❄️82 degrees Friday, snow Saturday night, and an Ironman bid

The Great Falls Tourism Business Improvement District wants to bring Ironman here on Aug. 15, 2027, Aug. 13, 2028 and Aug. 12, 2029. City commissioners were set to take up a support agreement with the TBID at their Oct. 6 meeting.

The deal sets a three-year framework for planning the races and repaying the city. It does not approve a course, road closures, permits or the use of city property or staff, and the TBID pays back the city's actual costs for each race.

Great Falls Montana Tourism would pay the license fee and the other costs, so local agencies pay nothing, director Rebecca Engum told The Electric. Its partners include the Montana Department of Transportation, Cascade County, Teton County, Fairfield, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the Montana Highway Patrol.

Approval would not guarantee a race, Engum said, because many details are still being worked out. Coeur d'Alene hosts an Ironman too, and Engum said Great Falls has more hotel rooms than the lake town.

The downtown district's incremental taxable value fell from about $2.14 million in tax year 2025 to about $832,000 in 2026, strategic development officer Brock Cherry told the Super TIF Advisory Committee on Tuesday.

That is taxable value, not cash, so the money the district takes in will not necessarily fall 61%. But downtown is used to about $2 million a year.

“We're probably entering a new era of the downtown TIF where that isn't the case.”

Brock Cherry, Great Falls strategic development officer

Why it fell

• The sale of Energy West to NorthWestern Energy changed how the state counts its utility property, so less of that value reaches the downtown district.
• New state rules on commercial property values hit a district that is mostly commercial property.

The city manager has paused staff approval of new applications to the Downtown TIF Building Program, which spends up to $500,000 a year on facades, accessibility and safety. Approved awards, debt payments and reimbursements go on, and the city expects a clearer picture by late October or early November. "The downtown TIF is not insolvent," Cherry said.

Great Falls Public Schools changed the rules at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 5, three days after a 17-year-old was stabbed near Great Falls High after the homecoming game. He left the hospital Oct. 5, and a 21-year-old man was arrested Oct. 6 on felony charges, including assault with a weapon.

• Middle schoolers get their own sections: East Middle School students at Great Falls High home games, and North Middle School students at CMR home games.
• Middle schoolers from the other school must come with a parent or guardian and sit with them.
• Families and spectators can no longer walk onto the field after a game.

“We are disappointed that we need to implement this process, but ongoing problems throughout this season have made it necessary for safety to become the priority.”

Great Falls Public Schools, in its Oct. 5 message to parents

Expect more police at games, too. For now that means the five school resource officers the district contracts from the city, assistant superintendent Lance Boyd told The Electric.