School starts

The first day of school in Columbia Falls will be Aug. 30. Expected enrollment is 440 at Ruder Elementary, 450 at Glacier Gateway, 480 at the junior high and 700 at the high school. New staff include Glacier Gateway principal Peter Loyda and high school principal Scott Gaiser and several new teachers. At the junior high, Rick Fanger will replace Trent Miller as social studies teacher, and Dave Ritter will replace Jennifer Stone as art teacher. Stone will be a high school art teacher. Also at the high school, Jennifer Stephens will be the new choral director, Landon Pierce will teach math and Jackson Schweikert will be the new football coach and a physical education teacher.

Park guitar

A musical fundraiser for Glacier National Park will take place at the O’Shaughnessy in Whitefish on Friday, Aug. 24, at 8 p.m. hosted by the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation. Proceeds will benefit Glacier National Park Fund’s High School Citizen Science Program. Bill Mize and Beth Bramhall will open the show with soul, jazz, world and modern classical music, followed by RIO, a bossa nova jazz quartet comprised of Max Hatt, guitar, Edda Glass, vocals, Dennis Unsworth, drums, and Pete Hand, bass. General admission tickets are $30 available at the Glacier National Park Fund office in Columbia Falls. For more information, visit online at www.cocguitarfoundation.tix or call 249-4671.

Labor Day DUIs

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and the Montana Highway Patrol will join a nationwide campaign aimed at cracking down on drunken driving over the Labor Day weekend. Statistics show Labor Day drinking and driving results in the most traffic fatalities of any time in the year. The “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign will run from Aug. 17 to Sept. 3. It will include high-visibility enforcement and be supported by national paid advertising.

Dam visits

The Bureau of Reclamation will close the Hungry Horse Dam Visitor Center on Saturday, Aug. 27. The center will be open daily through Aug. 26 from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. After Aug. 26, it will reopen for the Labor Day weekend during the same hours. Hungry Horse Dam, on the South Fork of the Flathead River, is 564 feet tall and was completed in 1953. Guided tours on the top of the dam will be available when the visitor center is open. Parking is not permitted on top of the dam. For additional information, call 387-5241.

Class reunion

The Flathead County High School Class of 1956 will hold a reunion dinner at Buffalo Hills Golf Course on Thursday Sept. 6, with cocktails at 5:30 p.m. (cash bar) and steak or chicken dinner at 6 p.m. Cost is $30 per person RSVP by Aug. 30 to Bobbie at 752-4021 or Connie at 755-8790.

Jokerst will sign cookbooks

Author Gail Jokerst will talk about her first cookbook, “The Hungry Bear Kitchen: Recipes and Writings,” at The Montana House, in Apgar Village in Glacier National Park, on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 3, with presentations at 2 and 3 p.m.

Seating is limited. RSVP by calling 888-5393 or e-mailing 1960mthouse@qwestoffice.net.