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12/22/2025
As Christmas nears, Great Falls College gives to student families
For the third consecutive year, Great Falls College Montana State University has collected and wrapped gifts for the children and grandchildren of its students.
Common among community colleges, GFC has hundreds of so-called “nontraditional students,” who are typically older and returning to school to earn a degree or certificate. There were 300 students over 30 at the institution in the fall of 2024, according to school data.
This year, the school collected about 250 gifts for its Angel Tree program. They will go to 64 children.
“It makes Christmas easier,” said Charla Merja, director of student care at GFC. “A lot of them are trying to go to school, not working as many hours as they might [otherwise].”
GFC faculty, staff, students and community members contributed gifts or money for gifts, Merja said. In addition, the school has stocking stuffers, such as toothpaste, candy and socks for parents to pass along to their kids.
“Parents have been blown away today with the generosity,” Merja said last week as students began picking up the gift bags. “They’re expecting to pick up one gift, but they’re picking up a 14-gallon garbage bag with gifts in it.”
Giving away 250 gifts wouldn’t be complete without wrapping them. Each year, students in the English Language Learning program have taken on the task of wrapping and preparing the gifts for Dec. 25. The ELL program is a joint venture between GFC and Great Falls Public Schools’ Career and College Readiness Center.
Merja said that the project has been a bright spot at the end of the year — both for the people who receive the gifts and those who help make it possible.
“I really appreciate our faculty, staff and students and community for supporting this,” Merja said.
Madison Food Park gets third permit extension
A Canadian developer of proposed cheese-manufacturing, liquor distillery and vitamin-producing facilities just outside Great Falls said his project is within a year of breaking ground, despite mounting debts and the need for a third permit extension from the county.
Edward Friesen, owner of Madison Food Park, told the Cascade County Zoning Board of Adjustment Dec. 18 that he would apply for a building permit soon. He requested the board grant a third extension of his special use permits, which were first granted in 2019 to allow for his proposed businesses.
“In the next 12 months, we expect dirt movement, road construction and site preparation to begin,” Friesen told the board via Zoom last week.
Friesen’s venture, Madison Food Park, launched nearly a decade ago with plans for a controversial animal slaughterhouse that never reached fruition. The park’s current permits call for a cheese plant, a liquor distillery and a vitamin plant within a 3,000-acre plot of farmland about 10 miles east of Great Falls.
Cascade County planning administrator Michael Harris previously denied Friesen’s request for a third permit extension. Harris wrote in an October email that the permits expire if no construction has taken place. Since there has been no construction, Harris said Friesen needed to apply for new permits. Friesen appealed that decision to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The board last week reversed Harris’ decision and granted a 36-month extension on the three permits related to each of the three proposed facilities. The county first granted permits in 2019 and approved subsequent two-year extensions in 2021 and 2023.
While this project has stalled for years, Friesen and his Madison Food Park have accumulated substantial debts. From 2019 to 2021, the Great Falls Development Alliance loaned Madison Food Park more than $2 million to jumpstart the venture. Madison Food Park defaulted on those loans, and a judge in 2024 approved a foreclosure sale that has yet to take place. With interest, Madison Food Park now owes nearly $2.9 million to GFDA, court documents state.
The lawsuit with GFDA was complicated by two other creditors, MTM Corp. and Saabin Holdings, which paid millions of dollars to Madison Food Park in exchange for “membership units” and are also seeking to recoup some of their investments.
In addition, Friesen and his vitamin company, Friesen Nutrition, face numerous other lawsuits for allegedly unpaid debts.
In 2024, a judge ordered Friesen to pay $9,892 that it owed to Nutra Blend. In another court case that year, Friesen was ordered to pay $34,110 to supplier Kemin Industries. An updated court filing from October 2025 said that Friesen now owes $38,817 to Kemin.
In August 2025, a judge ordered Friesen to pay more than $18,000 that it owed to Ed Boland Construction.
Three other cases are unresolved in Cascade County District Court. North Dakota-based DCI Credit Services filed a lawsuit in 2023 saying that Friesen owed $21,062.
Idaho-based Entra, Inc., filed a lawsuit in 2024 claiming that Friesen owed it $50,000.
Wells Fargo Equipment Finance filed a lawsuit this summer, alleging that Friesen defaulted on a $144,610 loan.
In September 2024, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry filed a lien against one of Friesen’s businesses, stating that he owed $17,224 to the uninsured employers’ fund, which is a program of the state workers’ compensation division.
In addition to lawsuits, county tax records indicate that Madison Food Park is delinquent on more than $4,200 in property taxes for the first half of 2025.
Friesen declined a request for additional comment last week.
As recently as Dec. 10, Friesen wrote letters to Cascade County planning officials on Madison Food Park letterhead listing a mailing address of 748 Crescent Circle in Great Falls. That was the former Great Falls site of Friesen Nutrition, but the building was sold in December 2024 to Bobby Long, owner of a cannabis business that opened in that location earlier this year.
Susan Wolff says goodbye to city commission
There were jokes and some tears among the Great Falls City Commission on Dec. 16, which marked Commissioner Susan Wolff’s final meeting in that role.
Throughout the evening, city staff and fellow commissioners thanked Wolff for her work as an elected official. At the end of the meeting, it was Wolff’s turn to offer thanks.
“I really have enjoyed getting to meet everybody, getting to work with everybody,” she said. “This commission, we’ve had a lot of fun, too.”
Wolff gave gifts to the other commissioners, and Mayor Cory Reeves gave her a plaque to commemorate her work.
Wolff worked as an educator for most of her career. She came to Great Falls in 2012 from Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles, Oregon. In Great Falls, she served as the CEO of Great Falls College MSU, overseeing a period of growth at the community college, which included an expansion of the dental program. Wolff was a 2015 recipient of the Mike Malone Montana educator of the year award from the business group Montana Ambassadors.
She retired from Great Falls College in 2021.
Voters elected Wolff to the Great Falls City Commission in 2021 when she led a six-candidate field with the most votes. Incoming Commissioner Casey Schreiner will take her place next month.
In her final remarks as commissioner, she said that she looks forward to leisure time that’s not squeezed between meetings. She joked that she might skip an upcoming public hearing on the city’s parking system — a topic that the commission had been discussing for weeks.
“I don’t think I’ll be watching it,” Wolff said. “I think we’re going to be in Tampa.”
Photo Op
Residents of the Park Plaza building near Gibson Park have decked their decks with festive lights and decorations this holiday season.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
United Way of Cascade County announced Lacey Hallett as its new CEO. Outgoing CEO Gary Owen will retire early next month after 25 years at the organization. Hallett is a Great Falls native who has served as United Way’s community impact director, according to a press release. “I am honored to step into this role,” Hallett said in a statement. “United Way’s work brings our community together around a shared vision — expanding opportunities for our youth, strengthening healthy communities and advancing financial security.”
As part of an effort to revamp the city’s parking program, Great Falls will host a series of “parking summits” in January and February with a group of 25 stakeholders. Deputy City Manager Jeremy Jones announced the summits Dec. 16 and said that the summit members represent business owners, property owners and residents of downtown Great Falls. By the end of this month, Jones said the city should have collected supporting parking data to inform the future summit discussions.
The Great Falls Public Library Foundation announced a $30,500 grant to the library for the purchase of books and audiovisual materials, according to a press release. The library will buy a range of fiction and nonfiction titles, DVDs, large-print books and audiobooks with the grant.
The University of Montana announced dates for its 2026 “Bringing the U to You” lecture series, which is in its 25th year. University President Seth Bodnar and professors will speak in a series of talks on Jan. 15, Jan. 29, Feb. 12 and Feb. 26 at Great Falls College. Series tickets are $25, and individual lecture admission is $10. More information can be found here.
The city of Great Falls is accepting applications for municipal court judge following the retirement of Judge Steve Bolstad. Forms and resumes are due by 5 p.m. on Jan. 8. The forms are available here or in person at the city offices. Applicants must be Cascade County residents, U.S. citizens and attorneys in good standing in Montana.
Public Notice
The Cascade County Board of Commissioners will hold interviews for a public health officer throughout the afternoon of Dec. 22. The interviews begin at 12:15 p.m. at the commission’s meeting room, 325 2nd Ave. N. The candidates are Mariah Messimer, Jessica Kennedy and David Rinderle. More information about the candidates wasn’t available by Friday. The public health officer leads the City-County Health Department.
The former public health officer, Abigail Hill, resigned earlier this month.
Dept. of Corrections
The Dec. 15 edition of Great Falls This Week was updated to correct that mental health professionals, not the county attorney’s office, can commit someone to a mental health hold under state law. While the county attorney’s office has certain oversight duties related to mental health holds, it’s the mental health professional who initiates the process.