Community briefs March 21

Homeschool Theater Club

The Homeschool Theater Club will be performing “Annie” on March 30 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and March 31 at 7 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center.

The club caters to the home-educated students of the Flathead Valley and each spring puts on a musical production with 48-60 students ranging from 7 to 20 years old.

For more information, call 406-291-0594.

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny will be at Shopko Hometown in Whitefish to visit with children and be available for photos from 2-3 p.m. on Saturday, March 24. Parents may take their own pictures of their children with the Easter Bunny as a photographer will not be on site to take or sell photos.

Easter Egg Hunt

The Springs at Whitefish will host is annual community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 24 at 10 a.m. The event is for children through age 12.

Adult Easter Party

The Whitefish Community Center is hosting an Easter Party for grown-ups on Saturday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to noon at the community center. Events include an egg hunt, an egg toss and a carrot toss. Participants will also be able to decorate Easter bonnets with materials provided, but should bring their own basket for the egg hunt. Call 862-4923 to register by March 22 to get a bonnet to decorate.

Egg Hunt

Lone Pine State Park will be hosting its annual Hop into Spring Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 31 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Scavenge for hidden eggs on the trails, get your face painted, and enjoy crafts and games throughout the day. Eager egg hunters should meet at the park picnic shelter. Egg hunts will begin at the top of every hour, and kids must have a ticket to participate. Each participant will go on a hike while collecting one of each color egg hidden along the trails. This is BYOB (Bring your own Basket). Tickets for this event on Eventbrit.com. For more information, call the park visitor center at (406) 755-2706.

Native Plants

The Flathead Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society is hosting a Grass Identification Workshop on Wednesday, March 21 at 7 p.m. at the North Valley Community Hall in Columbia Falls. Jennifer Asebrook, botanist at Glacier National Park, will lead this hands-on grass workshop. No past plant identification experience is necessary but please bring a hand lens and plant keys, if available. The workshop will cover basic skills of identifying grasses. Participants will learn important grass terminology that helps to differentiate grasses in a short presentation. Most of the workshop, however, will be spent identifying pressed grass specimens with plant keys, hand lenses, and microscopes. This workshop is a great place to start if you are new to identifying grasses but will also offer insights into the nuances of grass identification for those that have worked with grasses in the past.

North Valley Community Hall (also North Valley Physical Therapy) is located at 235 Nucleus Ave. in Columbia Falls. All are welcome to join the Flathead Chapter board/planning meeting at 5:30 p.m. before the workshop. Please call 871-8020 with questions.

Wave passes

Whitefish Safe Grad Night will offer 60 day temporary membership pass to The Wave as a fundraiser for the Whitefish High School annual senior party. Each pass is $50 each.

Some restrictions apply including that you must be 18 or over or a parent must have a pass also and passes must be redeemed within 30 days of purchase. Passes are only for sale through March 24.

Passes are available at Whitefish High School main office, Sprouts, Bulldog Saloon and Stumptown Art Studio. Contact parent volunteer Shawna Moore at shawnamoore@gmail.com and 261-6528 for more information.

Snow Geese

The Snow Geese, along with thousands of other waterfowl, are moving from their California wintering grounds to their arctic nesting areas. There is nothing like Snow Geese and the Rocky Mountains at the same time and place. Join the Flathead Audubon Society on March 24-25, 2018 to see the annual waterfowl migration at Freezeout Lake near Choteau. The group will meet on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., caravan/carpool to Choteau and arrive in time for the afternoon “fly-out.” After spending a night in Choteau, we will head back out just before daybreak to watch the “mass ascension” of geese from the ponds of Freezeout. After the morning’s birding, we will head home in the early afternoon arriving in Kalispell around 5 p.m. on Sunday. Bob Lee will provide a suggested schedule and route, and will be in the front of the group. Participants may choose to pursue the geese on their own. Please make your own arrangements for lodging; primitive camping is available at Freezeout WMA. Motel options include the Stage Stop (406-466-5900), Gunther (406-466-5444) and Big Sky (406-466-5318). Make your reservations early as these hotels will likely fill up. For more information, including the meeting location, contact Bob Lee at 270-0371 or RML3@centurytel.net. The field trip is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit the Flathead Audubon website: www.flatheadaudubon.org.

Election judges

Flathead County is looking for folks to serve as election judges on Election Day. The responsibilities of an election judged include supervising the conduct inside polling places and helping voters cast their ballot both privately and independently. Judges must be at least 18 years of age, must be a registered voter and a resident of the county where they serve and must attend training conducted by the county election administrator.

For information, contact the Flathead County Election Administrator at 758-5535 or visit our website at flathead.mt.gov/elections.

Honor Band

The Flathead Valley Eighth Grade Honor Band Festival will take place in the Whitefish Performing Arts Center on Thursday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m. This year’s guest conductor will be Russ Newbury, a well-known figure in the band world and a graduate of Whitefish High School. Newbury recently composed a band piece specifically for this event titled “Going to the Sun.” The piece representing the historic building of the National Historic Landmark route through Glacier National Park. Top student musicians representing six area middle schools will have the opportunity to rehearse and perform under Newbury’s baton during the festival. Bands will come from Kalispell Middle School, Libby Middle School, Stillwater Christian School, Columbia Falls Junior High School, Whitefish Middle School, and Bigfork Middle School.

Choir

The Columbia Falls Community Choir is gearing up for it’s annual concert. Concerts will be March 24 at 7 p.m. and March 25 at 2 p.m. in the Columbia Falls High School Little Theatre. The choir is under the direction of Steven Holte and accompanied by Dawn Hashley. Eighty-five adult voices combine to produce an amazing sound of music. Singers are from Columbia Falls, Whitefish, Kalispell, Coram, Bigfork and Olney. Guest accompanists include Jenny Krueger on piccolo and Wai Mizutani on violin. Admission is free, but a freewill offering will be taken.

Haskill Basin

The next meeting of the Haskill Basin Watershed Council has been scheduled on April 3 in the Riverside Plaza second floor conference room, 100 Second St. East, Whitefish, at 6 p.m. Enter from back of building on the second floor. For more information, contact Flathead Conservation District at 752-4220 or see the agenda posted on the website, www.flatheadcd.org.