Business Bites: Costello now sole Fire Pizza owner; new batting cage; Cassiopeia events; Leadership Great Falls fundraising for Eagle Mount; blood drive; First Friday Art Walk; art fundraiser; and more
Fire Pizza
Grady Costello is now the sole owner of Fire Pizza.
He’s been the general manager of the restaurant since February 2020.
Two years ago, he bought at 10 percent ownership stake and on April 23, he closed on the purchase of the business.
Costello said they’re going to make small, measured improvements over the coming years and revamping specials, but will otherwise keep offering high quality food and service.
He said he often has to say no to expanding menu items to stay true to their main focus: pizza.
“There’s enough nuance to pizza that you can spend more time getting deeper rather than wider,” Costello said.
He said his approach is “fundamentals, try to keep it simple,” and not sacrifice quality for quantity.
Costello said he used a Small Business Administration loan that he initially didn’t think he qualified for.
He recommended those wanting to start or grow a small business locally contact the Great Falls Development Alliance for the services and resources they offer that he said not enough people are aware of.
Given his experience, Costello said he knows it’s “very possible to start a small business here, so I want to foster that with my employees if they want to.”
A big consideration for him in making operational decisions, such as whether to expand hours, is the quality of life for his current staff of 35.
In his case, “I worked hard, but also got lucky to have this opportunity,” he said.
As manager and now sole owner, he said that he tries to be empowering to staff and pays above market wages, starting employees higher even before they’re good at their job.
Perfect doesn’t exist, and you can’t work 24 hours a day, Costello said, so it’s been a lesson in sometimes saying good enough at the end of the day and developing a work life balance.
Any time we was feeling anxious about closing on the deal, he fell back on four beliefs:
- believe in myself
- believe in my team
- believe in the program we’re doing
- believe in the community of Great Falls
“That’s all we need,” Costello said. “It’s a wonderful community. COVID taught me how wonderful the support is.”
Fire Pizza is located at 107 5th St. N.
NeighborWorks Great Falls
NeighborWorks Great Falls is hosting their annual meeting at 4:30 p.m. May 1 at Haute Hive, 721 Central Ave.
Staff and the board will review what they’ve accomplished in 2023, highlighting current business and looking toward the future.
They’ll also introduce new faces at the nonprofit and honor those who support their work.
Crash Champions acquires local repair centers
Crash Champions has acquired three local repair centers: Mitchell’s Crash Repair, Flawless Auto Body and 3 Way Auto Body.
All three transitioned operations to Crash Champions on April 22.
“After 23 years of dedication to collision repair service in Great Falls, Flawless Auto Body and 3 Way Auto Body are proud to have been acquired by Crash Champions, a company that will provide our employees and customers direct access to a proven industry leader with tremendous resources,” Jeramy Myers, Flawless owner, said in a release. “We want to thank our amazing employees, customers, and community for years of service and trusting us with your repairs, and we look forward to what the future will hold at both locations in the Great Falls community.”
The Cage Batting Club
The Cage Batting Club is planning to open in mid-May at 1128 25th Ave. N.E. in Black Eagle.
The indoor batting club will be catering to baseball, softball and little league, as well as individuals of all ages.
Bass Clef School of Music and Fine Arts
The Bass Clef School of Music and Fine Arts has closed.
Owner Tim Bass posted that the school hadn’t recovered from COVID when they went into debt paying employees during the shutdown.
“Since everything reopened, we’ve struggled to recover from the financial devastation this caused,” Bass said.
He said they also struggled with staffing.
The space in the Times Square Building is now for lease.
Malmstrom contract
The period of performance for this award is 15 days from issuance of the notice to proceed.
Cassiopeia Books
April 27 is is Independent Book Store Day and Cassiopeia is celebrating by offering 10 percent off a total in-store purchase that day.
Cassiopeia is hosting the River Town Rounders at 6 p.m. May 3 for their last performance before they begin their summer shows at the KOA.
Leadership Great Falls fundraising for Eagle Mount
The Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Great Falls Class of 2024 is raising money for a tractor for Eagle Mount’s Equestrian Center.
The class started its $45,000 campaign in January and has raised nearly $32,000, but is still working to raise the remaining $13,000.
To help, community members can find the class’s RallyUp fundraising page here.
For more on the project, follow the Leadership Great Falls Facebook page.
Eagle Mount’s Equestrian Center sits on five acres of land and is home to animals that help people of all ages with challenges explore recreation and take on new adventures based on their abilities – not their disabilities.
It’s home to eight horses, two of which are mini horses, four goats, 16 chickens and one duck.
For those with physical, cognitive or emotional special needs, interacting with animals has proven to have major beneficial physical, mental and emotional impacts, according the Leadership class.
With these programs comes maintenance and manual labor.
Currently, Eagle Mount doesn’t own a tractor, slowing or delaying their ability to maintain their property where these animals are kept and programs are offered.
Several benefits from owning a tractor would include creating accessible areas for their participants, transporting materials, snow removal, digging, leveling and spreading gravel in their parking lot or scattering feed or bedding for their animals.
Give blood, get a pint
Meadow Gold Dairy, Celtic Cowboy, Townsquare Media, Great Falls Chamber and the American Red Cross team up for the ninth annual Give a Pint blood drive May 1.
As a thank-you, anyone who donates blood 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Great Falls Civic Center on May 1 will receive coupons for a pint ice cream from Meadow Gold Dairy and a drink from the Celtic Cowboy.
Montana Red Cross collects 44,000 units of blood each year and provides blood products to more than 30 hospitals and medical centers across the state. Cancer patients, accident victims, expecting mothers, surgery patients and countless others depend on this blood every day. Donating blood takes less than an hour from start to finish, and a single donation can save more than one life.
To schedule an appointment to donate at the Give A Pint drive, visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter the sponsor code GREAT FALLS. Or call 800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767).
Those who can’t donate blood can still help by becoming a Red Cross volunteer.
Volunteer drivers help transport blood products collected at drives across Montana back to the Red Cross lab in Great Falls so it can be tested, processed and distributed to hospitals. Volunteer blood donor ambassadors welcome donors to blood drives, help schedule their next appointment and make sure they have a good experience.
To learn more about either of these volunteer opportunities, visit redcross.org/volunteer.
First Friday Art Walk
First Friday Art Walk is back.
Starting May 3, select local artists’ studios and arts organizations will be open to the public from 6-9 p.m. for the public to view and enjoy.
First Friday Art Walk was started in February 2004 by local artist Steven Carlyle-Smith, who said in a release, “I started the First Friday Art Walk back in Feb. 2004, with the help of Chris Miller, who created the map, fliers, and posters. An art walk helps the community find the hidden culture. You don’t have to be a VIP art collector to visit an artist’s studio, gallery or museum.”
First Friday Art Walk is free for all, and visitors can tour artists’ studios or arts organizations listed on the First Friday Art Walk GF, MT public Facebook group. A downloadable map is available on Facebook to guide visitors’ tours. The map will be edited up until the event, so organizers recommend checking the Facebook page closer to the event for the most updated locations.
The public can meet local Great Falls artists, such as
- Julia Becker, Root Orbit Studio
- Natalie Woodson
- Steven Carlyle-Smith
- Paul Paulick
- Brenda Wolf
- Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art
- Hotel Arvon
- Cassiopeia Books featuring artist C.M. Doom
- artists at the Times Square building
- The Wrangler Gallery
High school debate
Great Falls Central Catholic and Charles M. Russell high schools are hosting a live debate, dinner and silent auction fundraiser at 6 p.m. May 10 at the Meadow Lark Country Club.
The event is raising funds for seven students to participate in the national tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, in June.
Students will debate state politicians, including Ming Cabrera, Steve Fitzpatrick, Lela Graham, Brian Hoven and Kevin Leatherbarrow.
Tickets are $50 each and may be purchased at the CMR main office or online. All purchases are final and must be made by May 3.
For questions, email GreatDebate@cmrspeech.com.
Madison Food Park
A reader asked this week for an update on the Madison Food Park.
The Cascade County Zoning Board of Adjustment approved extensions for three Madison Food Park projects in November 2023.
County grants 2-year extension for Madison Food Park projects
The county approved permit extensions for
- Big Sky Cheese to December 2025
- Silver Falls Distillery to November 2025
- Friesen Nutrition’s vitamin trace minerals blending facility to December 2025
Charity Yonker, county planning director, told The Electric on April 22 that there was nothing new with the projects. She said they all have extensions and no documentation has been obtained from them to satisfy any of the special use permit conditions of approval.
In February 2023, GFDA filed a civil lawsuit in district court over more than $2 million in unpaid loans and placed liens on the Madison Food Park properties east of Great Falls.
Brett Doney, GFDA director, told The Electric on April 22 that there was no change in that case and GFDA is continuing to work with MFP and pursuing in court to resolve the unpaid loans.
Chamber has new director, moving
Ed Brown is the new head of the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce.
Brown has a bachelor’s degree in business and information technology management from Montana Tech and a master’s in business administration from the University of Montana.
Brown was most recently serving as director of admissions at Montana State University-Billings. Before that, he held managerial positions at retail companies, including Macy’s Herald Square in New York City, Dick’s Sporting Goods and JC Penney.
Montana Credit Union opening new location; Anderson Pharmacy merges with Billings company
His official start date is May 13.
The chamber is moving into the Liberty Building in Davidson Plaza at 9 3rd St. N. on May 1.
The office will be closed with limited access to email and phones for the move May 1-3.
Chamber committee meetings will continue to be held at the old location, 100 1st Ave. N. through May in the downstairs conference room.
Great Falls Clinic expanding into former Centene property
Gala for the Arts
Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art is hosting the Gala for the Arts, an art auction fundraiser, 6-9 p.m. May 17 at The Newberry.
The plated dinner event includes live music by Jonny and Jane Duo and an art auction.
Individual tickets are $125, and a VIP table, including additional appetizers and complimentary red and white wine, for eight is available for $1,200.
Tickets can be purchased on The Square’s website or at the Gift Shop at 1400 1st Ave. N.
Threads of Connection showcasing community voice
This year, The Square is raising operational funds and matching funds for a recently submitted Montana Historic Preservation Grant for three projects:
- permanent art collection storage expansion which will be designed and built with climate control and new lighting;
- floor replacement in classroom 18 in the education department; and
- new window shades for 84 windows throughout the building to help with UV protection and climate control throughout the year.
The Square must raise $89,000 in matching funds by May 2025 for the MHPG which totals $445,472 to complete these three projects for the overall preservation of our permanent collection and historic building.
Nineteen confirmed artists will donate original works of art to the gala’s art auction, with all proceeds going back to The Square.
Confirmed artists:
- Manette Rene Bradford
- Michael Stanish
- Robert Harrison
- Josh DeWeese
- Vickie Meguire
- Walter Piehl
- Ken Kohoutek
- Louis Still Smoking
- John Isaiah Pepion
- Morton Levin
- Betsey Hurd
- Geoffrey Stocking
- Sarah Justice
- Janina Myronova
- Theodore Waddell
- Freeman Butts
- Black Pinto Horse Monte Yellow-Bird Sr.
- Dawn Sievers
- Dana Berardinis
For more information about this event, contact Nicole Maria Evans, curator of exhibitions and collections at nicole@the-square.org.
Tourism awards
The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center was named the tourism destination of the year as part the Montana Department of Commerce’s 2024 Montana Tourism Awards.
The awards were announced April 15 at the Montana Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Recreation in Missoula.
The tourism destination of the year award recognizes “outstanding achievements achievements to advance tourism through marketing, product development, destination events and activities or compelling experiences in the tourism industry,” according to the Commerce.
“Consistently ranked on Trip Advisor as the number one place to visit in Great Falls, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center welcomes approximately 50,000 visitors annually from all parts of the globe. The facility offers multimedia presentations, interactive exhibits and guided tours to introduce and share the comprehensive Lewis and Clark story,” according to Commerce release.
The awards were divided into seven different categories and presented to the winners by Bozeman-based tourism photographer, Andy Austin.
According to a recent report by the Institute of Tourism and Recreation Research, in 2023, more than 12.5 million people visited Montana and spent an estimated $5.45 billion. In addition, the report shows that there are over 48,000 Montana jobs supported by out-of-state tourism, according to Commerce.
NorthWestern Energy volunteers
NorthWestern Energy employees planted trees, worked at food banks, cleaned up trash and more during National Volunteer Week, April 21-27.
NorthWestern Energy will make donations to the organization’s employees are volunteering with in recognition of their work.
NorthWestern Energy Great Falls employees planted trees and laid sod with NeighborWorks on April 22.
Several projects, such as planting trees at Poly Vista Park in Billings, Montana and the South Dakota State University campus in Brookings, S.D. and clean up along the Big Sioux River in Sioux Falls, S.D. and Blacktail Creek Trail in Butte, Montana recognize Earth Day.
Last year NorthWestern Energy contributed $94,900 in recognition of employee volunteerism with organizations in the communities we serve.
Got a business bite? Email it to jenn@theelectricgf.com with ‘business bite’ in the subject line.
