The Icons of Great Falls: The Stories Behind the Colorways
Farmer's Daughter Fibers is located in a beautiful, historically rich town in central Montana. There's a lot that makes this place special, the people, the places, the events, the stories that get passed down and never quite go away. We could've picked a dozen, but these three are our personal favorites at FDF. What better way to celebrate and honor the home of FDF than with a few special colorways inspired by the icons that make it what it is?
Icons of Great Falls Yarn
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Sip n' Dip
'Legends Never Die' on Moonbeam & Moon Sisters
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Nancy Russell
'Nancy C.M.R' on Foxy Lady & Mighty Mo
For 30 years, Nancy Russell was the steady hand behind one of Great Falls' most famous names. She arrived in Montana as a teenager with next to nothing; orphaned and working as a live-in housekeeper in the small town of Cascade before a dinner party in 1895 introduced her to a struggling cowboy-artist named Charlie Russell. They married, with Charlie carrying only fifteen dollars to his name giving ten to the preacher they settled permanently in Great Falls.
It is not a story of easy success, though. Charlie was a extremely talented but an unsure businessman, prone to underpricing his own work and hesitant to gain the recognition it deserved. Nancy had other plans. She stepped in as his manager and promoter, pushing his career forward with the same drive that had carried her through her youth; turning a cowboy who sketched in his spare time into an artist whose work sold and exhibited around the globe.
Her influence didn't end when Charlie passed in 1926. Nancy spent her remaining years protecting his legacy, organizing memorial exhibits, publishing two collections of his writing and letters (Trails Plowed Under and Good Medicine), and donating his log-cabin studio to the City of Great Falls. What started as a woman's determination to see her husband succeed blossomed into a permanent piece of the city's identity. Today Nancy rests beside Charlie in Great Falls' Highland Cemetery, the woman who helped make him a legend and legacy.
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Foxy Lady Pattern Recs:
Willow by Lanaya Elixabeth Knits
Mighty Mo Pattern Recs:
The Day Dreamer by Andrea Mowry
Strawflower Shawl by Ksenia Naidyon
UFO Sighting
'Unidentified' on Bear Paw DK & Oh Dang!
In 1950, one of the earliest known documented footage of UFO’s was shot right here in Great Falls MT. Often referred to as the “Montana Movie” or the “Mariana UFO Film” which was recorded by Nick Mariana, the manager of the Great Falls Electrics minor league baseball team.
On August 15th, 1950 Nick Mariana was looking out over the baseball stadium to the smelter smoke stack to gauge the wind direction when he saw not one, but two bright silver objects flying in the sky heading directly opposite of the wind direction. He quickly ran to his car and grabbed his video camera and began filming the UFOs flight across the afternoon sky, which would soon become a verified piece of history in the UFO community as well as the US Government as it was handed over as a viable piece of evidence of unexplained phenomena.
Great Falls is also home to a major Air Force bases in the US…Malmstrom Air Force Base, which caused speculation to the flying objects being identified as a UFO or a possibility of a jet of some sort. The film has been dissected meticulously by skeptics but ultimately remains an authentic representation of what we consider as UFOs. The film caused such an impact on Great Falls locals and is still talked about 75 years later. The Great Falls Electrics baseball team was later renamed The Great Falls Voyagers and has its own Alien mascot named Orbit in honor of the famous UFO film.
Bear Paw DK Pattern Recs:
Fully Trellised by Cori Eichelberger
Blue Ridge Bear Paw by Katy Menzel
Stargazer Vest by Tania Barley
Oh Dang! Pattern Recs:
Decades Sweater by Alicia Plummer