Yaak Community Hall spring fundraising breakfast

It’s finally spring and time to acknowledge spring break-up and mud season! 

The Yaak Community Hall is celebrating with a community fundraiser breakfast from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at the Yaak Community Hall, Yaak River Road by mile marker 33. 

The breakfast will feature home made egg, cheese, and meat (sausage and bacon) breakfast casseroles or limited portions of quiche, hash brown casserole, scones and cinnamon rolls. Pancakes will be available for those who prefer something else. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and juice will also be served; all this for $15 for adults and $5 for children under 10. 

All proceeds from the breakfast will be put toward the renovation and rehabilitation project which is set to begin in August. The Lincoln County Commissioners have recently selected a contractor to perform the work of lifting the 100-year-old log structure and placing a foundation underneath. 

The hall has hosted school events, church, Shakespeare in the Park, dances, funerals, weddings, even basketball games.

Other improvements include replacement of rotted logs, chinking between the logs, staining the exterior and replacement of the floor. The total project cost is $270,490. 

"Through grants and local fundraising, we have secured $222,990 (82%) and need to raise $47,500 to cover the cost of the project," Beder-Miller said. "The fundraising committee will have raffle tickets for sale for a Remington rifle and can answer all your questions about the project. "

The hall will soon celebrate its 101st birthday on July 4. 

Volunteers have worked hard during the last few years to raise money for the rehabilitation project. 

It started with a generous gift from the Yaak Women’s Club - $6,100. They also secured a $168,000 grant from the Montana Department of Commerce’s Historic Preservation Grant Program while working with Lincoln County and the Heart of the Rockies Initiative on the submission, as the board is not a registered nonprofit, it was ineligible to apply for funding on its own.

Beder-Miller said saving and preserving the hall is also saving the history of the Yaak, a region unquestionably rich in lore.

“When you talk to the old-timers, you realize how much history exists here,” she said. “We want to preserve that. We want to make sure there is a place where everyone can get together for the next 100 years to share those stories. We’ve tried to gather elsewhere, we tried to use the gun club, but it’s just not the same. It’s important for the next generation we do this.”

Come and visit with your neighbors and support this very worthy project.