2025 was a busy year in Whitefish.  

Housing, food and job insecurity affected the community deeply. 

When SNAP benefits were cut, local businesses like Cutthroat Bagel Company and Jersey Boys Pizzeria proved to be good neighbors by providing food for community members. The community donated generously to the North Valley Food Bank so it could meet the record demand for food across Northwest Montana.  

Community members voiced concerns and practiced civility when discussing the city’s vision for the future as part of the process to overhaul its growth policy, Vision Whitefish 2045. 

The weather was uncharacteristically warm, wet and windy to close out the year. After a week of flood watches and warnings, wild winds took out trees and knocked out power across the area. Unusual temperatures around 50 degrees were recorded in December. 

In news that proved to be a bright spot for the year — a dog demonstrated resiliency, and the sound of beautiful music found a way through. 

The mountain 

Big Mountain Resort Area District voters approved a 3% resort tax. The tax was implemented June 1 and affects nearly every good and service sold on Big Mountain including lift tickets, season passes, recreational equipment rentals, lodging rentals shorter than 30 days, retail, and food and beverage sales. 

Whitefish Mountain Resort Professional Ski Patrol Union members and supporters held a demonstration on the Whitefish viaduct. The goal of the rally was to “engage the community and to have our greater ski industry examine where their values lie,” said David Kerner, vice president for the union. 

The union engaged in contract negotiations with resort leadership as patrollers sought higher wages and increased benefits. After 18 months of negotiations, Whitefish Mountain Resort executives and the ski patrol union finalized a one-year contract. 

Record giving 

Whitefish Community Foundation awarded $8.1 million to 85 Flathead Valley nonprofit organizations during the Great Fish Awards Ceremony. The total amount included nearly $6.7 million donated by more than 4,200 individuals, families and businesses during the one-month campaign, plus an additional $1.4 million from the Great Fish Match provided by Whitefish Community Foundation’s Circle of Giving and other donors.   

Feel-good story of the year 

Baldone, a Great Pyrenees so named because he had little hair as a puppy, was riding in a truck with his owner, Rob Bowen, on U.S. 93 about 20 miles north of Whitefish last November. Bowen died when his truck ran off the road. The dog stayed at the site, near his owner, until he was startled by the arrival of first responders and bolted into the woods.  

Several community members searched the forestland around Olney for the large white dog, but he eluded everyone. After 84 days in the woods, Baldone decided it was time to come inside. He now enjoys life in his new home in Kalispell with the James family, who call him “the bestest boy.” 

Council approvals 

The Whitefish City Council voted unanimously to approve a compensation package for the mayor and councilors after making an amendment to the stipend amount. The council accepted the compensation package with a vote of 4-0. 

The Whitefish City Council agreed to commit funds to the Workforce Rental Assistance Program. Daniel Sidder, executive director of Housing Whitefish, proposed a funding plan for the next three years. The city would contribute $200,000 in fiscal year 2026, $250,000 in 2027, and $300,000 in 2028.  

In a November meeting, Sidder said the Whitefish workforce rental assistance program was launched in March 2024 and has served 89 households, or 164 individuals, to date.  

Schools 

The Whitefish School District completed designs for the academic and athletic high school expansion projects in November, and construction is slated to begin in March 2026.   

Superintendent Dave Means said he will retire in June 2026, prompting the School Board to conduct a search for his replacement.  

Structure fire 

At approximately 7:02 p.m. on July 13, the Whitefish Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at the former O’Piccolo’s Pizza, near Edgewood Place and Wisconsin Avenue.  

The initial response included an engine, tender, ambulance and command staff from the Whitefish Fire Department, an engine from the Evergreen Fire Department, a ladder truck from the Kalispell Fire Department, an engine from the Columbia Falls Fire Department and Big Mountain ambulance.  

Music for all 

The North Valley Music School held a grand opening in August to celebrate its new location on River Lakes Parkway at Smith Fields. The school’s executive director, Deidre Corson, described the first two months in the new digs as “beautifully overwhelming.” Twenty-four teachers work with over 400 students of all ages and abilities at the school. 

Police and Border Patrol 

Kalispell resident Beker Enrique Rengifo del Castillo, 33, a Venezuelan man living in the U.S. legally, was reportedly detained by Border Patrol agents in Whitefish during a routine traffic stop on April 24. He was then transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington, from which he was released late on April 30.  

In early May, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials said its officers' actions in detaining a Venezuelan man in Whitefish last week were "vetted and legally justified." 

Two weeks later, several concerned citizens commented at the Whitefish City Council meeting about the actions of the local police department and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol that resulted in a Rengifo del Castillo being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center for a week.  

Rengifo del Castllo’s personal sponsor, John Ratka Skinner, told the council Rengifo del Castillo had a valid Montana driver's license, car insurance and a valid work permit at the time of his traffic stop.  

“There was really no reason for Whitefish Police to call Border Patrol other than the fact that he was brown and didn’t speak English,” Ratka Skinner said. “We are seeing ...  an ethnic cleansing here in our valley.” 

In early June, following more than two hours of public comment, Whitefish city officials said the traffic stop that led to Rengifo del Castillo’s detainment might warrant further investigation. 

On July 12, a Whitefish Police officer summoned federal agents to a routine traffic stop over after determining an immigration warrant existed for a passenger in the vehicle. The officer followed new departmental guidelines for involving federal authorities in immigration matters, said Police Chief Bridger Kelch.  

An emotive public comment opened the Whitefish City Council meeting July 21 regarding that incident. 

At the July 21 Council meeting, a citizen who identified herself as Z, quoted Yogi Berra. 

“It’s deja vu all over again,” said Z, a citizen at the July 21 Whitefish City Council meeting, about the second time the Whitefish Police Department called Border Patrol.   

“It appears that the Whitefish Police Department is on a slippery slope toward eroding community trust and creating opportunities for discrimination and racial profiling,” she told the councilors. 

In August, Upper Seven Law, a nonprofit law firm representing Rengifo del Castillo, filed a lawsuit against the police officer, police chief and the city of Whitefish for unconstitutional seizure, false arrest and violations of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Protests 

On Feb. 19, approximately 100 people with signs and flags gathered at the southern end of the viaduct in Whitefish to protest executive actions by the Trump administration, with many objecting to federal layoffs within the Forest Service.  

The protest coincided with other demonstrations across the nation that were dubbed “Not My Presidents Day.”  

John Repke, who was a Democratic candidate for Montana state auditor during the last election cycle, was among the protesters in Whitefish. He said he was there to defend democracy, the rule of law and the American way.  

“Because what’s happening right now in the country, as I see it, is not American,” he said. “We’ve got a Congress that won’t exert any sort of judgment, discipline, responsible behavior.” 

In another protest on the viaduct on March 26, about 75 people carried signs and flags as part of nationwide efforts by Resistance Rangers, a group of nearly 1,000 off-duty or former federal lands workers. Resistance Rangers estimated that upward of 170 rallies were staged at national parks, preserves and monuments across the U.S. in March. A Protect Public Lands rally was held at Apgar in Glacier National Park on March 1.   

A large crowd gathered at Grouse Mountain Park in Whitefish on April 19, for a rally organized by Flathead Democracy and 50501MT to protest the continued degradation of constitutional and federal rights under the current presidential administration. The protest was a part of a nationwide movement.   

Advocates gathered outside the Border Patrol office on U.S. 93 West as Rengifo del Castillo was taken into custody on April 24. Several returned over the course of the week, trading daytime shifts on the sidewalk outside the facility. The protestors initially shouted legal advice through a megaphone in the hopes that Rengifo del Castillo would hear. 

About 80 people protested potential cuts to Medicare and Medicaid at the corner of Nucleus Avenue and Highway 2 in Columbia Falls on May 19. At issue was a Republican-led bill in Congress that would potentially increase the work requirement for Medicaid eligibility.  

People assembled on July 16 at the Border Patrol office in Whitefish to protest the detainment of two men near the Town Pump on the corner of U.S. 93 South and Montana 40. 

The Rage Against the Regime protest marched down Central Avenue to Depot Park on Aug. 2. The local gathering, organized by Flathead Democracy, was part of a National Day of Protest which aimed to transform anger into non-violent action.   

Demonstrators gathered outside the Whitefish Border Patrol Station on Sept. 14, where Luisa and Fergie, a 17-year-old girl and her mother, were believed to be held, to protest the detainment. The two had stopped to offer support at a car accident located near Tractor Supply in Evergreen when they were detained. Tensions rose as protestors suspected Border Patrol agents were preparing to transport the mother and daughter out of state. Whitefish Police officers arrested three people protesting outside the Whitefish Border Patrol Station.