Good Old Days

Good Old Days Park lies on Mountain View Drive in St. Ignatius, with the Mission Mountains standing behind it. St. Ignatius is a Lake County town on the Flathead Indian Reservation, home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and it grew up around a Catholic mission that took root there in 1854. Each July the St. Ignatius Chamber of Commerce fills the park, its amphitheater and the town airport with three days of barbecue, races, music and a parade. The 2026 celebration ran July 10–12. The Lake County Leader counted it as the 44th annual.

Smoke and fireworks on Friday

The 2026 Good Old Days opened at 5 p.m. Friday with the annual community barbecue in the park. “Good Old Days BBQ is started and it smells amazing, plenty of good food, shade and people to visit!” the Chamber posted that evening. The Lemon Drum sold lemonade at the amphitheater “on this hot summer day,” and the Sugar Shack was open nearby. Friday also brought a farmers market, a pickleball tournament, bounce houses for children, and a dessert-baking contest. Mayor Daren Incashola, one of the judges, jokingly called the judging one of his toughest tasks as mayor.

At the amphitheater, JD & Western Front Band played a free concert. Darren Orr, the key organizer of Good Old Days, said the concert is always done really well. At dusk Big Sky Fireworks put on the show that closes the first night, and Orr called it the best they have ever had. The Chamber thanked the crew the same night: “Year after year you crush it!”

Candy, popsicles and the fire hose

Saturday began with a pancake breakfast in the park and the annual Buffalo Run. St. Luke Community Healthcare organizes the run, and in 2026 it had 166 registered runners across the one-mile, four-mile and seven-mile courses. In the four-mile race Charlotte Delaney was the fastest woman at 34.19 and Payton McElderry the fastest man at 27.22. In the seven-mile race Zoran LaFrombois led the men at 38.29 and Quinn Delaney the women at 46.36.

The parade stepped off Saturday afternoon in high heat. Organizers call it the biggest parade in Lake County. Valley Banks sponsors and organizes it, and in 2026 it drew more than 50 entries: classic cars, floats and community groups, with candy and popsicles thrown into the crowd. A Leader photograph shows Eliza and Brenden Welch, a sister and brother, reaching down for candy. The parade ends with what KPAX called the fire hose send-off. The St. Ignatius Volunteer Fire Department turns its trucks on the spectators and drenches the children along the route. Before the parade the Chamber thanked Angie Marquez for making citizen-of-the-year shirts for it.

Valley Banks hands out the parade awards. The 2026 grand prize went to Ninepipes Lodge and Restaurant, whose float also took second in the commercial category, behind Rod’s Harvest Food and ahead of Cenex’s Special Olympics float. Among clubs and groups, The Big Red Barn placed first, followed by the Boys and Girls Club and the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. Kenna Callahan and Rosslyn Wilson took first and second among child riders. Laura Wheeler, Megan Callahan and Selena Eder placed among adult riders. Willie Long won the “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” category. Milan Kubla’s 1970 Chevelle took the Hot Wheels award, Chris Morrison’s 1938 Chevy Coupe the necking award, and Tim Orr’s 1966 Mustang the chick magnet award. A 1926 Model A received the “It still runs” award.

After the parade the park filled. The lot was full and cars went to overflow parking. Orr counted 10 food and beverage vendors, along with some craft vendors. Organizers had put up tents over some of the bleachers, and inflatable water slides were set out for the children. “It was a hot weekend, but people still came out and celebrated Good Old Days,” Orr said.

The park afternoon also held a car and truck show, lawn mower races, family games and dog races. Haley Blixt ran alongside her dog, Pip, to help him make his best time. At the dunk tank, Police Chief Jason Acheson and Fire Chief Paul Adams both volunteered to sit over the water. Acheson went in wearing almost his full uniform. Mission firefighter Jessie Girsch was dunked the same day.

The airport and the mission

On Saturday evening there was a second barbecue, and helicopter rides ran from the St. Ignatius Airport. Back at the amphitheater, the 2026 movie night showed Harry and the Hendersons. “Get down to the Amphitheater, Harry and the Hendersons just started!!!” the Chamber posted. Orr said the movie drew a great turnout.

Early Sunday the program moved back to the airport for a fly-in breakfast and duck races. Later that day there were tours of St. Ignatius Mission, and the celebration closed that evening with praise in the park.

The Roses’ idea and the Orrs’ work

Good Old Days started in the early 1980s. A local couple, Steve and Sandy Rose, wanted to create something special for their small town, according to KPAX, and the town took up the idea. “They thought we should have our own community event, and it’s just evolved from there,” said Frank Garipy, a Chamber member and longtime resident. “St. Ignatius has been my heart my whole life,” he said. KPAX reported that the weekend now draws hundreds of visitors.

Many of those visitors come home for it. “The favorite thing is just family coming back,” said Stuart Morton, another Chamber member. In 2018 the town scheduled an all-school reunion for July 20–21 to coincide with Good Old Days, marking the centennial of the St. Ignatius school, founded in 1918. Marianne Johnson ranches 5 miles out and has called St. Ignatius her hometown since fifth grade, and she told the Daily Inter Lake she was excited about it. Candy Faroni gave KPAX the town’s own account: “I think it is so important because we are such a small town. Everybody knows everybody, and it’s fun to just get together as a small town and celebrate that.”

The town pays for it. Morton, who calls himself a “minion” in the work, put the cost at around $15,000 a year, with $9,000 of that going to the fireworks. “That’s a lot of money for our little town to come up with,” he said. Fundraising, local businesses and residents make up the sum, and businesses offer discounted prices for the weekend. “We spend a lot of money doing this, and everything is inexpensive or free,” Morton said. He told the Leader that Good Old Days would not happen without Darren and Wendy Orr, who carry much of the heavy lifting each year. He added that they have no reason to do it other than to benefit their community.

Morton has his own tie to the town. He grew up in St. Ignatius after his parents moved there from Hamilton in the mid-1950s. “Mom died when I was 13, Dad died when I was 17 so the town had to raise me,” he told the Daily Inter Lake in 2018.

“My heart and soul is in this town,” Garipy said.