A Great Falls couple is sharing their story after a medical emergency at the Farmers' Market over the weekend led to an unexpected confrontation that has since gone viral online.
Sage and Marc Oldham were visiting the Great Falls Farmers' Market last Saturday when they stopped by The Pink Ribbon truck. Shortly after arriving, Sage told Marc she wasn't feeling well.
Quentin Shores reports - watch the video here:
"She was standing next to the window, and she looked at me and she said, I don't feel good," Marc recalled.
Sage then collapsed, hitting her head on the truck's syrup stand before seizing on the ground. Sage has a history of seizures due to epilepsy.
"I didn't have time to react properly. And then I just don't remember what happened after that," Sage said.
Pink Ribbon vendor Jerry Bridgewater witnessed the collapse firsthand.
"I turned and the first thing I see is this woman on the ground," Bridgewater said.
As Sage was being loaded into an ambulance, Marc says Bridgewater approached him and asked if he could help cover repairs for damage caused by the fall. Marc gave him one hundred dollars.
A video of the incident, posted to Facebook, has since surpassed five million views and drawn thousands of comments. The story sparked widespread reaction online, including one comment that read — "RIP to his business."
The Farmers' Market Board took notice. The board has since removed The Pink Ribbon truck from this year's lineup. In a statement, the board said the incident was "an opportunity for leadership to look over their emergency procedures."
For the Oldhams, the response from the community has been overwhelming — and not entirely welcome.
"People have reached out to us like, oh, like, give us your baby registry. Like, we don't, we don't want to capitalize on any of this," Marc said.
Marc described the reaction to the story as unexpected.
"It's pretty nuts," he said.
(TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2026) A now-viral Facebook post with more than five million views has put the Great Falls Farmers’ Market and one of its vendors at the center of a heated community conversation.
If you live in Great Falls, chances are you’ve seen the video. The footage shows a crowd gathered around the Pink Ribbon snow cone truck—not for a summer treat, but in response to a sudden medical emergency.
Quentin Shores reports - watch the video here:
A 25-weeks pregnant woman, who lives with epilepsy, suffered a seizure at the market, collapsing and striking vendor Jerry Bridgewater’s equipment as she fell.
“It freaked me out. I ran out, and everyone crowded around her immediately. So, all I could do, really, is just move stuff out of her way,” Bridgewater recalled.
In the chaos, Bridgewater says he did what he could to clear the area and asked a market employee to find the manager while they waited for paramedics to arrive. “You just have to wait for the medical professionals,” he said.
It was what happened afterward, captured and discussed in the viral post, that’s divided the community. As the woman and her husband prepared to leave in the ambulance, Jerry, worried about the cost of damaged equipment and his own tight finances, asked if they could help.
The husband handed him $100, and Jerry—although conflicted—accepted.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, but we’re just a small business. If there’s anything you could do to help, I’d really appreciate it. And he opened up his wallet and gave me $100 and I accepted it. I didn’t—I felt I shouldn’t have, I knew I shouldn’t have, but I did,” Bridgewater admitted.
The scene—shared online by an MTN employee—quickly generated thousands of comments, many critical of Bridgewater and calling for a boycott of Pink Ribbon.
For Jerry, the backlash has been severe. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay for this. I just started this season. All of our money’s tied up. I just like everyone else. We have bills, you know.”
It’s important to note: The Pink Ribbon booth was started to honor Bridgewater’s wife’s fight against stage 4 breast cancer and to raise awareness for the cause. But in the days since the market incident, he’s received threats and harassment both online and in person. “I’ve been getting death threats, phone calls, I’ve been getting harassments for vandalize and say what a worthless human I am. And I’m such a piece of crap.”
The Farmers’ Market Board of Directors plans to address the incident and community concerns at a meeting Tuesday evening.
