Come one, come all with memories and memorabilia from Whitefish’s historic Mountain Trails Saddle Club.  

There is a Saddle Club reunion on Thursday, May 29 from 1 – 3 p.m. at the Whitefish Community Library.  

The goal is to compile scrapbooks, information and any artifacts on the Saddle Club to create a museum exhibit. Any individuals with a connection to or interest in the Saddle Club are encouraged to attend.  

The plan is to work toward creating an exhibit to display at the historic Saddle Club cabin, now host to the Whitefish Ski Heritage Musuem. 

An exhibit to honor the Saddle Club of days past will put a stake on their original land and building. The cabin’s land, located on Wisconsin Avenue in front of Stumptown Ice Den, was once host to events like O-Mok-See.  

Founded in 1948, the Saddle Club is a fundamental part of Whitefish history, from Gala Days to skijoring. On a daily basis, the Saddle Club offered community for riders.  

The Saddle Club donated 5 acres of land to the city of Whitefish, which is now maintained by Parks and Recreation, several decades ago, for public use. 

The club fizzled out in the 1970s, and the old cabin was transformed into the ski museum in 2013.  

Donna Maddux, one of the younger Saddle Club members, said the exhibit will fit right into the ski museum. She said that Tim Hinderman, director of the museum, and Maria Butts, director of Parks and Recreation, have been supportive.   

“There was a lot of cross-pollination,” Maddux said. “A lot of skiers were also horse people.”  

She said plowing Big Mountain Road and skijoring were points of union for skiers and riders.  

Maddux said favorite memories of Saddle Club included the countless breakfasts hosted, especially during Winter Carnival.  

“There was a sweet, little mom of a whole clan of people who was always at the door, and she was a good pancake flipper, too,” she said.  

Behind the sausage, egg and pancakes, the breakfasts were a time to connect -- and were also a practical way to gather mortgage money, she said.  

Above all, there are the memories of trail riding.  

Maddux said that an underlying motivation for creating the exhibit is to preserve connections.  

“I want to keep our Whitefish connections alive and well, for as long as we possibly can,” she said. “We are quickly becoming any-mountain-town, USA.”