Governor kicks off 56-county tour

Governor Greg Gianforte launched his sixth annual 56 County Tour on by traveling through Jefferson, Butte-Silver Bow, Madison, and Beaverhead counties to meet with manufacturers, small business owners, and veterans across southwestern Montana.

The tour began in Jefferson County, where Gianforte visited Marks-Miller Post and Pole, a family-owned operation that produces fence posts and specialty lumber from Montana-sourced lodgepole pine. Foreman Marvin Allison told the governor the company grew out of a need on a family ranch and now serves customers across the region.

In Butte-Silver Bow County, Gianforte presented Corporal Lyndsay Alt, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, with the 2025 Montana Governor’s Veteran Commendation. Alt graduated second in her boot camp class and went on to serve at Marine Corps Base Quantico alongside the FBI and DEA, earning the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. After her service, she returned to Butte, where she works as a project manager for Butte-Silver Bow County and mentors veterans through the city’s Veterans Court program.

The governor then traveled to Twin Bridges in Madison County to tour the R.L. Winston Rod Company, one of the country’s most storied fly-fishing rod manufacturers. General Manager Andy Wunsch said the company has been crafting rods in Montana for roughly 40 years and distributes them around the world.

The day’s final stop was in Dillon, where Gianforte awarded a second veteran commendation to Sergeant Montana Mansfield-Reynolds, a ten-year Army veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. After leaving the military, Mansfield-Reynolds joined the Montana Youth Challenge Program and has supported veterans through Project Healing Waters.

The governor also visited Frecker’s Saddlery, a generational family business specializing in custom saddles and western leather goods, where he watched saddle-making and leather tooling demonstrations.

More than 170 veterans have received the Governor’s Veteran Commendation since Gianforte established it in 2021.

The tour continues with stops in Deer Lodge, Powell, and Granite counties.

By: Politics406 staff