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7/27/2026
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Stationed in Great Falls, airmen saw historical significance
From the Corps of Discovery itself to the roots of its interpretive center in Great Falls, the Lewis and Clark legacy is a military one.
The 1804 expedition was the U.S. Army’s first diplomatic expedition on orders from President Thomas Jefferson. Capt. Meriwether Lewis and 2nd Lt. William Clark were, of course, enlisted men alongside a crew of mostly soldiers — although the contributions of non-military members like York, a slave, and Sacagawea, an Indigenous woman, loom larger in the history than many of the crew.
But that military influence turned out to be instrumental again nearly 200 years later as the idea formed of a museum dedicated to the Lewis and Clark expedition in Great Falls. In an interview with Montana Free Press earlier this month, Great Falls resident Dwight Smith recounted a 1982 meeting at the Rainbow Hotel where the chamber of commerce was giving a presentation about cultural enhancements to the city.
“In the background, some hands rose, and in the back of the room, a lieutenant colonel at the base named Bob Bivens stood up and said, ‘Well, folks, you’ve got a diamond in your backyard here in Lewis and Clark,'” Smith recalled alongside his wife, Norma Ashby Smith.
Bivens was an Oklahoma-born Air Force enlistee assigned to Malmstrom in 1979, according to a remembrance published by the Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance (Bivens died in 1991). Smith, himself a veteran, said he became close friends with Bivens, who was enthusiastic about promoting the Lewis and Clark story in Cascade County.
“That started the ball rolling,” Smith said. “And it only takes one spark plug to get the enthusiasm going.”
Other current and former service members joined the early push to tell the story and the significance of Great Falls. They included Bob Doerk and Mike Labriola, who, alongside others, were active in the Portage Route Chapter. They even staged a portage reenactment in 1984, said Smith, who portrayed a blacksmith named Alexander Willard.
The founding of other groups, such as the Lewis and Clark Honor Guard, helped launch the Lewis and Clark Festival, and the story of the Corps took root in familiar ways around Great Falls. But it was still tough to convince Washington, D.C., to pony up support. A 2019 profile of Labriola in the Great Falls Tribune noted that the National Park Service felt that Great Falls had little significance in the Lewis and Clark story.
By the ’90s, and after many trips to D.C., Smith said local boosters made progress.
“They said, ‘Yeah, you come up with half the money, and we’ll do our best to fund it,'” Smith said.
Great Falls did just that, raising more than $3 million toward the construction of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. It opened in 1998.
MTFP reached Smith while reporting on a turning point at the interpretive center. Its three remaining federal employees of the U.S. Forest Service are leaving this year, and it’s not clear how — or if — those positions will be filled.
Smith said that the partnership between the Forest Service and local Lewis and Clark Trail organizations has been collaborative and positive. But he expressed some resignation about the talent leaving the interpretive center this year. That includes the center’s director, Duane Buchi, whom Smith said is “doing the work of two or three people.”
“Nobody is irreplaceable, but by golly, you’ve got some wonderful, wonderful people leaving,” Smith said.
It’s the local organizations that will be the most engaged through the transition at the center. After MTFP’s story was published, Lewis and Clark Foundation Executive Director Kelly Paladino sent a press release announcing the services that the foundation will manage. They include admissions, facility rentals, education programming, tourism projects, marketing, volunteer recruitment and community engagement, the press release said.
“Every challenge presents an opportunity to grow stronger,” Paladino said in the release. “Together, we are building more than updated exhibits; we are strengthening an institution that has inspired more than a million visitors and continues to connect people of all ages with the extraordinary story of the Corps of Discovery. The future has never looked brighter.”
Through a spokesperson, the Forest Service declined to comment on staffing. On July 17, a representative from Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Supervisor Emily Platt’s office told MTFP that Platt would return a call by July 20. That call never came.
Photo Op
These stuffed prizes were waiting, for most of last week, to take their places at game booths for the 2026 Montana State Fair. The fair is now underway at the Montana ExpoPark.
Event schedules, special events and more information can be found at the county’s website.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
Following Up
Local tourism economy took a hit in 2025, driven by federal government shutdowns and a tumultuous political climate.
But that year appears to be an outlier. During a city commission meeting July 21, Rebecca Engum of Great Falls Tourism said that visitation numbers have bounced back.
“2025 was just a small, little glitch in the system of growing the visitor economy in Great Falls,” said Engum, who was presenting budget highlights for the Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID).
Engum told commissioners that the demand for hotel rooms, a metric that helps gauge visits, is up 12% from 2025. Demand halfway through this year is also up from 2024, she added.
Among the TBID initiatives for the coming year is an effort to build the local filmmaking economy and attract projects to be produced in Great Falls. Engum said her organization worked with six film projects last year. The inaugural Great Beyond Film Festival took place in 2026 and is scheduled for a second installment this coming February.
In addition, Great Falls will host the BMW Motorcycle Owners Association national rally in May at Montana ExpoPark. The special interest group picked Great Falls as a rare repeat venue after holding a rally here in 2021, Engum said.
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
Great Falls College MSU has announced Leanne Frost as its new CEO and dean. Frost has been the college’s executive director of instruction and student success since 2011, according to a press release. “This institution changes lives every day by helping students discover opportunities, develop skills and achieve their goals. I look forward to working alongside our dedicated faculty, staff, students, alumni and community partners as we expand access to education and create pathways to success,” Frost’s statement said in part. Outgoing CEO Stephanie Erdmann took that position in 2021.
The city is asking residents to be on the lookout for Dutch elm disease symptoms in trees. They include yellowing or browning leaves, wilted or curled leaves during growing, the spread of dead branches and brown streaks under the bark of affected branches. If you suspect your elm tree has the disease, contact the city forestry division at 406-791-8990.
The Great Falls City Commission is expected to change its public meeting times in the near future. Currently, commission work sessions are held at 5:30 p.m., and regular meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. The proposed change would push meeting times up to 4:30 p.m. for work sessions and 6 p.m. for regular meetings. The days of the month would remain the same. The commission hasn’t yet voted on the measure, but is expected to vote on the change next month.
The Little Shell tribe cleared a key hurdle for a large housing development after the city commission approved plans last week. The tribe plans to build 115 homes, including apartments, duplexes and single-family homes on 18 acres. The project will expand the Valley View neighborhood and add a new paved street, California Avenue, on the northern end of the development. Read about the city commission vote and public comments here. Read about how the project allows for a preference toward tribal member residents here.
MTFP held a virtual presentation last week about the reporting behind an investigation into a Benefis Health System specialty heart program. Reporters Mara Silvers and Matt Hudson, led by Local Editor Nick Ehli, discussed how the story came together over several months. The full presentation wa
