Falher town council has officially made an offer to the Smoky River Agricultural Society to purchase the Mencke - Nicolet Smoky River Rish and Game Association log cabin for $1. The town has been debating what to do with the log cabin for over one year. Initially they were debating whether to sell or demolish the building. Because of its historical value, council agreed that the best way to maintain its integrity would be to find a new home for the cabin. Decisions will be made on Thursday by the Ag society to see if it fits their plan.

Falher's historic log cabin may have found a new home. The Mencke-Nicolet log cabin has been the source of debate for over the last year as to what its future would be. "We have made an offer to the Smoky River Agricultural Society for them to buy the cabin for $1," says Falher town administrator Gerard Nicolet. "The building would then be moved to the Smoky River Agricultural fair grounds in Donnelly." The cabin was constructed by the Fish and Game association in 1979 as a representation of what settlers would have built in the region. People from around the Smoky River region contributed their time and efforts to construct the building. Not only does the building hold a historical value, it also is a sentimental figure for many from the region. The cabin was given to the town in 2000, and has been used over the years as a rental place for parties and meetings. The town, who is the current owner of the log cabin, debated its existence in Falher because of its high repair costs and decreasing usage. A proposal was accepted last week by Falher town council to offer the building to the Agricultural Society. The first proposal from the Agricultural society to purchase the log cabin and move it to Donnelly was not approved by the town of Falher. They wanted to keep the historic building on its current site, however; after further evaluation, the council decided that the building would be well maintained by the society. A counter offer was made on July 7 to the Agricultural society by the town to accept the society's initial request. "We are having a meeting on Thursday, one of the items on the agenda is to discuss the log cabin," says Smoky River Agricultural Society secretary treasurer Rita Therriault. "After that meeting we will know what the board's decision will be." Therriault explains that the society's initial request was made because they would like to see the integrity of the log cabin maintained. The society was also looking for a meeting place to put on fairgrounds. "We knew that the log cabin may be demolished," says Therriault. "We figured if we moved it to Donnelly we could have a place to meet and be able to maintain the history of the log cabin." If the log cabin is purchased, it will have to be moved from its current location west of the Town of Falher building to the Smoky River Agricultural fair grounds. The log cabin's future could be determined Thursday at the Smoky River Agricultural society meeting. "It is hard to predict exactly what council's decision will be," says Rita Therriault. "They were excited about the prospects of moving the building to Donnelly."