A now-viral Facebook post with more than five million views has put the Great Falls Farmers’ Market and one of its vendors at the center of a heated community conversation.
If you live in Great Falls, chances are you’ve seen the video. The footage shows a crowd gathered around the Pink Ribbon snow cone truck—not for a summer treat, but in response to a sudden medical emergency.
Quentin Shores reports - watch the video here:
A 25-weeks pregnant woman, who lives with epilepsy, suffered a seizure at the market, collapsing and striking vendor Jerry Bridgewater’s equipment as she fell.
“It freaked me out. I ran out, and everyone crowded around her immediately. So, all I could do, really, is just move stuff out of her way,” Bridgewater recalled.
In the chaos, Bridgewater says he did what he could to clear the area and asked a market employee to find the manager while they waited for paramedics to arrive. “You just have to wait for the medical professionals,” he said.
It was what happened afterward, captured and discussed in the viral post, that’s divided the community. As the woman and her husband prepared to leave in the ambulance, Jerry, worried about the cost of damaged equipment and his own tight finances, asked if they could help.
The husband handed him $100, and Jerry—although conflicted—accepted.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, but we’re just a small business. If there’s anything you could do to help, I’d really appreciate it. And he opened up his wallet and gave me $100 and I accepted it. I didn’t—I felt I shouldn’t have, I knew I shouldn’t have, but I did,” Bridgewater admitted.
The scene—shared online by an MTN employee—quickly generated thousands of comments, many critical of Bridgewater and calling for a boycott of Pink Ribbon.
For Jerry, the backlash has been severe. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay for this. I just started this season. All of our money’s tied up. I just like everyone else. We have bills, you know.”
It’s important to note: The Pink Ribbon booth was started to honor Bridgewater’s wife’s fight against stage 4 breast cancer and to raise awareness for the cause. But in the days since the market incident, he’s received threats and harassment both online and in person. “I’ve been getting death threats, phone calls, I’ve been getting harassments for vandalize and say what a worthless human I am. And I’m such a piece of crap.”
The Farmers’ Market Board of Directors plans to address the incident and community concerns at a meeting Tuesday evening.
MTN News has contacted the board and the family involved for more perspectives and will continue to follow this story.
