BIGFORK — It was a special morning in Bigfork as years of hard work are beginning to pay off for supporters of the new ImagineIF Library.
The new facility is expected to be ready for use this coming June, serving the greater Bigfork community.
The official groundbreaking ceremony was held on Wednesday.
“Today it becomes a reality. So far, it’s just been a vision — a dream that’s in our minds. We’ve seen drawings of it, but today we see the trailer from Martel Construction here that says they’re going to start the renovation inside,” said Bigfork Capital Campaign Committee Co-Chair Andrea Goff.
A project five years in the making is moving forward as renovations are set to begin.
The new library will be located just outside of downtown, re-purposing the old Bethany Lutheran Church Gymnasium.
At 6,300 square feet, Goff said the new library will be six times bigger than the current Bigfork library.
“You have to adapt to the growth that’s going on, you can’t stay stagnate, you have to move with the times and that’s what we’re doing and maybe we’re even ahead of it.”
The new library will feature a community room, an outdoor amphitheater, and a gathering space for the greater Bigfork community.
“Once this thing is built, that’s when it becomes alive, we know what we think we’re going to do in it, but once it’s there the world’s your oyster.”
The project has raised $1.9 million in funding allowing construction to begin, but an additional $1.3 million is needed to finish the project.
“I mean I can think of all kinds of people that will be able to use the facility, it will just be a huge asset for the town,” said Bigfork resident Kay Stone.
Stone and her family donated $250,000 toward the construction of the new library in honor of her late sister Laura.
Laura passed away last September from breast cancer; she was an avid supporter of libraries.
“I mean I talk about her being a lifelong reader, the last thing she did was leave a list of books I need to read, she’s just that kind of person.”
A patio at the new library will be dedicated in Laura’s honor, if all goes as planned kids will be reading books at the new facility this coming June.
“It’s going to be here for decades and decades, and it will be a place that kids that are not even born yet will be making their memories,” said Stone.
