Havre Chamber welcomes new executive director

Jessica Fagerbakke is the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce’s new executive director and is excited to get working on the chamber’s yearly events.

Fagerbakke said she’s passionate about the community and is looking forward to serving it through the Chamber.

“I’m just really excited about it,” she aid.

Fagerbakke was born and raised in northwestern North Dakota to a farming and ranching family but got her degree in marketing and entrepreneurship from Montana State University in Bozeman.

After that, she said, she got a job with BNSF and worked there for eight years in various roles and locations, eventually ending up in Havre four years ago.

Eventually she decided it was time for a career change and took up a job at Lakeside Excavation as their office manager, but when the position at the Chamber opened up she knew that was the place for her.

“I just couldn’t pass it up,” she said. “I just felt in my gut and in my heart that it’s where I should be, and it’s right up my alley.”

Fagerbakke said she fell in love with the community in her time here and loves event planning, so this job seemed like the perfect fit.

She said the area already has great recreational opportunities and tourism, and it is a great place to live, but it still has a lot of potential.

Despite her enthusiasm, she said she doesn’t have any big changes planned for the Chamber, in part because it’s only her first few days and she needs to get her feet under her.

Fagerbakke said her predecessor, Julea Robbins, did a great job as director and she’s following her example at the moment.

“Really, I’m just following in her footsteps for right now,” she said.

She said her job has also absorbed the responsibilities of the Chamber’s executive assistant positions so for now she’ll be running the whole office.

“I’m a one-woman show,” Fagerbakke said.

She said both Robbins and former Executive Assistant Marla Shulund have been helpful, doing all they can to get her settled into the new job.

She said her main focus as director right now is on the Bear Paw Marathon June 4, making a push to finalize all the details and increase advertising for the event.

Fagerbakke said last year’s marathon, the first of its kind for the area, was extremely successful, drawing in 300 runners and a good showing of vendors and sponsors.

This year, she said, they’re shooting for 500, and now that travel between the U.S. and Canada is less restricted they are advertising the event in southern Alberta as well.

She said she’s starting to learn about how much work goes into planning an event like this, setting up and coordinating everything from volunteers to emergency services to photographers.

Beyond the marathon, Fagerbakke said, she’s also looking forward to Saturday Market, which will be held from the Fourth of July to Festival Days in September, as well as the Christmas Tree Lighting, an event that continues to grow every year.

She said they already plan to hold a glow run at the event like last year, which also ended up being very successful with many participants wearing festive costumes and having fun.

“They had a really great time with it, so we plan on doing that again,” she said.