The Bigfork Senior Center is holding a garage sale this weekend as one of the first events to kick-off fundraising efforts to renovate the facility.  

The senior center moved into its current building in 2021 after the county purchased the property using a grant. Located off Montana 35 across from the Bethany Lutheran Church, the building offers more space for the community but still needs many improvements, according to senior center Board President Bruce Peck.  

The center is operated by the Bigfork Area Association of Senior Citizens, a nonprofit that partners with Flathead County to run the center and administer programs like Meals on Wheels. 

Peck said he wants to give thanks to Flathead County officials, who recently turned over 2,400 square feet more of the building for senior center use, which was previously rented out.  

“The citizens of Bigfork appreciate them providing this space for us,” Peck said. “We now have expanded board of directors, and in addition to negotiating with the county to obtain the rest of the building, we're going to be making renovations in the future, and this rummage sale is part of our initial startup.” 

Currently, the senior center hosts a variety of clubs and groups for seniors — there is a bridge club, a knitting group and a book club. But the building has a lot of potential for future programming.  

The facility itself needs some upgrades — Peck said they need to provide handicap access to the upper part of the building, as it’s particularly hard to get in during the wintertime due to icy conditions. They want to put in a drop ceiling to improve the acoustics, as well as moveable partitions, which will be used to create rooms.  

One of their main goals is to build a classroom where seniors and members of the community can host meetings and classes. Peck said they’d like to host a class for seniors to help them get familiar with new technology, as well as cooking classes, language classes and opportunities for seniors to tutor local students.  

“We have a number of retired schoolteachers who are willing to volunteer time for tutoring,” Peck said. 

In addition to bringing back art classes, Board Vice President Liana Orsolini said they would like to expand their programming to include exercise classes to help seniors stay as healthy as possible.  

“We have enough space to open it up to all different kinds of age groups, because, you know, research has shown that seniors do better in better than a community across different age groups,” Orsolini said.  

Flathead County reimburses the cost of being in the building, Peck said, but the funding for programming and operations is entirely up to the Bigfork senior nonprofit group. 

While total costs for the project-at-large are still being calculated, Orsolini said she is hoping the group raises around $2,000 from the rummage sale to kick-start their efforts to renovate the building.  

The Bigfork Senior Center’s garage sale is July 12, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anyone interested in renting a spot should contact Orsolini at 406- 309-1862 or email her [email protected]/.  

Taylor Inman may be reached at 758-4440 or [email protected].

This story has been updated to correct Bruce Peck's last name.