Fall in Bigfork isn’t one big event. It’s a bunch of little traditions that tell us summer is over.
Fall just feels different here. Mornings are crisp enough that you want to sit a little longer with your coffee, but by afternoon it can be warm enough to grab your bike, get on the water or head out for a hike. The mountains might already have their first dusting of snow while you’re still walking around town in a T-shirt.
Bigfork slows down, too. Restaurants are less busy, you can find a parking spot downtown and the faces around you start looking a little more familiar. The events get smaller and more local. There is less rushing from one thing to the next and a little more time to actually enjoy where you are.
Fall in Bigfork isn’t about squeezing in everything you can before winter arrives. It’s just a really good time to be here.
Rumble Into Fall
The Sunday before Labor Day, downtown Bigfork closes to regular traffic and fills with classic cars for Rumble in the Bay. But if you really want to do Rumble weekend right, start on Saturday. The Rumble Around the Lake Poker Run sends drivers out around Flathead Lake collecting cards along the way. You don’t need a classic car to participate. It’s an excuse to take a drive around the lake, make a few stops and spend the day with people who like cars.
On Sunday, the cars line Electric Avenue for Rumble in the Bay. You’ll find beautifully restored classics, muscle cars, vintage trucks and cars that have been in the same family for decades. If you’re a car person, you’ll have plenty to look at. If you’re not, it’s still a pretty fun day to be downtown. Rumble is one of our bigger weekends of the year, and around here it feels a little like the last big hurrah of summer.
Take Advantage of September
Once Labor Day passes, Bigfork gets noticeably quieter, but that doesn’t mean we’re ready to head inside. September can give us some of the best outdoor days of the year. The mornings are cool, the afternoons can still be warm and the trails are a whole lot less crowded.
Harrell Forest Community Trails, just north of downtown, has about five miles of trails for hiking, running and mountain biking. You don’t need to make a whole day out of it. Grab your bike, bring the dog or just go for a walk in the woods. The Swan River Nature Trail is another local favorite and easy to reach right from downtown. By fall, the traffic on the trail has slowed down and the trees along the river are beginning to change. Walk as far as you feel like walking, then turn around and head back to town.
If you have a kayak, put in near Kearney Rapids and paddle upstream on the Swan River. On the right fall afternoon, the river is quiet, the leaves are changing along the shoreline and you can feel a lot farther from town than you actually are. Just remember that warm fall weather doesn’t mean warm water. Wear your life jacket, check the conditions and use some common sense.
Spend an Afternoon at Andy’s
Not every fall day needs to involve a trail. Whistling Andy Distilling has been making spirits in Bigfork since 2010, and if you’ve always just stopped in for a cocktail, fall is a good time to finally take the distillery tour.
You’ll get a look behind the scenes at how their spirits are made and learn a little about what goes into the bottle before it ends up in your glass. Check the current tour schedule before you go, then enjoy dinner and a craft cocktail at Andy’s Crafthouse. Obviously.
Then the Scarecrows Show Up
You know October is getting close when the scarecrows start appearing downtown. Local businesses, organizations and community members build them for Bigfork’s annual Scarecrow Competition, and they’re all up in time for Tamarack Time. Some are elaborate, some are funny and some make you wonder exactly how much time someone spent building a scarecrow. Probably more than they’d like to admit.
The scarecrows stick around through October, so grab a coffee and walk around downtown to see what everyone came up with. Pick a favorite. Disagree with whoever you’re with about which one should win. That’s part of it.
Come Hungry for Tamarack Time
The second Saturday in October is Tamarack Time, and this is one of those Bigfork traditions that’s hard to explain until you’ve done it. At the center of the day is an amateur food competition. People pull out their favorite recipes, make enough for the judges and the public to try, and bring everything downtown. There are 13 categories, so you’ll find a little bit of everything.
Some recipes have probably been in a family for years. Others may have been invented the night before. Either way, they’re getting judged. Once judging is finished, tasting opens to the public, so you can wander downtown, try the entries and see who earns bragging rights for the year.
Tamarack Time has also become a day for other fall traditions around Bigfork. Fall Fest at Wayfarers State Park brings families down to the lake, and Lake Baked hosts pumpkin decorating and apple pressing with The Good Stuff Botanicals. By then, the scarecrows are lining downtown and, if Mother Nature cooperates, the tamaracks are beginning to turn gold. It feels like October.
Don’t Wait for an Event
Some of the best fall days in Bigfork have absolutely nothing on the calendar. Ride your bike at Harrell Forest, walk the Swan River Nature Trail, paddle the river, wander downtown and look at the scarecrows, grab a coffee and sit by the water, or take the distillery tour you’ve driven past a hundred times.
That’s one of the nice things about being here after summer. You don’t have to make reservations for every part of your day or worry quite as much about beating everyone else to the trailhead. You can see what the weather is doing that morning and decide from there. Fall around here rewards a little flexibility.
Halloween Belongs to the Kids
October ends with one of our favorite family traditions. Every Halloween from 4 to 6 p.m., kids come downtown to trick or treat at Bigfork businesses. Electric Avenue fills with costumes, candy buckets, parents and grandparents, and businesses that have stocked up on enough candy to get through the evening.
For a couple of hours, downtown belongs to the kids. Businesses open their doors, families walk through town and everybody gets to see everybody. That’s pretty much how a small town is supposed to do Halloween.
Make It a Tradition
There are plenty of reasons to visit Bigfork in the fall. The trails are quieter, the mountains start collecting snow, the tamaracks turn gold, Flathead Lake settles down and Glacier National Park begins to empty out. But those aren’t necessarily the things that make fall feel like fall when you live here.
It’s Rumble weekend and the first scarecrow you notice downtown. It’s pulling out an old recipe for Tamarack Time, pressing apples, decorating pumpkins, getting outside on one of those surprisingly warm October afternoons and buying entirely too much Halloween candy because you know how many kids are coming.
They’re little things, but do them year after year and they become traditions. Come spend a fall with us. You might end up with a few traditions of your own.
