BIGFORK — Earlier this winter we brought you to Montana’s Christmas Village in downtown Bigfork as the community came together to celebrate the Christmas spirit.
Saturday morning was undecorating day as dozens of volunteers helped take down Christmas decorations.
“So today is undecorating day, it’s always the last Saturday of January,” said Bigfork Christmas Village Head Elf Michele Mank.
Mank was busy Saturday morning with her friends and neighbors taking down garland and Christmas lights throughout downtown.
“It’s just part of the Bigfork tradition if you live in Bigfork and you want it to be Montana’s Christmas Village you got to come put it up and you got to come help put it down.”
Decorating day is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving allowing downtown Bigfork to show off its Christmas beauty for two full months.
“Bigfork is all about volunteers, I always say we’re just a village,” added Mank.
Volunteers took jobs on ladders and heavy machinery some starting as early as 8 a.m. when the temperature was only 5°.
“This is a heat wave compared to some mornings that we’ve had,” said Mank.
Joni Isaman has lived in Bigfork for 12 years and if she had it her way the Christmas decorations would stay up all year long.
“If we could keep it up all year and be like a Christmas village, I would love that, people would love that right, but it’s a sign of spring, it’s you know time to do it,” said Isaman.
Joni is thankful for her Bigfork community showing the true spirit of Christmas each winter.
“It’s fun you know people come out and see people they haven’t seen all year, it’s definitely much more fun to decorate, but you got to do the undecorating too.”
