Fresh Fun

Heading into Columbia Falls on U.S. 2 on an early Thursday evening, it’s obvious something is different.

There are lines at traffic lights filled with Montana license plates, parking lots are swelling with cars and families are walking hand-in-hand down the sidewalk with a briskness that says “we’re going somewhere.”

Then on the left side of the road you see it, or hear it, or smell it. More than a thousand Montanans, some picking produce, some drinking beer, some hawking their wares, some just saying hello. It’s a massive gathering for such an inauspicious time — a mild, cloudy Thursday night in May.

It’s a farmers market but not like one many in these parts have seen before. The Columbia Falls Community Market has done something rare — it’s brought the town together, found a way to engage young and old and, oddest of all, has made downtown Columbia Falls the hippest hangout in the Flathead Valley. At least on Thursday night.

COLUMBIA FALLS has had a farmers market for many, many years, and it’s long been held on Thursday nights. And it’s not the only nighttime farmer’s market in the Flathead Valley, either. Whitefish’s market is every Tuesday night.

But in just three years this Columbia Falls Community Market has separated itself from all the rest. While fresh vegetables are certainly a part of what organizers put on every week — and there are is shortage of farms itching to sell there — the Community Market is bustling mostly because of everything else going on.

Held in and around market President and Founder O’Brien Byrd’s store, O’Brien’s Liquor and Wine, there are food trucks set up on one side of the building, next to a large arts and crafts area that includes six kids craft vendors. Between that area and the farmers market area is The Coop, a large, hollowed out shed where a band is playing, beer is flowing, and residents and visitors are mingling with new friends and old. There are kids attractions too, including a giant, bouncy trampoline.

When Byrd moved his business to its current location (830 First Ave. W.) he looked at his space and the empty lots surrounding it and started to brainstorm.

“We’re just like, ‘what could we do to utilize this?’ he said.

“There’s nothing like a farmers market that can bring a community together, so we created a farmers market and called it the Community Market and it’s really more of a community event now than just a farmers market.”

Markets are held every Thursday through Sept. 21 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Each one features a live musical act and all are free to attend.

“The whole community shows up, it’s actually kind of cool,” Hans Helmstetler, owner of Snow Country Gardens in Columbia Falls, one of the participating farms, said.

“I joked the other night that I saw two-thirds of Columbia Falls show up that night. People come to have dinner, people come to hang out; it feels like a Friday night.”

Zac Perry, a Columbia Falls native who represents the area in the Montana Legislature, has served as the market master from the beginning.

“As the word got out that we had all these different elements, with the live music and different vendors and the unique time, people from Kalispell, Bigfork, Whitefish started coming out,” he said. “And Columbia Falls kind of became the place to be on Thursday nights.”

THE MARKET setup is certainly unique, but what stands out most is the buzz it has created. Since day one the market has been able to draw large crowds, and its balanced the tricky line of satisfying the locals’ expectations and bringing in visitors from across the valley.

“The hardest challenge if you’re going to create something, whether it’s a business or an event or if it’s any sort of start-up, it’s not the brick and mortar, it’s not the landscape, it’s not the numbers,” Byrd said. “It’s the cultural fabric of the community and ‘can you create something?’

“Well, the culture of Columbia Falls has always been there but we just gave it its opportunity; gave an opportunity for the community to come together on a weekly basis.”

Asked how he was able to bring families and older natives to an event that screams a hip, younger crowd (food trucks, craft beer, live music, etc.) Byrd had an easy answer — and a few playful imitations to share.

“Because their children, and their children’s children, are here,” he said.

‘My kids and my grandkids are here? Well, hell, I might as well go, too.’

‘Oh, you know what? This music, this here funky new bluegrass music’s pretty good.’

‘I’ve never seen beer at a farmer’s market before buy my son or daughter just gone done with a long day of work and they’re here having a burger and a beer, and that’s OK.’”

All joking aside, Byrd, a Columbia Falls native, has been on a mission to revitalize the town as his profile has grown. A well-known and highly regarded boys soccer coach, Byrd left Whitefish High School as head coach and took over his hometown Wildcats two seasons ago, and that switch has even made him more involved at home.

“(Byrd)’s been a game-changer,” Perry said. “The energy and enthusiasm that he’s willing to throw into the market project and everything else is just; when he gets involved in something he doesn’t allow it to fail and just raises the bar on everything, and expects that of the people he’s working with.”

“O’Brien pitched it and I was like, ‘I’m in,’” Helmstetler recalled. “I was in front day one on that one. I hope it leads to bigger things in Columbia Falls.”

Byrd estimated about 20 percent of the weekly crowd comes from outside Columbia Falls, and while he’s pleased with the market’s growing reach he remains first and foremost concerned with serving his community. The market is a nonprofit and Byrd has Perry and others handling the day-to-day operations.

“I would say we’re not trying to impress anybody else,” Byrd said. “We’re trying to improve out community for the sake of our community members. Organically, the outside community friends and family that we have and we love look at us and what we’re doing and they’re going ‘that’s cool.’”

Still, Perry and others are thrilled with what they see going on around them.

“This community, it’s always been a resilient community,” Perry said. “We’ve been through so much, economically … and to see something like this that brings everybody together, not only brings everybody from Columbia Falls together but attracts people from the other communities to come in, it’s a great point of pride for Columbia Falls and it’s nice to be a part of that.”

For more information on the Columbia Falls Community Market, visit www.cfcommunitymarket.com.

Entertainment editor Andy Viano can be reached at (406) 758-4439 or aviano@dailyinterlake.com.