The idea for THE FARM started in 2020 when the Averill family took over management of the Wrangler Springs Farm and Ranch property. Since then, it has been quite a bit of a rehabilitation project. From restoring smaller barns and out buildings, to corals, fences, pastures and farm fields throughout the encompassing 500 acre property that surrounds the venue. The property is once again a fully operating farm and ranch, raising cattle, horses and crops. With support of the Paladin Foundation, a local non-profit created to protect and curate the culture of the old west through teaching farming and ranching skills to kids in the Bigfork community, this project has continued to grow.

Eventually leading us to the big red Barn. Over the first 4 years on the property we’d look over at The Barn and ponder what could be done with it, how best to preserve it, and what use would share all its old glory. Fall of 2024 it was decided to embark on a remodel. What started as a project to ensure structural soundness turned into much more. We decided The Barn, as we call it, needed to be a place for gatherings, and a place that people from both near and far would be able to enjoy.

Over the following 6 months, with a team of local craftsmen, we carefully turned the old livestock stalls into bars and seating areas. The pig trough was filled and outfitted with custom table mounts and removable bistro tables. The entire upstairs and downstairs received new rustic wood flooring to ensure patrons a safe and flat surface for good dining and dancing. The tack and feed rooms became bathrooms, and all the meanwhile the character and feel of the old barn was at the forefront of the vision. The lighting downstairs remains original as it does upstairs on the walls. Simply updated wiring, paint and new bulbs highlight its beauty after the sun sets each night and show The Barn’s magnificent architecture and lines in the upper level. The trim throughout the building is cut from boards carefully removed from the coral that used to sit just outside the southern barn doors. Go into the bathrooms and you’ll see the stalls are that same beautiful barn wood. The windows may not be level, the scuffs, holes and blemishes on the walls remain. As does the hay elevator door upstairs and the weights that once helped in its opening and closing. The hay trolley is also still hanging in the rafters, except today it carries one of the three newly installed chandeliers that help create the wonderful ambiance upstairs.

The goal ended up being simple in this project. Preserve the history and character, but give it a touch of elegance and provide the necessary amenities to have a wonderful gathering. In the end, it really was just letting the character of the old barn shine through.

From all of us at The FARM Montana, we would love for you to be a part of our story going forward!