Ferguson retires

Linda Ferguson stood in the sunshine at the deserted Great Northern Fairgrounds chatting with someone through a truck's window, gathering information about her fourth-grade class for this year.

"We were talking about, 'How many kids do I have this year,' you know, 'Anybody new?'" Ferguson said with enthusiasm and giggled. "This is the time of year that you start asking those questions.'"  

She was referring to her job at St. Jude Thaddeus School, where she said she has held a teaching position for 29 years, "and that I'm not retiring from," she said.

This year Ferguson will be retiring, however, from her job of 25 years as the Great Northern Fair Board's secretary.

"I've never been a teacher who didn't have something to do in the summertime," she said. "So I decided, maybe it's time I see what that's like, ya know? To just do your yardwork, or, if you want to go out of town it's okay, you don't have to take time off or anything."

"So I just decided it was time," she said.

25 summers at the fairgrounds

Those 25 years as fair board secretary all started one July, Ferguson said, with a telephone call from Alma Seidel, a fellow teacher at St. Jude's who also happened to be a fair board member.

"She said 'Linda, they need a fair secretary, are you interested?' And I said, 'Sure,'" Ferguson said, laughing. "And then it was just every summer after that."

Thinking back on her first fair, she smiled.

"The first days on the job were kind of eye-opening because I had never worked at a fair before ... what it was like to put it together," she said. "There was a manager, her name was Lisa Kudrna. ... I just did whatever she needed me to do."

The next summer, however, Kudrna's place was taken by Mike Spencer, whom Ferguson worked with for close to 10 years, she said.

After Spencer retired, Tim Solomon became the fair board manager and stayed for 11 or 12 years, Solomon said.

After Solomon left to work full time as Havre's mayor - he had been doing both jobs - the fair board had a different manager each summer for three years, Ferguson said. She added that this year was unique.

"The board took on the huge task of putting on the fair without a manager," she said.

It was also the first fair week in years that was missing Ferguson herself.

"This year I wasn't here. My granddaughter got married in Texas," she said. "I hated to miss my 25th fair, but ... my name would've been mud if I hadn't been there for the wedding."

She said the fair went well without her.

"They did a fantastic job. ... They did super," Ferguson said.

She said she was most impressed by how much the fair made in parking this year.

"$5 shy of $28,000," she said. "To me that's a good indication that the community is going to support this fair. Because it was all new to pay to park, and they were willing to do it, so the community is behind the fair."

"And the Indian Races did so well," she added, crediting Tim Rosette Jr. from Rocky Boy for initiating the races. "Boy, did the crowd love it."

Ferguson may be the most experienced judge of the fair's success.

"I don't know of anyone that worked there really any longer than her," Solomon said.

Handling extensive duties

As secretary of the fair board, Ferguson took notes at meetings all year long, Solomon said. He added that she would also line up most of the open class and school exhibits ahead of time.

Once summer came, Ferguson answered phones, sent out contracts and information to prepare for the fair, and even sold tickets, Solomon said.

"She did a lot of stuff," he said.

Working 25 years at the fair did not seem to strain Ferguson.

"Honestly, it wasn't really like going to a job," she said. "It was a pleasant place to spend the summer. Fair week was always a little frantic, but other than that it was very pleasant. I'll miss it. Next summer I'll go, 'Ooh, aren't I supposed to go out there? Oh, no, I'm retired.'"

Ferguson's love of the camaraderie of the fair, as she put it, may have kept her coming back every year.

"There are people," she said, "who sit out under that tent that they put up all day and visit. ... Maybe their children or grandchildren are playing, or on the rides, or just running around, but they're just visiting."

Solomon said Ferguson's job as a teacher and the summer fair office hours worked perfectly together. Still, he said, he was surprised by how long she stayed with the fair board.

"Definitely not the highest paid job out there," he said. "She had to do it with that pay because she loved it."

He mentioned her close friendships with people at the fair, including with former groundskeeper Murdo MacKay.

"They were very friendly, like I say, it was a small kind of family, as far as getting along. ... It was a great bunch," Solomon said, adding that the fair would miss her knowledge and capabilities.

Working with a list of fair managers, board members

Ferguson worked with several fair managers and board members during her years as secretary.

"Every one of them had different personalities and different ways of doing things," Ferguson said.

But many said they had fond memories of working with Ferguson.

"She was fabulous," Mike Spencer said. "She was just great with people and great with staff."

"She is very pleasant to work with in all circumstances," Tyler Smith, chair of the board, said, adding that Ferguson "does an outstanding job for the fair board."

Solomon pinpointed Ferguson's trustworthiness as secretary.

"She was very particular with money, as far as accuracy," he said. " ... She was very reliable that way. Never any doubt."

Solomon and Spencer both praised Ferguson's skill passing along information from manager to manager about what worked and what didn't at the fair.

"She was very helpful to all the new managers," Spencer said, "letting 'em know where things went, trying to keep the process going. She cared very much for the fair and how it went."

He added that "her depth of knowledge is amazing."

About her many years as secretary, Solomon said that "you usually have some repeating history that you can tell."

"She felt that we could talk," Solomon said, adding that they "discussed a lot of things and figured out the best way of doing them."

One change Ferguson may have influenced was the location of the fair's office building. Under Spencer's management, the office had to move to manage the campground; it stayed near the old museum building adjacent to the campground for eight years, Ferguson said.  

"When Tim became manager, he thought it would be better to be more in the center of the action during the fair, which I like. ... Over there you were just isolated."

Solomon agreed, saying, "especially being tied to the office most of the time, she probably felt that way more than I did - kind of indicated that to me at times," he added with a laugh.

Ferguson's strong will and love of handing down history is apparent in her other accomplishments, as well.

After leaving the University of Montana at 18 years old for a radio job, Ferguson eventually returned to complete her degree at Montana State University-Northern, then called Northern Montana College.

"I always did secretary bookwork," Ferguson said. "I just made up my mind. Where is my life going? And why am I not doing what I really want to do?"

From the time she was young, Ferguson said, she had wanted to be a history teacher.

"At that time I was a single mom. In fact, my oldest son graduated from high school the same year I graduated from college," she said. "And George and Trish ... they were smaller. I just did it. ... And don't regret it a minute. It made my life a whole lot happier."

The state of Montana eventually recognized Ferguson's teaching abilities. She was "Montana History Teacher of the Year" and was invited to Helena to ring the capital bell. She also later won a Walmart-sponsored "Teacher of the Year Award."

Ferguson seemed unconcerned with the awards, however, and eager to discuss her lesson plans, which she said include engaging students in historical novels. She assigns characters from the novels to her fourth-graders and asks them to journal about the story's adventures.

Next summer she will embark on her own adventures during her first real summer vacation in 25 years.

Ferguson said she plans to visit people, putter in the yard, play with her new puppy and dog-sit for her children. She also expressed a love of being a student herself, perhaps a hint she will continue her education in some way.

Ferguson added that she also hopes the fair will continue to grow, so it can provide the community with a great summer event.

"You see people you might not see most of the year," she added. "Some of the vendors and the exhibitors that come back every year have become friends, and I'll miss seeing them."

Ferguson became quiet.

"I think the biggest thing I miss so far is Alma, because she died several years ago. And she was a lifelong fair lover," she said slowly. "She had been involved with the fair since she was a little girl."

Seidel had started in 4-H and become a fair board member.

"She just loved the fair," Ferguson said. " ... We taught together, and we had fair together. We were very close friends, and I miss her a lot."

"In fact there's a tree over along the campground dedicated to her years ... ," she added. "It's just a little tree with a plaque on it."

The young, reddish tree is planted along the road to the office.

Ferguson said she wanted to thank everyone she'd been associated with over her 25 years at the fair for the privilege of spending her summers there.

"It's been a ... wonderful job and I can't even call it a job," she said. "It was just fun."