It’s still a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving, but the elves of Bigfork already have Christmas on their minds.

They’ve begun making plans to turn their village into a winter wonderland, covered in greenery and thousands of lights.

Volunteer “elves” will meet for breakfast at Flathead Lake Lodge at 8 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, and begin the process of untwisting last year's lights, gathering trees and preparing everything for the big decorating day and finalizing any last-minute plans.

On Saturday, Nov. 23 at 8 a.m. those plans will be put into motion and more than 100 volunteer elves will deck the streets with boughs of evergreen and more than 10,000 lights over the space of a few hours.

“We've become known for being a 'Christmas village' and that's what we want to look like,” said Bruce Solberg, executive director of the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce. “We're very proud of it and people come from all over the area to see our display.”

With the amount of greenery, lights and volunteers, some coordination is needed to get everything done in one day, but Solberg said the decorating usually wraps up around noon.

“With that many lights, coordinating everything is a full-time job,” he said. “But we've got it down to a science now. The boughs are delivered the Friday before we decorate and everything is in place and ready to be put up, so it's a fun event and not a stressful one.”

Solberg said one reason why the event goes so smoothly each year is simply due to the experience and enthusiasm of the volunteers.

The “elves” have been handling the decorating since the early 1980s, he estimated.

“Each year we see quite a few new faces, but we have the old reliable every time that do the same areas of town, and they help the new people,” he said.

Solberg himself has been participating in the decorating for the last seven years, and said it's something his family always looks forward to.

“It's always a lot of fun, it makes the village look great and everyone has a good time, even when the weather isn't great,” he said. “Although good weather does help. When we finish we go watch the Cat-Griz game and just spend some time with the family.”

Spending time with the family is increasingly becoming a part of the decorating event, with more and more children are participating.

“People are starting to bring their entire family to help out and it has become very kid-friendly,” Solberg said. “They like to get in there and help and it's a very festive atmosphere.”

No Christmas village would be complete without a Christmas tree and Santa Claus, and Bigfork has both covered.

“Santa will show up downtown that afternoon and everyone can gather by the tree at 7 p.m. that Saturday for the lighting ceremony,” Solberg said. “We start off the day at the Bigfork Inn with doughnuts, hot chocolate and a big bonfire, socialize and set up teams for the decorating, and end it with the lighting ceremony. It's a pretty fun day and I certainly encourage everyone to come out and help.”

The planning and decorating events, as well as the tree-lighting ceremony are free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce at 837-5888.

“It's a really great way to kick off the season, see your friends and neighbors, and maybe make some new friends,” Solberg said. “We'd love to see you!”

Reporter Melissa Walther may be reached at 758-4474 or by email at mwalther@dailyinterlake.com.