GREAT FALLS — When national companies decide where to open their next location, Great Falls can be competing against communities across several states.
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The Great Falls Development Alliance says companies compare the growth and economic potential of those markets when deciding where to invest, and Great Falls has not always made the cut.
City data shows Great Falls grew from about 58,500 people in 2010 to more than 60,400 in 2020. The broader Cascade County market grew from more than 81,300 people to more than 84,400 during the same period. According to Census and city data, those numbers have not changed significantly in recent years.
GFDA Executive Vice President Jolene Schalper said national companies may have only a handful of new locations available across an entire multi-state region, forcing Great Falls to compete with other communities for that investment.
“There’s been so many times where Great Falls has just missed the cutoff,” Schalper said. “However, we’re starting to see more brands recognize what an emerging market we are.”
New investments in Great Falls include WinCo Foods' redevelopment of the former Shopko property and Chick-fil-A's first location in the city.
GFDA has also previously pointed to Janicki Industries' planned manufacturing campus as a catalyst for additional development.
“It took Janicki’s announcement to get several of these projects over that hump,” Schalper said. “They’ve been planned. We’ve been waiting for a couple of years. And I will tell you, in the last month, there’s movement on three projects that we’ve been waiting to have movement on.”
But Schalper said economic growth does not have to come exclusively from national brands.
She pointed to GRAE + Co., Kaufmans and Dragonfly as examples of entrepreneurs creating businesses locally, saying locally owned businesses can help create opportunities that may not be filled by a national company.
Tourism is another part of that equation.
Great Falls Montana Tourism Executive Director Rebecca Engum said a recent conference brought just under 200 people from outside Great Falls and generated an estimated economic impact of around $100,000.
Tourism officials are looking to expand that activity throughout the year by attracting more smaller meetings and sporting events.
“We would love to see a bit more growth in our smaller meetings, so 100 people or less, to disperse some of that year-round activity,” Engum said. “And we’re looking to see a little bit more increase in our sports tourism.”
Engum said that could include additional basketball, soccer and disc golf tournaments, bringing visitors and their spending into Great Falls throughout more of the year.
