Final Explore the Big Sky (Lewis and Clark) numbers leave Great Falls, Montana in red

The final numbers are a bit better, but the Explore the Big Sky event is still going to cost the city of Great Falls more than half a million dollars.

In a final report released Friday, the red ink was set at $520,246, slightly less than the $535,000 estimated in July, according to City Clerk Peggy Bourne Friday.

Rick Tryon, a Great Falls man who had urged the city to release the report before the Nov. 8 city election, said he is "impressed" the report was done.

"I’m satisfied that the city’s not trying to sweep this under the rug," Tryon said.

However, Tryon still questioned "wishful thinking" of officials who expected large numbers of tourists to head to Montana for Lewis and Clark events. He called that a "pipe dream."

"Two hundred years of Lewis and Clark?" Tryon said. "I just don’t think people really care about it that much." He said some people are intensely interested, but the general population is more blasé.

By RICHARD ECKE
Tribune Staff Writer

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