EDITORIAL: No debate: Our students stand tall

Starting today, hard-working high school students from six local schools — Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Flathead, Glacier, Polson and Whitefish — begin the final weekend of the long speech and debate season.

At distant venues in Ennis (Class B), Belgrade (Class A) and Billings (Class AA), young student speakers will go round after round after round in state tournament competition.

The tournaments are the culmination of many hours of research, practice and grueling tournaments going back to October.

Consider that debaters who break into finals at state will have endured nine separate debate rounds in two days, while those in speech events will have gone through seven rounds. For speakers in short-preparation events, that means seven original speeches.

Flathead Valley schools have long dominated Montana high school speech and this weekend should bring more individual and team triumphs. Columbia Falls, for example, is shooting for its 11th straight sweepstakes win in Class A while Flathead and Glacier have taken the last five Class AA team titles.

We wish all our young debaters and speakers well at the state finals.

The Event makes its mark

Most of us knew how valuable The Event at Rebecca Farm is — but now its value has been quantified.

Tourism researchers at the University of Montana determined last year’s equestrian triathlon contributed a whopping $4.4 million to the Flathead economy.

That made The Event the biggest special event of the year; the next largest contributor, the Spartan Races, produced $4.1 million.

The Event in 2015 drew 10,000 people from 29 states (as well as international locations) for the world-class equine showcase that featured 590 competitors.

Part of the positive impact of The Event is that not only do people visit for several days of top-flight horse competition, but many also remain in the Flathead area for another week.

We can thank the foresight of Rebecca Broussard, who founded The Event 15 years ago, and the work of her family in continuing an amazing tradition that benefits the community so substantially.