’s executive director, has been in touch with the VFW to talk about setting up joint meetings to plan the car show.

“The Chamber will help them any way we can,” Gates said. “We are working with the VFW and will support them.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.