Flathead Lake Lodge
Chris Hillman, founding member of the Byrds and Herb Pedersen from The Desert Rose Band will be joining us as Artists in Residence for the 2012 workshop and festival and round out this years great line up!
Following the hugely successful sold out 2011 guitar workshop and festival, we want to let you know that Lee Ritenour, Julian Lage, Sonny Landreth, Chris Hillman, Herb Pedersen, Dennis Koster and Patty Larkin will be joining us as Artists in Residence for this year’s event. www.cocguitarfoundation.org
This week long event includes 6 days of workshops, master classes, playing with professional rhythm sections, jamming, and nightly concerts. Being held at the Flathead Lake Lodge workshop participants and their family members have access to all the lodges’ amenities, plus more. Also available for family members during the week is a watercolor workshop taught by renowned western artist Nancy Cawdrey.
There will be eleven workshops offered in seven guitar genres with leading faculty from the National Guitar Workshop: Jazz featuring Lee Ritenour and Julian Lage, Classic Rock featuring Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, Blues featuring Sonny Landreth, Classical featuring Dennis Koster, Singer-Songwriter featuring Patty Larkin, Acoustic featuring Doug Smith, and Beginners with Susan Mazer. A new course has been added this year for Bass players featuring Melvin Lee Davis and Jorge Roeder.
Jazz pianist and composer, Dave Grusin (recipient of one Academy Award and twelve Grammy Awards) and drummers Sonny Emory and Tupac Mantilla will be special featured artists.
In addition, Lee Ritenour’s 3rd Annual Yamaha Six String Theory International Guitar Competition will be held during the workshop week on August 29th. The six finalists will be awarded a full scholarship to attend the workshop.
This is a unique opportunity to study with the masters and share a passion for guitar with fellow participants in an intimate and personalized setting. All surrounded by our famous western hospitality.
The 2011 workshop was a sell out and the 2012 workshop has limited availability, so early registration is advised! REGISTRATION DISCOUNT! Register by April 30, 2012 and get a $250 discount on the Workshop fee. For more information and to register go to www.cocguitarfoundation.org or call (406) 837-2574.
It looks like Kid’s Rodeo is no longer going to be the biggest competitive event held at Flathead Lake Lodge! Next September the Kalispell Chamber will be hosting the 1st Annual Montana Dragon Boat Races at Flathead Lake Lodge. This is going to be an awesome event for the entire Flathead Valley, and is expected to draw around 3,000 people and 600 competitors! Teams of 20 paddlers will race traditional 46′ Hong Kong dragon boats along the shore of Flathead Lake, just in front of Flathead Lake Lodge. Want to race? Learn more? Or are thinking about attending? Find all the information at: http://montana.racedragonboats.com
We hope to see you all here next September! It is going to be a blast!
For the first time in a long time, Flathead Lake Lodge was still shaking in its boots after a memorable Averill wedding celebration. Chase Averill and Kate Verhey tied the knot on the shores of Flathead Lake, surrounded by the old growth fir trees and family and friends from across the country. It was a 4 days extravaganza filled with the usual FLL favorites like steak fry, barn dance, mouse races and much more. Enjoy the photo’s below, and thanks to everyone who helped pull off this great weekend!
It’s a wrap, summer number 66 is gone and bye, ushered out by golden tamaracks, cooler weather, and hopefully more record northern pike caught off the dock. Just like the other 65 years before it, this summer was full of memories, laughs and friendships that are sure to grow in legend as each year passes by the main lodge fire place.
It is hard to imagine that in 66 years there are still new experiences that mark each summer, and 2011 was full of them!
We had our first five generation family! That means great….great grandparents!
In July a little filly was born at the ranch, the first in quite some time. Any name ideas?
MT (a fitting nickname in Montana) was the first 100 year old guest to ride a horse. Shhhh, don’t tell the insurance company.
There was an Averill wedding, which after much celebration and barn dancing left the Lodge teetering but still standing!
Mary Kay Cosmetics, who had come to the Lodge for over 30 years made one last reunion trip to start the season off. Nothing says dude ranch like a pink Cadillac.
Flathead Lake Lodge hall of fame baker, Ellette Day came out of retirement to finish off the season and make sure everyone was extra fattened up for the winter ahead.
The lodge received a private fly over (as private as two F-16’s can be) as a thank you for over 13 years of hosting the International Fellows Program.
Barn Manager Jason was actually never bucked off…
We had our first week with over 4,000 people visiting the Lodge for concerts during the Crown of the Continent Guitar Workshop & Festival
Most importantly & what we are most thankful for, is another year of seeing old friends and having fun with new ones.
Cheers, and here’s to next year!
It was pretty cool this morning when Lois Tortorelli, who worked at the Lodge as a 19 year old in 1956 brought in some old FLL artifacts she has kept all these years. Lois and her college friend, who also worked at the Lodge in back in the day have come back the last number of falls to help close out the season. Lois said she bought a round trip ticket on the ‘Empire Builder’ train route from Chicago for $78 dollars. She also said she was the only staff member with a 1/2 day off because she attended church on Sunday mornings. And today’s generation complains about working 5 days a week!
Check out some of the old FLL brochures & the letters between her and Flathead Lake Lodge founder Les Averill about employment! Thanks to Lois for sharing.
Lois & Les Averill’s letters on a summer job in Montana
It is always fun talking with guests about new projects around the ranch and getting their feedback on the updates. What is almost always unanimous is the surprise when they hear that at the ranch we actually handle just about everything ourselves. From rebuilding the barn to restoring antique classic wooden sail boats to building carriages and restoring fire trucks just about everything you will use at Flathead Lake Lodge has been built by our great staff. So, you must think to yourself, ‘They sure must have a lot of talent at FLL…’ and just to make sure continue to think that way we put together a few little shots of just how exactly this ‘talented’ bunch does their handy work.
Enjoy! I am sure there will be more to come!
Here is the winner of this years Photo of the Year Contest! Titled ‘Daddy can we go in now’. The photo was taken by Richard Ashoff. As you can see, we get some pretty cool summer thunderstorms that roll across the lake. Congratulations to Richard and his family for capturing this amazing photo.
Next Sunday marks the first family season week of the summer, and I think all of us at the ranch are probably just as excited as the kids who are about to meet their new best horse friends and the parents who are going to catch up on some much needed R&R and family time. One of the most important pieces of advise I can offer to new guests at the ranch is to make sure you leave time to relax. With so many activities and recreational opportunities in one place, many of our guests forget to just relax, sit by the lake and read a book.
That being said we are not going to make it any easier on them. This year we have two great new vendors we are working with. Northern Lights Laser Tag is going to be a great activity for the older kids, teenagers and families alike. We have set aside a neat wooded area of the ranch as the grounds for this high tech activity.
The other new activity we are excited about is She Shoots Clays. Headed up by Sporting Clays State Champion and Bigfork resident Jennifer Shelly, Jennifer will offer instruction and shooting classes for all the ladies at the ranch.
So rest up everyone…and remember we have massages, ice packs and the biggest fire place around with extra comfy couches in case you forget to make time for the relaxation part of your trip!
Every year it is amazing how quick winter flies by and before we know it, it is time to turn the water and heat back on, unleash the cleaning crew and open the Ranch up for another memorable season. This will be our 66th year, and every spring as the anticipation of the first guests draws closer the excitement always builds.
Mother Nature has been a little rough on us lately [She seemed to forget it was spring and is trying to keep winter going…] but there is still a job to be done. Aside from the usual opening projects, cleanup and preparation there are always a few unique projects waiting to be finished up. This year the barn and arena are getting a few enhancements including a new observation deck, board walk, landscaping and roping chutes! Much of the fencing around the barnyard has also been rebuilt. It was also time to repair a few of the chuck wagons with some new wheels.
We have also built a beautiful new horse trail through a spectacular rocky canyon, that was previously un-ride-able.
Enjoy this little slideshow with a few shots of the projects as well as your favorite FLL characters.
ps. yes that is Ranch owner Doug almost rolling the loader off the road!
[fgallery id=2 w=450 h=385 bg=ffffff t=0 title=”Ranch Spring Projects 2011″]
Every year American’s gather to celebrate Independence Day. While it is typically envisioned sitting on a checkered blanket, enjoying a picnic and watching fireworks, celebrating the 4th can take shape in many different ways. Shoot, most kids today are not even allowed to light off fireworks where they live! Have no fear, 4th of July in Bigfork, MT is quickly becoming a regional must see, where there are enough firework stands to have every kid smiling like a sparkler.
Each year thousands of people flood the village of Bigfork to take in the annual parade. Last year there was estimated to be over 10,000 onlookers. Pretty amazing considering the population of Bigfork is only 1,500! Bigfork Bay is one of the best places to be on the 4th. Not only can you lounge about the boat, take a swim, but you can also take in the parade as well. During the afternoon and evening Flathead Lake is where the action is as boaters enjoy the typically beautiful summer day.
At the Lodge the week of the 4th is definitely a unique week to visit. On top of all the normal Lodge activities, guests are treated to a true small town All American 4th of July. On the morning of the 4th we all load up on the Ranch’s antique fire trucks and head for the 4th of July Parade. The Ranch guests ride through town aboard red fire trucks tossing candy to the onlookers while spraying the crowd with water. The hot afternoon is spent in true American fashion back at the Ranch, enjoying time with families by the lake with a traditional BBQ.
To set the night off right, guests usually spend the dusk hours lighting off their personal fireworks to every ones enjoyment. As the night gets darker, guests and hundreds of boaters line the lake shore for a spectacular professional firework display! This is definitely a lasting memory as you lay on your back on the lawn watching the mountains around you light up with each boom.
It is only April 1st, but it is safe to say that we are already dreaming about one of the most fun days of the summer!
Since we missed February, we decided to offer up a few photos to make up for it. These are some great shots of General Manager Kevin and his family showing just how easy it is to find your inner kid while sledding some pretty steep hills on the Ranch. Spring is just around the corner!
