Pathfinder correspondent and volunteer Jean Pocha.
By Jean Pocha
OVANDO - "What can we do to get people to stop in Ovando," mused Howard Fly, then owner of the Blackfoot Commercial Company(BCC). During the morning coffee hour at the BCC in early 2000, Fly and others brainstormed activities that would help extend the business season in Ovando.
The day after hunting season ends marks the beginning of a long, quiet period until the spring thaw.
"We wanted something that would give us a boost at the end of the season," said Peggy Fly, Howie's wife.
After some creative thinking, an Old West Christmas Fest came to mind.
Local residents conjured up various outdoor food booths; cowboy scones, fry bread, burritos, one resident knew a troupe of gunfighting actors to invite for the "Old West" flair, local craftspeople stepped up to hawk their wares and the old Mercantile building(now the Stray Bullet) was cleaned up to host the craft show.
Starting out as a three day event right after Thanksgiving, the Christmas Fest kept townspeople busy and entertained their family and friends.
The gunfight acts morphed into skits put together by local participants, using blanks, of course.
"One of my favorite memories was during set-up one year," remembered Kathy Schoendorfer, owner of the Blackfoot Angler. " 'Sheriff' Jim Anderson and Fly were setting things up and Anderson made a comment towards Howie, a pretend argument escalated and blank shots were fired.
There was a new person in town that didn't know about the gunfights at the Fest and called it in to the Powell County Sheriff."
Soon after that incident, gunfighting was stopped at the Christmas Fest because too many outsiders wanted to participate and the liability became overwhelming.
Cowboy Claus was reserved for the date and the Powell County Sheriff was also reserved to escort him along Hwy 200, as has continued every year.
The second year of the Christmas Fest gingerbread houses were introduced in the firehall, and the crafts show began moving from the Mercantile, which was now the Stray Bullet, to various fire halls, and finally settled at the Ovando School gym.
A "Pilgrim Bus"(wagon), pulled by a team of horses was brought to town by local outfitters Jim and Karrie Anderson and used to transport people around town to minimize people driving between activities. Organizers wanted people to come to Ovando and park to keep the atmosphere of the small town and help people stay for a bit.
Interestingly, there are few photos of the early Christmas Fests, because it was before cell phones and digital cameras!
Today Christmas Fest plans begin in organizers minds just after the dust from the Fourth of July Parade settles. Not much has changed, except the Christmas Fest goes only one day, currently on the day after Thanksgiving, but moving to the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2023. Weeks before, evergreen boughs are harvested in the forests around Ovando and volunteers are cajoled for the town decorating day.
Crafters are busily completing projects for the craft show. Seasoned, repeat crafters and new ones plan to set up in the Ovando gym. Gingerbread House crew chief Jean Pocha begins scouring grocery stores for seasonal candies and treats, stocking up on 20 pounds of powdered sugar and boxes and boxes of graham crackers.
"The first two-three years of the Christmas Fest I hand baked all the gingerbread houses from a home-made pattern," remembers Pocha. "We made 12 houses over three days the first year, and had children's stories and impromptu acting out of stories. Now we use graham crackers, my husband hand trims the ends pieces into house shapes. We've made up to 60 houses in one day."
"One year I considering hanging up my gingerbread house apron," said Pocha. "That year an older lady came in with her daughter and granddaughter. Coming clear from Great Falls to make gingerbread houses, the grandma was pleased to tell me that she had brought her daughter to one of the first Fests, now they were there with the second generation. After that I knew that was what the Christmas Fest was all about, making the most of the day and storing up enduring memories."
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