What has been a slightly sleepy downtown Kalispell is beginning to wake up.

It starts with this week's inaugural Thursday!Fest and stretches into the possibility of a rejuvenated Liberty Theatre for live performances.

From 5 to 7:30 p.m. every Thursday in July and August, the Kalispell Downtown Association and Business Improvement District will close off Third Street for a block on either side of Main Street - U.S. 93 traffic will flow uninterrupted - for an evening of live music, a beer garden, food vendors, fresh produce, arts and crafts, and children's activities.

This Thursday, Smart Alex kicks off the musical lineup with its good-time party music. In the coming weeks, other local favorites will include Pedacter Project, Andre Floyd and Friends, La Nota and The Can't Hardly Playboys.

"We started looking at short-term and long-term projects we could do to create some excitement about the downtown," Tim Price said of the work he and six fellow board members are doing through the Business Improvement District.

After the resolution of a lawsuit that challenged the method of forming the district (which encompasses a core of downtown retail and professional businesses), tax money that had been collected was released for use in the district.

Its $77,000 annual budget already paid for a logo and Web-site design, with an invitation for businesses to use it as a promotion and networking tool.

Thursday!Fest was an immediate hit, organizers reported, when it was 100 percent booked just a couple of weeks after the idea hit the ground. It's patterned after evening festivals held in other Montana cities, such as Helena's Five Alive and Missoula's Downtown ToNight.

"We brought in the Kalispell Downtown Association to work with us on this," Price said. With its 100-some membership to provide helping hands, "we hope eventually they will take it over and do more things in the future."

The Business Improvement District's money is getting things rolling, but revenue generated from the festivals should feed back into growing them for the future.

Just up the street on First Avenue East, new life could be breathed into the now-dark Liberty Theater.

Price and his fellow business-district board members are in the early stages of talks about forming a nonprofit to search out grants and do some fundraising to buy and renovate the 1920-vintage theater from local developer Phil Harris and his business partner.

It could restore a piece of history and provide a venue for live music, comedians, speakers and possibly - although there have been no talks yet - a home for the Glacier Symphony and Chorale.

"In looking at what the downtown really needs, I think most people in the community would agree that downtown has a lack of social entertainment options. This would add a huge dimension," Price said.

And, after plans for the Glacier Performing Arts Center fell through despite what Price called a wonderful drive for fundraising and fairly significant pledges, it could be something suited to the symphony.

"I think the feeling was that in the end what they were shooting for was a little too grand for the area. The Liberty would be more attainable," he said.

"We have not formally been in talks with them, but we would love to see them have their own home. And this would at least have the potential for that."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at [email protected]