Sign up for the free Great Falls This Week newsletter and stay in the loop on Great Falls city government, public school meetings, business news and upcoming entertainment and events. Sign up 8/10/2026 Hello, and welcome to the new Great Falls This Week. I’m Matt Hudson, the local reporter in Great Falls for Montana Free Press. In this week’s edition, follow along as I try to figure out what a Navy airplane is doing far from the coast above Great Falls. You can also catch up on some city government action and get a rundown on why the Missouri is showing a bit more of its bottom. But first… heads up, Great Falls Residents around North Kiwanis Park are in the middle of a six-week natural gas infrastructure upgrade. NorthWestern Energy’s work on 23rd Street, between Eighth Avenue North and Fourth Avenue North, will continue to block traffic into September. Yes, that’s the Navy training, 600 miles from the ocean ✈️ Aside from the occasional noisy interruption, it’s pretty neat to see the military helicopters and airplanes above Great Falls. Malmstrom’s Grey Wolf helicopters swoop above traffic on Highway 89, and the giant C-130 cargo planes make conspicuous approaches up on Gore Hill for the Montana Air National Guard. So when I started noticing jets labeled “Navy” circling above the city, I wondered what sort of role Great Falls played in what I assumed was some kind of training flight. The grey jets made large loops, touching down at Great Falls International Airport and then taking off again for another loop. Credit: Matt Hudson/MTFP Back in January of 2025, I emailed the Montana Air National Guard at the airport. The public affairs representative said they had no information on the Navy planes. I sent an inquiry to the Navy but never heard back, so I moved on to more pressing news. This summer, my curiosity piqued again after seeing the planes, so I sent another message to the Navy’s public affairs department. This time I got a response, but the Navy said I should check with the Air Force “to best answer your questions regarding operations in that region.” I did that, and the Air Force responded that this wasn’t its plane. So I checked back with the Navy, and this time the representative sent me to the Naval Air Force’s Pacific Fleet. I sent yet another inquiry to that division, and at long last, received an answer about what the Navy was doing 600 miles from the ocean. Credit: Matt Hudson/MTFP The airplanes are P-8A Poseidons, which are maritime patrol and reconnaissance crafts. In an email, the Naval Air Force spokesperson said that the P-8As are stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington state. The flights we see above Great Falls are training runs for “aviation proficiency,” the spokesperson said. They fly to airfields across the western U.S. to “gain confidence operating at unfamiliar locations,” they added. If deployed to an unknown area across the world, that training could prove useful. Photo Op 📸 Credit: Matt Hudson/MTFP Exposed riverbed has a distinct smell, and there’s enough of that to go around these days as the Missouri River has been drawn down for work on the Black Eagle dam. NorthWestern Energy has been working on dam upgrades for nearly two years. On the downstream side, workers have been encasing support beams in concrete, installing a new concrete deck atop the spillway and making other structural improvements, according to a summary from the company. The river drawdown is needed to work on the upstream side of the dam, NorthWestern has said. That includes removing wooden spillway “stop logs,” installing new steel support structures and stanchions and spillway panels. The work will strengthen the dam and reduce the need for people to go out and manually break up ice jams during the winter. The work should be done by mid-September, NorthWestern said. The river drawdown has closed access to the dam from Broadwater Bay, including the kayak launch at West Bank Park. Areas upstream of Broadwater remain open. Public safety officials have warned against wading through the exposed muck, and many locals know how easily a foot can get stuck in that stuff. KRTV had a good explanatory story with more information about the drawdown and its impacts. NorthWestern said that river flows upstream, from Great Falls out to Holter Dam, aren’t affected by the drawdown and that Black Eagle Dam continues to generate electricity during the work. The dam started operating in 1927 and is nearing its 100th year of service. Eye on Local Government 🏛️ The big city story this week was the passage of the 2027 budget (read all about that here), but there was another item approved last week that also has major budget implications for Great Falls. The Great Falls City Commission gave the OK to issue new debt for the 400-acre AgriTech industrial park on the city’s east side. You can read background on the measure here, but the Cliff’s Notes version is that the Great Falls Development Alliance, which owns and developed the AgriTech Park, requested new loans to complete the remaining water and sewer infrastructure needed to make the property marketable to businesses. That work should have already happened, but development was slow, and not enough money materialized to finish the job. The measure approved last week by the city commission allows the sale of $2.8 million in bonds to complete construction of that infrastructure. While development in the park has progressed, it also represents unrealized tax revenue for the city. The AgriTech Park is a tax increment financing district, which means that any growth in property tax revenue remains within that district’s own fund. That money doesn’t flow to the city’s general fund, which has been drawing down its own reserves to cover the city’s annual budget gaps. City leaders are eyeing TIF districts that can be retired in order to realize some of that new revenue. The AgriTech Park TIF was supposed to expire in 2028, releasing a wave of tax revenue to the city. But this new bond issuance extends the TIF’s life until 2046. The city has vowed to retire the TIF early if there is enough money from new development to pay off the debt. But developing the infrastructure has benefits, too. The city’s biggest economic development story lately is Janicki Industries, billed as an $800 million project in the AgriTech Park. GFDA officials have repeatedly said that Janicki and other businesses were attracted to AgriTech because it had lots with developed infrastructure ready to go. And the addition of Janicki will greatly increase the chances of paying off the TIF debt early — several years rather than decades. Great Falls in Brief ⏱️ The Montana Air National Guard cut the ribbon last week on a petroleum, oil and lubricants facility at its site adjacent to the Great Falls International Airport. The construction marks the beginning of a series of upgrades to support the incoming C-130J cargo plane model. The final edition of the 2026 Downtown Summer Jam series is Wednesday and features country singer-songwriter Hayden Blount. Tickets and event information for the outdoor concert are here. Lace up your trail-running shoes for a 10K along the Missouri River’s south shore. A trail run hosted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is scheduled for 7:15 a.m. on Aug. 22. The route reaches Whitmore Ravine and back to Giant Springs State Park. Online registration is here. Glad you asked, Great Falls: Your questions about the Electric City, answered.🤔 Curious about Great Falls? Whether it’s a question about local businesses, local culture or interesting people, we want to find out the answers. Submit your questions here about what you’re noticing around town. We’ll report what we learn in future editions of Great Falls This Week. Ask away! The post Poseidons above land-locked Great Falls? appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less