Work kicks off on tourism master plan to create vision for visitation, quality of living

Whitefish is turning to its business owners and community members for ways to make tourism continue to benefit the city in the long-term.

The tourism master plan steering committee held its first forum at City Hall last week to gauge the public’s feelings on the positives and negatives of Whitefish’s growth as a tourist town.

Jen Frandsen, former City Council member and owner of Old Town Creative, said the committee came out of a need to get ahead of the pressures caused by tourism growth.

“As you all have probably noticed, in these most recent periods of growth and visitation we’ve experienced some real pressures on our community,” Frandsen said. “As a community, we need to better understand what are causing these pressures that we’re feeling, what are the good and the vital aspects of tourism and most importantly, how can we retain the elements of this place that is so unique and such a great place to live?”

The committee was appointed by City Council in January with the goal of creating a clear vision for how tourism can grow while still allowing Whitefish to maintain its quality of living. The committee is made up of nine local business owners and community members.

The Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau brought the idea for a tourism master plan to Council last spring.

To help take the community’s pulse and start getting a plan put together, the committee brought in Michele Archie of Harbinger Consulting Group. Archie grew up in Columbia Falls and got a master’s in environmental studies from the University of Montana.

Archie said Whitefish has a very specific situation regarding tourism.

“Whitefish really is a unique place, and everybody says that they’re unique, but Whitefish really has something that’s special,” she said. “When you look around town, it’s not your average 6,000- or 7,000-person Montana town. The solutions that are going to work for you are only going to work for you, and they’re going to need to come from you and your community.”

The discussion began with a debate on what it means for Whitefish to be an authentic community.

Frandsen said authentic community means having a place where people are dedicated to Whitefish and truly living their lives here.

“The thing that I think of is a real town with real people who live here who work here, have their kids go to school here, who have a history or a future planned in Whitefish,” Frandsen said. “It’s not necessarily just a moment in time for a character in a building. It’s all of those elements that make up a vibrant community. So that from the outside, it looks like a real place where real people work and can make a living here.”

Viewing “authentic” in the scope of tourism, Sue Basta disagreed, saying it actually feels like citizens are being asked to put on a show for visitors.

“It makes me feel like we’re characters, like we’re here for a tourist’s pleasure. They want to come to the community that’s authentic. So are we Disneyland and we’re the characters?” she said.

Rhonda Fitzgerald, community member and part of the Montana Tourism Advisory Council, said maybe authentic community isn’t the best word for what the tourism committee is hoping to achieve.

“You guys have put the finger right on the question. Because by authentic community, I think what we’re saying, or hoping to say, is that we’re not Disneyland and we’re not costumed characters. We’re not a purpose-built resort,” Fitzgerald said. “Perhaps authentic doesn’t sound right, and maybe there’s a better word ... I think we’re all saying the same thing, which is we don’t want to be costumed characters in a Disney-like destination.”

During the forum, participants split into small groups of four to five people to get into deeper discussions with members of the committee.

Lauren Oscilowski’s group discussed whose needs should be met first — the tourist or the community member. Oscilowski owns Spotted Bear Spirits and chairs the tourism steering committee.

Basta said the obvious answer is the community members come first.

“I think it should be more the needs of the locals, because we were here first, and this is where we live. They live somewhere else, their needs are being met — I hope — where they live. We came here to live here, not be bombarded with tourists,” she said.

Jill Zignego, owner of Five Star Rentals in Whitefish, said both needs can be met at the same time, with priority given to Whitefish residents.

“I think it can be win-win. I think the tourists and the residents can live in a wonderful, simpatico relationship. Of course the residents need to be first, because we live here. But so do the tourists. It’s a very clean commerce. The thing I love about my business is you see people who are so happy to be here,” Zignego said.

When the frustrations turned to traffic congestion different ideas came forward — like more public transportation and a bypasses similar to the Highway 93 South Bypass in Kalispell came up as ways to mitigate the affects of tourists.

However, as Oscilowski pointed out, while community members might like to stop or slow the inflow of tourism, that’s not possible and not the point of the committee.

“The reality is tourism is happening. So our goal as a committee is not to deflect it, I mean with this national wanderlust for tourism it’s going to continue to happen. So how do we navigate that and how do we find out what are the points we need to mitigate?” she said.

Speaking to the group as a whole, Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow said with the massive influx of visitors the park has been getting in the last few years, he’s all ears for any solutions Whitefish comes up with.

“In case you guys find a magic bullet, I’d like to know it too,” he said. “Outdoor recreation represents almost 2 percent of gross domestic product in the United States, which is double what agriculture, oil and gas represent. To me, that’s just an amazing underlying current that we’re all being swept up into, and how it plays out, I’m not sure. The demand is just huge there. And how not to get swallowed up, that’s what we’re all looking for.”

The Tourism Master Plan Steering Committee is asking Whitefish residents to share their input in a brief survey.

Physical copies of the survey can be picked up and dropped off at the front desk of City Hall, or completed online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/whitefishresident.

Surveys must be turned in by June 15.