Indeed, the whole town is slightly off beam. Virtually any night can be mirthful at the slopeside Bierstube bar. The trophy is a casted, bandaged toy monkey which, in various incarnations, has been the object of ransom and hostage-taking for five decades. Practical jokes are an ongoing source of local folklore. Before the health department intervened because of vermin in 1994, the downtown Palace Bar held regular parimutuel mouse races.
Whitefish is a town of survivors and skiers.
Winter ends sometime mid-May. Then, for a few months, summer drops in for a visit. The landscape recovers its exuberant green brilliance, bursts with flowers and offers some of the finest scenery on earth. Rivers rise to kayak paddles, trails to hiking boots and back roads to knobby bike tires. Tourists flock from around the world, and cash registers ring.