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Bigfork transforms into a holiday village with help from the community — and elves

Posted at 10:39 AM, Nov 22, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-22 12:39:29-05

The Bigfork Elves had a busy start to their holiday season Saturday morning, decorating the town to holiday perfection.

“We cover the town in Christmas lights and in garland and about 700 five-foot Christmas trees," says Michele “Michelf” Shapero, Bigfork Elves’ Head Elf.

Shapero says that to remain safe from the spread of COVID-19, the elves made masks for all of the volunteers.

“I think it took us about 8 hours total and we made 200 COVID masks for all of our volunteers, there is about 36 kids and the rest of them are adults," said Shapero.

And to organize the decorations, the elves handed out bins full of decorations to businesses.

“Every merchant in Bigfork has a bin that we, you know, painstakingly put together over the years and it is the exact footage of lighting and so forth that every business needs in order to decorate the business," says Shapero.

Shapero says that the first night of the decorations being up is always the community's favorite time of the year.

“When you come back downtown and for the first time and everything's all lit up and all the sparkly colored lights are down the street and all the — you know, we use hundreds and thousands of feet of live garland; it just is so magical and everybody just looks forward to it so much every year," said Shapero.

Shapero says that the elves will take down the decorations come January and it is always the hard part.

“It's always so sad, it's like it's over," said Shapero.

Shapero also says that the garland remains bright green from the beginning of November until they remove it in January.