Visitor Center returns to the Barn

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Area Chamber of Commerce's Visitor Center will not look the same this year. After two years separated from the Seeley Lake Historical Museum and Visitor Center locally known as "the Barn," the official Visitor Center returned to the Barn May 29 and will be managed by the Seeley Lake Historical Society. The Chamber is running remotely.

In the past, the Chamber ran and staffed the Visitor Center in the Seeley Lake Historical Museum and Visitors Center. The Chamber moved the Visitor Center into the Seeley Lake Community Foundation building in 2018 and operated it out of there for the summers of 2018 and 2019.  The Historical Society continued to operate a scaled-down version of the visitor center in the Barn.

With the shift back to the Barn, the Seeley Lake Historical Society is now staffing and managing the Visitors Center and the Barn Board oversees the facility. The Chamber will collaborate as needed and will operate without a public office. 

"We are all working in conjunction to promote business to and from Seeley Lake," said Gary Miller, president of the Barn Board. 

Historical Society board member Tom Browder said operations should look normal, amenities like a gift shop and information brochures will be available. He explained that while the Chamber is reaching out to businesses to get the word out, the new Visitor Center is available for any business to advertise. 

"The last few years the Chamber has had the Visitor Center, they may have had different criteria for [displaying information]," said Browder. "But our decision is made by the Historical Society and we are open to any and all local businesses....Anyone who wants to bring brochures by, anyone who wants to bring in a menu, the more the better."

Though the Chamber is not propping up the Visitor Center, the Chamber's Executive Director Lisa Hayhurst said they still have contributed supplies to the new space. They are also reaching out to businesses to help get places known for incoming tourists.

"Chamber members' information will be professionally displayed at the Visitor Center," Hayhurst said. "The Chamber and the Visitor Center will both handle incoming calls as needed and the Chamber will continue to mail out visitor packages as requested."

The Visitor Center is partially subsidized by the Montana Tourism Department, specifically the Glacier Country office. With the funding from Glacier Country, the center will have a small number of paid employees, according to Browder, most of whom are connected to the Historical Society.

Visitor information centers across the state, labeled VICs, have all seen a relaxation in requirements to open due to the coronavirus. Montana is requiring 30 hours of operation a week, compared to the usual 50 hours, and also gave tourism offices a two-week buffer to organize and prepare for summer with social distancing guidelines and constant cleaning.

"We had a soft opening over Memorial Day weekend and it went well," said Browder. "Roughly 20-30 people came in, about half were from out of town, and 25% were wearing masks."

The Visitor Center is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. For more information call 406-677-2990 or call the Chamber at 406-677-2880.