Freedom Fest at Peace Park on July 4

The Whitefish Chamber of Commerce has scheduled a free Fourth of July concert at Great Northern Veterans Peace Park as a test run for the proposed concert venue.

The Montana Band will headline Freedom Fest on July 4, along with Moonshine Mountain and House of Quist starting at 5 p.m. The chamber’s fireworks display on Whitefish Lake will immediately follow the concerts at about 10:15 p.m.

“We want to invite the community and neighbors who have heard about the effort for a concert venue at the Peace Park and give them an opportunity to look at the park today and what we have proposed,” Whitefish Chamber of Commerce executive director Kevin Gartland said. “This is more of a community outreach event.”

The Chamber is currently in the process of raising funds to build the outdoor concert venue that will be named in honor of the Montana Band. Plans for the Peace Park, off Ramsey Avenue near the city cemetery, reveal a covered stage built to replicate a traditional Montana train depot. Trains cars will be used as a backdrop to the stage.

The land at the Peace Park, which is an old gravel pit, will be graded with bulldozers to accommodate seating in the bowl that looks toward Whitefish Lake and Big Mountain.

Gartland says the park is an ideal place to watch the fireworks display and is just as close to the pyrotechnics barge as City Beach.

“People will be impressed with the venue,” Gartland said. “The fireworks go off right behind the stage.”

Fundraising efforts are gaining momentum for the band shell, estimated to cost about $130,000. The chamber has about $20,000 in the bank with other grant applications in the works.

“We feel it’s going well,” Gartland said.

Free parking for the concert will be available at the vacant Idaho Timber facility off of Karrow Avenue. There is enough space for about 400-500 vehicles, Gartland says.

“We encourage people to park there,” he said.

Beer and wine will be available at the concert. No outside alcohol is permitted.

The concert marks the final stop on Montana Band’s 25th Anniversary Tribute Tour and will be held 25 years to the day after the fatal plane crash that claimed the lives of five Montana Band members near Lakeside back in 1987.