Ledger: Looking Back 25 Years: 8/6/1997

August 6, 1997

The Whitehall Farmers’ Market was set to become a reality in the summer of 1997, reported Dr. Kathy Meyer, who helped spearhead the proposal. A series of technical difficulties and logistical problems made it nearly impossible to find a proper location or suitable dates at other possible sites. The Farmers’ Market idea grew from the Whitehall Vision 2010 project, which identified goals and objectives for Whitehall. The project was sponsored by the Whitehall Business Association.

Myrtle Sankey, who would turn 84 years old in October of 1997, was selected by the Whitehall Kiwanis Club as the beneficiary of a free house painting. The Kiwanis, as part of the club’s “Paint the Town” project, developed a program and conducted fundraising to finance the painting of a house in Whitehall. Kiwanis members judged the applicants based upon need, income, age, health, the potential for family help, and other criteria. Of the four applicants, Sankey was picked.

With the county speed limit ordinance officially passed, the next step for the Jefferson County Commissioners was to make sure new speed limit signs were up and the ordinance enforced. The commission decided at its July 30 meeting to hire the Montana Conservation Corps in Boulder to put the new signs up sometime in the fall of 1997. About 100 signs were placed throughout Jefferson County. The road ordinance, passed in the spring of 1997, called for posted and specific speed limits in populated and subdivision areas.