The Whitefish Chamber of Commerce will operate out of the Whitefish Pilot office at 312 East Second Street, for the remainder of the summer while a construction project at the Chamber’s building proceeds.

The Chamber’s upstairs neighbor in the historic Orpheum building, at 505 East Second Street, commenced a building project several weeks ago. The Chamber stayed open and attempted to negotiate the challenges brought on by the construction, but noise and debris from the work upstairs made the Chamber’s day-to-day operations difficult. 

“Our folks couldn't hear each other talking to each other in the office,” Kevin Gartland, executive director of the Chamber said. “We were trying to wait on visitors and had a hard time communicating with them. People on the phone couldn't hear us at all because of the background noise from upstairs." 

Further, a white powder was falling from the light fixtures on the ceiling and a “piece of fluff” also landed in the Chamber’s office, according to Gartland. 

“There was dust falling through any cracks that were in the ceiling ... some caused by construction,” he said. “It was getting pretty heavy.” 

He said his team was cleaning it up throughout the day, but since they didn’t know what the substance was, the board decided, “in an abundance of caution,” to move. Gartland said they wanted to make sure they were not exposing office employees or the public to any potentially hazardous substance. 

“We felt that, probably, the wisest thing to do was to close up the operation, so we did that two weeks ago,” he said, and the group began looking for a new, temporary home. 

That search resulted in a call to the Daily Inter Lake’s Anton Kaufer, regional publisher, who suggested the Pilot office serve as a temporary home for the Chamber. 

“Anton very graciously offered to share the offices of the Whitefish Pilot with the Chamber for the remainder of this summer,” Gartland said. “We're really grateful to the folks at the Daily Inter Lake and the Pilot for giving us an opportunity to get back out there.” 

Kaufer said he’s glad the Pilot office can provide a temporary home to the Chamber and its important work. 

“The Pilot and the Chamber have both been serving Whitefish for well over a century, and this felt like a natural way to be good neighbors,” Kaufer said. “The Chamber plays an important role downtown, especially during the summer, serving local businesses, visitors and the broader community.” 

Gartland hopes to be moved in and in full operation by July 1, ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. 

“It's important that we be open and have a public face especially during the summertime months because we are the visitor center for the City of Whitefish, and we do have somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 people come through every summer looking for information on things to do,” Gartland said. 

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.