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We’ve all heard about the impact COVID-19 had on coastal cities. Everyone has seen the haunting photos of an empty Times Square and deserted San Francisco streets.
But the thing about historic cities is that they survive through historic events. They’re designed to, with massive populations, booming industries and all the governmental support you could need. It’s the rest of America that tends to get swept away during times of crisis.
Great Falls, Montana, could easily have been one of those places. But the local entrepreneurs refused to let that happen.
Related: Why Small Business Success Comes Down to These 7 Things
Recharging Great Falls
Great Falls is by no means a small town; it’s the third most populous city in Montana and home to roughly 60,000 people. Nevertheless, the community there is incredibly tight-knit. They have to be. This isn’t a town built on the backs of corporations and chains. It’s handcrafted by entrepreneurs and artisans who actually live there and have a vested interest in the city’s success.
“Not a lot of outside money is coming in,” says businessman Scott Reasoner. “So you have to form coalitions of the willing.”
Reasoner is part of Enbar Inc., an investment group of local entrepreneurs looking to revitalize downtown Great Falls. Over the years, the group has taken over a building on 5th Street S, where they own and operate Enbar cocktail lounge, Sidequest Arcade, Big Dipper Ice Cream and one of Montana’s newest concert venues, The Newberry.
Reasoner also owns a stake in the Great Falls Voyagers minor league baseball team, where MLB legend Pedro Martinez got his start. Despite their success, Scott and his partners have no intention of dominating the market in Great Falls, choosing instead to take a cue from the strong local art community and look at the bigger picture.
“We don’t see other businesses as competition,” Reasoner says. “It’s more like, how do you fit this niche to make this thing grow so we can all grow?”
Great Falls doesn’t have the same saturation as other markets. There’s still plenty of space in the downtown ripe for renovation. And with the relatively low costs of living, you can see why so many move here to start new lives.
According to the locals, whatever you dream up in Great Falls, you can achieve. Just look at Air Force veterans Heidi and Thad Reiste, who retired from the Air Force in 2013 and were running a European-style Bistro called Electric Coffee by May of the following year.
“Moving into small business ownership was a huge leap,” Thad Restie admits. “Honestly, we had everything going against us. We weren’t restaurant people.”
The couple might not know restaurants, but after years of traversing Europe inspecting NATO bases with the Air Force, they’d tried their fair share of “sophisticated” cuisine. After retiring from service, they wanted to bring the best parts of their experience home.
A decade later, Great Falls is not only a hit with the residents but also with the VIPs who like to land their private jets at Great Falls airport to clear customs.
Related: 3 Tips for Building Resilience and Driving Growth in Turbulent Times
Homegrown hustle
Not all of the businesses in Great Falls import culture.
Many take advantage of the area’s existing resources. Farmer’s Daughter Fiber founder (say that five times fast), Candice English, spent years working in early childhood education before, like so many people, she experienced burnout.
Instead of resigning to an unfulfilled life, English turned her passion for fiber arts into a business. She taught herself how to dye yarn in her basement and used her social media savvy to promote her products.
English’s work paid off, and she began to blow up on social media, connecting with popular knitwear designers who were fans of her work. Within two years, she moved out of the basement where she taught herself to dye, and her husband left his job in the National Guard.
They moved into a dye facility and continued to grow until their storefront wasn’t big enough to meet demand, at which point they moved into their current location on Central Ave.
Then there’s the prestigious McCafferty Ranch, touted as the best beef provider in town. Founded in 1926, the third-generation family-owned and operated ranch continues to raise animals the traditional way — without preservatives, hormones or antibiotics.
They’ve also perfected an innovative hydroponic system to grow their feed, which Joel McAfferty claims produces a “superior” beef. A staple in the community, McAfferty Ranch supplies its vaunted product to local companies like Central Avenue Meats, Roadhouse Diner, and the Ranches at Belt Creek, reflecting the symbiotic relationship between the local business owners.
Stories about entrepreneurs forging their own path in big cities are easy to find. But communities like Great Falls — those truly built on the idea of opportunity that shaped this country — are rare today.
Great Falls has reinvented itself as a haven for entrepreneurs looking for a place to be their most authentic selves. Montana may no longer be seen as America’s next frontier, as it was in the days of Lewis and Clark, yet the intrepid spirit of the explorers who discovered Great Falls persists.
We’ve all heard about the impact COVID-19 had on coastal cities. Everyone has seen the haunting photos of an empty Times Square and deserted San Francisco streets.
But the thing about historic cities is that they survive through historic events. They’re designed to, with massive populations, booming industries and all the governmental support you could need. It’s the rest of America that tends to get swept away during times of crisis.
Great Falls, Montana, could easily have been one of those places. But the local entrepreneurs refused to let that happen.
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