David Thompson Days

Rain fell on Thompson Falls on June 26, 2026, the opening day of David Thompson Days. That afternoon Thompson Falls Main Street, the nonprofit that runs the celebration, posted that “the rain has gone and it’s time for some fun.” At 5:30 p.m. Veterans on the Road led a classic car cruise out of Ainsworth Park, through town, and back again. Onlookers were invited to line Main Street to watch it pass. Food vendors had set up in the park, and people had been told to bring lawn chairs for the free concert that followed.

The band was Broken Mantle, from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Its lead singer, Eric Hensyel, graduated from Thompson Falls High School. The group plays a mix of pop, rock and country. Annie Wooden, secretary of Thompson Falls Main Street, described that Friday afterward: “The weather wasn’t the best, but that didn’t dampen spirits and we had a great turnout. Broken Mantle had people dancing in the rain Friday night. They are so much fun, and we love that the concert has become a new tradition. It ends up being a mini Thompson Falls High School reunion, and it’s great to see old friends.”

The concert was also free the year before. In 2025 it was paid for by a grant from the Montana Community Foundation. That evening the Beautification Days committee presented its Thumbs Up awards before the band played, and the city unveiled a commemorative plaque honoring David Thompson.

Pancakes, a parade, and ten pies

Saturday begins at the Thompson Falls Rural Fire Department. In 2026 the breakfast ran from 8 to 10 a.m. About 140 people ate there, served by firefighters and their families. The 2025 menu, at the fire district’s hall at 1811 W. Main Street, was pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, lemonade, and coffee from Koo Koo Sint Coffee of Thompson Falls. All proceeds went to the department, which covers Thompson Falls, Belknap, Sourdough and Eddy Flats. “Firefighters and their families will be serving up breakfast and kids young and old can check out some cool fire trucks,” said Jeri Miller of the department before that year’s breakfast.

The parade steps off on Main Street at 10 a.m. In 2026 Mayor Gussie O’Connor led it in an ATV. Fire engines came next, then political candidates, local veterans and community entries, 22 floats in all. The grand marshal was Rita Lundgren, who had helped organize many of the town’s community events over the years. Local veterans stood at attention while the Clark Fork Valley Singers Choir sang the National Anthem.

Later that day, in Rose Park, the American Apple Pie Contest set out 10 pies. Attendees tasted each one and voted. Nine-year-old Faramir Bennett helped with the judging. Maria Fredrickson of Thompson Falls took first place and a $25 prize donated by Beagle’s Bakery & Espresso. Cindy Ferguson, also of Thompson Falls, placed second and won a piece of cooking stoneware from Doug’s True Value Hardware.

Twenty-two vehicles lined Main Street for the car show, which was sponsored by the Highlead Block Party and judged by public vote. Marty Whitton of Thompson Falls won Best of Show, Veterans Choice and Sponsors Choice with his 1956 Chevrolet pickup. Ben Snyder’s 2016 Dodge Charger Hellcat took the Kids Choice Award, and Gary Backus won Best Project with a 1946 Dodge pickup. The Block Party itself runs into the evening with vendors, food and live music. In 2025 it ran from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Rad Fondue played Saturday night with another Thompson Falls alumnus, Gene Repp. In 2026 Broken Mantle played the Block Party the day after its park concert.

The Fur Trade Camp at Ainsworth Park

Back at Ainsworth Park, 22 vendors sold handcrafted goods and locally made products until 5 p.m. Forestry demonstrations ran alongside the mountain-man camps. At the Fur Trade Camp, reenactors Doug Spurlock and Dan Egleston showed replica firearms from the early 1800s and demonstrated the skills of early frontiersmen. The Valley Press reported that Spurlock spent much of the afternoon teaching children to start a fire with only flint and steel. Dennis Spurlock of Plains explained how candles were made in the early 1800s. He also showed six-year-old Olivia Raffle of Thompson Falls how mountain men started their campfires.

In 2026 the celebration also marked America’s 250th anniversary, along with the legacy of David Thompson, whom the Valley Press called the area’s first non-Indigenous resident. The 2025 edition ran three days, June 27 to 29, and spread across town:

• Limberlost Brewing Co. screened the documentary “Uncharted Territory” and held Explorer Trivia.
• The Rex Theater showed “Shadows of David Thompson” for free.
• The Old Jail Museum opened for the afternoon.
• On Sunday, the Rex showed “The Big Burn,” and a car show was held at the Wild Coyote Saloon.

Sandwich boards and posters around town pointed the way. “There are a lot of activities, but we’re excited to celebrate the past and present of Thompson Falls,” said Kayla Mosher, president of Thompson Falls Main Street. The Valley Press reported that the next celebration was scheduled for June 25-26, 2027.

Atlatls on the Fourth of July

The celebration began under other hands and on another date. In an opinion column of June 27, 2015, Jennifer Fielder recalled its start. Fielder was a Thompson Falls Republican who represented Senate District 7. She wrote that “eight years ago” the Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce had asked for volunteers to build a historical event around the town’s namesake. The organizers picked the first Saturday in July. “I wrestled with celebrating a Canadian fur trader so close to, and sometimes falling upon, Independence Day,” she wrote.

The 2015 program fell on July 4 itself, sponsored by Blackfoot Telephone and the Thompson Falls Chamber:

• Atlatl lessons on Ainsworth Field at 8 a.m.
• An Independence Day parade at 10.
• At 11, a public reading of the Declaration of Independence by what Fielder called “a cast of grateful, authentically clad historians.”
• Living-history demonstrations until 4 p.m. in Power Company Park, one block south of the post office.

Fielder’s column set out Thompson’s story as she understood it. Born in England, he entered the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company at 14 and began as a trading-post clerk on Hudson Bay in 1784. After 14 years he left for the North West Company. By her account he helped set up the first cross-continental chain of trading posts, one of them near Thompson Falls, and mapped 1.5 million square miles of North America. “He literally put Northwest Montana on the map!” she wrote.

The Haywoods and Saleesh House

Carl and Linda Haywood’s obituary records them among the group that started David Thompson Days. They moved to Montana in 2001 and built a house on 20 forested acres near Thompson Falls. Carl had trained in forestry and worked for the U.S. Forest Service in wildfire and timber management. Linda held a geology degree from the University of Idaho. In the mid-1980s, while living near Washington, D.C., Carl had joined a fur-trade “buckskinner” group and attended rendezvous. Back in Montana he trekked alone in the mountains, wearing and using only 1820s-era clothing and equipment.

Authors and historians had long been unsure where Thompson’s Saleesh House stood. Thompson established that trading post near Thompson Falls in 1809. Carl studied Thompson’s journals and other historical literature, with Linda’s help, and wrote the book Sometimes Only Horses to Eat. It traced Thompson’s travels in the area and placed the post near the mouth of the Thompson River. According to the obituary, his conclusions “have not been credibly challenged,” and leading Thompson historians in Canada and the United States accepted him as a peer. The couple also traced the Road to the Buffalo, the route Native peoples of the Northwest took to hunt bison on the Great Plains. They persuaded the Montana Highway Department to mark where modern highways follow it. Carl died on April 5, 2024, at 81, and Linda on June 3, 2024, at 77. He kept working on his research until his last days.