McNamara and Marlow Big Store, 1918. Ray Pratt photo.
No one has ever accused Doug Giebel of not having a good imagination. He has been known to build castles in the sky for years.
When the new library was just a dream, Doug had dreamed large and passed on his ideas to his community.
The library ideas did not work out for Doug as he would have wished, but that did not stop him. He kept on dreaming of those castles in the sky. For the last year or more now he has been very busy putting foundations under them.
As you read his story about converting the unused half of Big Sandy's Big Store into a cultural center, it might sound like more dreams but when you look at who has contributed to the effort, those dreams seem more and more grounded.
Doug may never get completely finished with this grand project. But just a place to honor the likes of Dan Cushman, Bertha Bower and the Fiddle Back Kid would add so much to the already rich history that Big Sandy has.
Not only have we had a rich history of writers in the past, but when you look at the magnificent photographs of Craig Edwards, the short stories of Steve Sibra and the poetry of Ellaraine Lockie just to mention a few people who are still active in building Big Sandy into something larger than it has ever been.
Doug Giebel is leading the charge! We at "The Mountaineer" wish him well and hope his successes are great. The greater the success for Doug, the greater the success for everyone in our wonderful community.
The Big Sandy area is on the verge of having a year-round after-school program and unique cultural arts center by way of the nonprofit Big Sandy Cultural Fund.
For years, Big Sandy native Doug Giebel wanted to renovate the former S&J Grocery Store space for public benefit, parents wanted a kind of boys/girls club, and with the four-day school week, the time seemed right to move forward. A generous grant from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation got the ball rolling, and two restrooms and a utility sink have been installed. The old store is being cleaned out and rearranged, with a major donation of insulation from the Dow Corporation.
"My parents and I have had a deep relationship with what we always called The Big Store," said Doug Giebel. "My father and aunts worked in the McNamara and Marlow building for many years.
C. J. McNamara and his family were very important to me, and in the 1950s, my father moved the Giebel Hardware Company into one half of the space, while Walt Kaste relocated his clothing store into the other half. I worked in the store while I was in high school."
Giebel noted that we have many artists and craftspeople in the area and beyond who need a gallery to display their work. He also wants to encourage student creativity by showing off their efforts in what he calls a "curiosity center" and a "knowledge factory." Local students are invited to participate in decorating the old store, and Giebel will visit schools in Chouteau, Hill, Blaine and Liberty counties to encourage student involvement in the arts. He also wants to meet with teachers, administrators and home schoolers to learn how the program can serve their needs.
A Great Falls friend has donated over 3000 school books and children's books that are being given away to schools, students and home schools. Art supplies have been provided by Grumbacher/Chartpak and the Art4Moore Foundation.
Big Sandy will be home to both the new county branch library and the Cushman-Giebel Library to be housed in the Big Store cultural arts center. Giebel has inherited Montana author Dan Cushman's papers, manuscripts and books. Cushman's daughter Mary Lou plan to publish some of his uncollected works and letters.
In addition, Giebel inherited the journalism library of his late friend Nathaniel Blumberg, long-time Dean of the University of Montana School of Journalism, and donors from Missoula and across the nation have donated several pickup loads of books for a research and a children's collection. There are also vintage magazines and publications not generally available in today's libraries.
As for arts and educational programs, Giebel says, "I've spent my life working in the arts, so we will concentrate on such things as performing for those who are interested in acting and singing, improving writing and public speaking skills, having a place where both students and adults can be creative and exhibit their artistic talents. We want to work with teachers, students and parents to augment educational opportunities."
Other planned activities include showing movies, holding live performances, sponsoring lectures and demonstrations, presenting art exhibits of all kinds.
Giebel noted that rural Montana students, especially in smaller schools, have limited course offerings and yet when they graduate or go into the work force they must compete with those who come from larger, more complex school settings. The hope is to add a little more salad dressing to the first-courses provided by our hard-pressed schools and towns.
Donations to the Big Sandy Cultural Fund are tax-deductible, and contributors include the Washington Foundation, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation, Farm Bureau Foundation, Art4Moore Foundation, Lippard-Clawiter Foundation, Dow, Grumbacher, Super 8 Corporation, Behr Paints,
Touch 'n Foam, Contego International, GT Flooring and Flooring America, Information Systems of Montana, Green Ribbon Books. Royalty Carpets of California has just donated over 2000 square feet of industrial carpeting. A number of individuals are also donors, including Roberta Edwards, who gave her remaining store inventory to the Cultural Fund as a way to raise money.
The group is currently seeking donation of a forced air furnace, a 90 inch video screen, hollow-core closet doors and a washing machine. "We need to raise money for rewiring, and if those with carpentry skills would like to volunteer some time, there are a few jobs that need doing," said Giebel who has spent the past months working to clean out and remodel the store, often using recycled material. "We're grateful to Big Sandy Supply for being a great hometown resource," he told the Mountaineer.
"The McNamara Big Store is our most historic building. It was completed a hundred years ago, and we're lucky that Steve and Cherie Stiles have bought and saved it. For the Big Sandy Cultural Fund, our goals involve encouraging curiosity, compassion and creativity. In the process, we hope to attract more visitors to our area and even help boost the local economy. Having a new cultural center and after-school program to go along with the new library, the Craig Edwards gallery, the Historical Society, the nearby Virgelle Mercantile and our good Big Sandy businesses should make Big Sandy a great spot for visitors," Giebel noted.
"I would like to meet with any who are or were interested in forming a boys and girls club, and any who have an interest in the arts and in education," said Giebel. Contact him at 378-2430 or by email: bscf@itstriangle.com.
