Community news

Chamber lunch

The Columbia Falls Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its monthly membership meeting and lunch at the Teakettle Community Hall on Nucleus Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 14, from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sen. Jon Sonju, R-Kalispell, a business development manager for Sonju Industrial, will be the speaker. Sonju is running for lieutenant governor this year with gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill. No reservation is required. Catered lunch is $10.

Bowling

benefit

The Columbia Falls Women's Bowling Association will hold their annual bowling benefit for the Boys and Girls Club of Columbia Falls at Glacier Lanes on Feb.10-12. Call Glacier Lanes to sign up at 892-5858. Cost is $23. Participants don't have to be on a league to bowl. Proceeds will stay in Columbia Falls to help the after-school programs at the Boys and Girls Club.

Jazz Café

The swing jazz band Pizzazz and the Columbians will perform at a Jazz Café at the Columbia Falls High School on Feb. 17 with a chicken, beef or seafood dinner at 6 p.m. and dancing at 7 p.m. Dinner tickets are $25 per person in advance at the high school, junior high, Montana Coffee Traders or Glacier Wallflower. Tickets for dancing and dessert are $7. Proceeds benefit the Columbians.

Open house

Professional Therapy Associates will hold an open house for their new physical therapy clinic next to Family Health Care, next to Super 1 Foods on the U.S. 2 strip, on Friday, Feb. 9, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. There will be free screenings, live music, food tastings and door-prizes. For more information, contact Erin Bauman at erin@ptflathead.com or 892-7999 or visit online at www.ptflathead.com.

Lighthouse fundraiser

Lighthouse Christian Home will hold its seventh annual dance and auction at the Red Lion, in Kalispell, on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. with dancing to the Swingin' On High Big Band, directed by BJ Lupton. The nonprofit home provides residence and services for developmentally disabled adults. Ticket prices are $30 per person or $200 for a table of eight available at Snappy Sport Senter in Kalispell and McGough and Company in Whitefish. For more information, call Shirley Willis at 857-3276.

Gluten free

Columbia Falls Women's Connection will hold their luncheon at Teakettle Community Hall, 235 Nucleus Avenue, on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 11:30 a.m. Jenelle Cassidy, a local gluten-free bakery owner, will talk about eating wheat-free. The speaker will be Nova Lee Hutchins. Cost $8 per person. Free child care is available by reservation. For more information, call Candy at 387-4119.

A fundraiser will be held at the North Valley Senior Center on Friday, Feb. 10, from 4-7 p.m. with lasagna, salad, garlic rolls and dessert for $6. A book and puzzle sale will take place Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10-11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Softball sign-ups

Registration for the Columbia Falls Youth Softball Association's spring season will continue through March 12. Forms are available in the lobby of all local banks and at the offices of all local schools. For more information, visit online at www.wildkatsoftball.org or call Kathy Price at 892-1162 or 253-3775.

Breathing talk

The local Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) community group will meet at the Bohemian Grange, behind Montana Coffee Traders on U.S. 93 in Whitefish, on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. Sara Bonds and Shawna Moore will talk about "The breath: Practices and physiology." For more information, call 862-9591.

Scrabble tourney

Literacy Volunteers of Flathead County will hold their seventh annual team Scrabble fundraiser at the Museum at Central School on Saturday, Feb. 11, with two sessions - 10 a.m. to noon or 1-3 p.m. Each four-person team is asked to collect $200 in pledges to help adults and their families gain reading, English and life skills. For more information, call 257-7323.

Book club

Bad Rock Books, on Nucleus Avenue, will resume its monthly book club meetings with a discussion of "The Anthropologist," by Nicholas Baker, on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. Refreshments are provided. For more information, call Kasey Kephart at 888-5601 or e-mail kckep36@cyberport.net.

Fur traders

E.B. Eiselein, an anthropologist and Flathead Valley Community College professor, will be the third speaker in the 10th annual John White Series at the Museum at Central School, in Kalispell, on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2:30 p.m. Eiselein will talk about the history of the fur trade, including the intense rivalry between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company which led to the establishment of the Howse House, the first fur trading post in the Flathead. Eiselein is of Canadian Anishinabe descent and a direct descendent of Sir Alexander MacKenzie, the North West Company fur trader who was the first European to cross North America. Tickets are $6 for historical society members and $9 for the general public, available at the museum. For more information, call 756-8381.