Thursday

Headwaters Montana will present “Wild Places, A Celebration of Montana’s Wilderness Heritage,” billed as the “best photos by Montana’s best photographers,” at the O’Shaughnessy on Thursday, April 8. An artists reception with hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine will take place at 6 p.m. followed by a theater viewing at 7 p.m. Photographers include Dee Blank, Bret Bouda, Ed Gilliland, Chuck Haney, Sumio Harada and eight others. Admission is $10 For more information, call 837-0783 or 862-0438.

The local Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) Community Group will meet at the Bohemian Grange on Blanchard Lake Road on Thursday, April 8, at 7 p.m. Marc Nevas will talk about yogic wisdom and practice. He began his meditation practices in 1971 and has traveled to India extensively for advanced instruction and training in Eastern philosophy, meditation practices and New Humanism. A donation is requested to help defray expenses. For more information, call 862-7711.

The Hockaday Museum of Art will offer a free docent-guided gallery tour with complimentary coffee, tea, and cookies to senior citizens 60 years or older on Thursday, April 8, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The current exhibit is “New Artists 2010 - Glacier Inspirations and Celebrating Glacier.” The museum of Art is located at 302 Second Ave. East. For more information, visit online at www.HockadayMuseum.org or call 755-5268.

Montana State University’s extension program will present a horticulture seminar on “Preserving your harvest” by master food preservation teacher and Lake County FCS agent Nori Pierce in the Flathead High School lecture room on Thursday, April 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. Cost is $5, with proceeds going to the Flathead County Master Gardener Program.

Friday

The Glacier Symphony and Chorale will host a “Martinis with the maestro” social at the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell on April 9 from 5-7 p.m. for music lovers of all types. The free social and educational event will include light appetizers and a cash bar. For more information, call 257-3241.

The Whitefish High School Young Democrats will present a free film screening of the movie “Outfoxed” on Friday, April 9, at 7 p.m. in the Whitefish Middle School auditorium. “Outfoxed” examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, have been running a “race to the bottom” in television news. For more information, contact Josh Schott at 250-9432.

Saturday

Whitefish Theatre Company has changed the line-up for its special event concert on April 10 because of folk artist Mike Seeger’s untimely death in August 2009. The Ying Quartet instead will perform at the O’Shaughnessy on April 10 at 7:30 p.m. with Matt Flinner, a world-class mandolinist and composer who started out as a banjo prodigy playing bluegrass festivals before he entered his teens. Flinner has played with well known performers, including Darol Anger, David Grisman and Todd Philips. Now in its second decade as a quartet, the Ying Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical qualifications in its tours across the U.S. and abroad. Their performances regularly take place in many of the world’s most important venues, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. Tickets are $27 adults and $12 students, all seats reserved, available online at www.whitefishtheatreco.org or by calling 862-5371.

The 44th annual Creston Auction and Country Fair, and the accompanying RV, marine, auto and equipment sale, will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 10 and 11, in Creston. The fundraiser for the all-volunteer Creston Fire Department is the largest spring event in Montana and draws more than 7,000 people from the Pacific Northwest and Canada annually. A rummage and bake sale will be held in the Creston School gym, and hot food will be available all day, including Montana-made beef sausages, freshly made chili and funnel cakes. For more information, call 406-250-7396 or visit online at www.crestonfire.org.

Flathead Contra Dancers and Kalispell Parks and Recreation will hold a dance at Salvation Army gym, 110 Bountiful Drive, in Kalispel on Saturday, April 10, from from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. The Roustabouts will provide lively rhythms with fiddle, guitar, bass and even one or two banjos. Bev Young is the caller. No former dance experience is needed, as all dance calls are taught prior to each jig. Admission is $7 teens and adults, $15 families and free for non-dancers. For more information, call Joe at 752-7469 or Sherry at 752-8226.

The Glacier Knights football team will start the Rocky Mountain Football League season against the Missoula Phoenix in the Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on Saturday, April 10, with kick-off at 4 p.m. That game will be followed with a bye and then three straight home games, starting with the Gallatin Valley Snow Devils on April 24. Home games are played in Columbia Falls.

Flathead Audubon will lead a trip to hear the unique call of the barred owl on Saturday evening, April 10. The barred owl is the only black-eyed owl in the Flathead Valley. Participants will meet trip leader Pete Smith in the parking lot of the Silver Bullet Bar, off Highway 206, at 7 p.m. To sign up, call Pete Smith at 250-9624.

The Hockaday Museum of Art will present its Crits & Croissants forum for artists 15 years or older who want a chance to have their work reviewed by professionals on Saturday, April 10. The forum will be led by Mark Norley from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Norley is a native Montanan who received his art training in Montana and California when he was a teacher and practicing artist. For more information, visit online at www.HockadayMuseum.org or call 755-5268.

Sunday

The popular play “Tuesdays With Morrie” will return to the O’Shaughnessy on Sunday, April 11, at 7 p.m. The play is about the lessons Detroit sports writer Mitch Albom learned about living and dying from Brandeis University sociologist Morris Schwartz. Morrie will be played by Allen Secher and Mitch by Matt Ford, regulars with the Whitefish Theatre Company. Tickets are $20, available at the box office or by calling 862-5371. Proceeds will benefit Bet Harim Jewish Congregation of the Flathead Valley, Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s Home Options Hospice, and Glacier Universalist Unitarian Fellowship in Kalispell. For more information, visit online at www.betharim.com or call call Ina Albert at 863-2333.

Glacier Babe Ruth will hold final registrations at Sapa Johnsrud Field in Columbia Falls on Sunday, April 11, at 4 p.m. Teams will be decided immediately following the evaluation. Registration forms are available at the middle school and high school and online at www.glacierbaberuth.com. For more information, call Ray Queen at 253-0857.

Monday

The commission responsible for determining boundaries of state house and senate districts based on 2010 Census results will hold a public meeting in Missoula to gather public input on Monday, April 12, at 6:30 p.m. Flathead residents will be able to participate through video-conferencing in Room 120 of the Flathead Valley Community College’s Learning Resource Center. For more information, visit online at http://leg.mt.gov/css/Committees/Interim/2009_2010/districting/default.asp or call Rachel Weiss at 406-444-5367 or e-mail rweiss@mt.gov.

Flathead Audubon Society will present wildlife biologist Steve Gniadek during their meeting at The Summit, in Kalispell, on Monday, April 12, beginning at 7 p.m. Gniadek will talk about wildlife research and monitoring projects in Glacier National Park over the past decade. He retired in January 2009 after serving as a wildlife biologist in the Park since 1987. His program will include new information on Canada lynx, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, wolverines, showshoe hares, pikas, harlequin ducks, northern hawk owls, black swifts, white-tailed ptarmigans and birds in burns.

Tuesday

The Haskill Basin Watershed Council will meet at the Whitefish County Water District conference room, on the second floor in the Riverside Plaza building, 100 East Second Street, in Whitefish, on Tuesday, April 13, at 6 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

The Back Country Horsemen of the Flathead will hold its regular monthly meeting at the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Building, in Kalispell, on Tuesday, April 13, at 7:30 p.m. The volunteer organization is dedicated to protecting stockowners’ use of wilderness and backcountry trails, education of horse owners on Leave-No-Trace principles and support to backcountry agencies. For more information, call 212-8107.

The Flathead County Health Department will hold its normal immunization clinic at the Whitefish Community Center, home of the Golden Agers, on Tuesday, April 13, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. All shots will be offered except those for traveling overseas. For more information, call 751-8110.

American Dream Montana and Freedom Action Rally will sponsor a meeting on the future of planning in Flathead County in the Outlaw Inn, in Kalispell, on Tuesday, April 13, from 7-9 p.m. Topics will include the investigation of the county planning department and property rights. For more information, call 755-3141 or e-mail americandreammt@yahoo.com.

Wednesday

Dave Hadden, director of Headwaters Montana, will deliver a free slide presentation on protecting the transboundary Flathead River in the Blake Hall board room at Flathead Valley Community College on Wednesday, April 14, at noon. Hadden will provide information on the recent agreement signed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell that bans mining and coal and gas development in the transboundary Flathead River drainage. For more information, contact Sharon Randolph at 756-3981.

Flathead Audubon will begin Earth Week with a free showing of the film “HOME” at the Whitefish Public Library on Wednesday, April 14, at 7 p.m. “HOME” is the first film ever to be released in theaters, DVD and the Internet simultaneously. Film maker Yann Arthus-Bertrand and his team flew over more than 70 countries to photograph and show the human footprint on Earth.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission will hold a public hearing at FWP Region 1 offices, in Kalispell, on Wednesday, April 14, at 6 p.m. on proposed recreational-use rules on Lake Five, near West Glacier. The proposed rules would exempt Lake Five from the controlled 200-foot no-wake zone, prohibit personal watercraft and require all vessels towing a person water skiing, tubing or any similar activity to travel in a counter-clockwise direction. The commission proposed the rules to resolve an appeal of FWP’s decision to develop a fishing access site at Lake Five. Written comment must be e-mailed by April 22 to jfitzpatrick@mt.gov or mailed to Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Legal Unit, 1420 East Sixth Ave., P. O. Box 200701, Helena MT 59620-0701. For more informatin, visit online at fwp.mt.gov.

North Valley Toastmasters Club will meet at the Whitefish Community Center, 121 Second Street, on Wednesday, April 14, from 7 to 8 a.m. For more information, call 249-9937 or visit online at http://northvalley.freetoasthost.net.

Frontier Hospice will offer free blood pressure screening at the Whitefish Community Center, home of the Golden Agers, 121 Secnd Street, on Wednesday, April 14, from 11:30 a.m. to noon. For more information, call the Community Center at 862-4923 or Frontier Hospice at 755-4923.