A glass-blown fish, a Reba McEntire album and a fat porcelain pig are just a few of the eclectic tchotchkes adorning Sam Nunnally’s office at the Flathead County Fairgrounds in Kalispell.  

Next to cowboy Mickey Mouse sits a newly acquired item — a glass award from the Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs, naming him as the 2025 Fairgrounds Manager of the Year. 

“It was never on my career path to be a fairgrounds manager," Nunnally said, reflecting in his office on a snowy November day. “It just never was.” 

Nunnally’s passion for the fair grew during his time on the Flathead County Fair Board, which he joined in 2011 and served on until he became fairgrounds manager in November 2021. To him, fairs are where kids gain hands-on experience in the agricultural industry, a critical step in raising the next generation of farmers.  

“If we don't teach future generations and encourage them about agriculture or the western way of life ... our culture will not remain. We may not remain,” Nunnally said. “If we don't know where our food comes from, or how to get our food, we're going to be in a struggle just within a generation or two.”  

Growing up, Nunnally wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement. He worked at Snappy’s Sports Center fresh out of high school and applied to various law enforcement positions.  

But shortly after graduation, his stepdad lost his best friend, a fellow firefighter at the Kalispell Fire Department, in an avalanche. A couple of months later, the fishing department manager at Snappy’s Sports Center drowned in a hunting accident. 

The tragedies, so close together, prompted Nunnally to join Flathead County Search and Rescue.  

“I was still young enough,” Nunnally said. “I really couldn't get into the [Flathead County Sheriff’s Posse] yet, so I decided that was a way that I could give back, for what they did for me and my family.” 

HIS FIRST rescue mission was to find a missing hunter on Blacktail Mountain, and it’s one he remembers well.  

It was late in the hunting season, and the sky was pitch black. Nunnally rode shotgun in a Ford Bronco as it drove along a narrow switchback trail at one or two in the morning. Around the corner, a fallen tree blocked the path.  

“I had enough time to close my eyes,” Nunnally said. “That tree hit the windshield and just shattered all over me." 

No one was hurt, luckily, and other rescuers managed to find the missing person. The only casualty on that mission was the driver’s pride, Nunnally said.  

A few years later, in the late 1990s, he joined the Flathead County Sheriff’s Posse and quickly rose through the ranks. When Nunnally made commander, the highest rank at the time, he wanted to reshape the Sheriff’s Posse, a volunteer force run by the Sheriff’s Office.  

Posse members provide security at high school sports games, relieve detectives by securing crime scenes and provide overall support to full-time law enforcement officers.  

Nunnally's vision was to turn the program into a pathway for a professional career in law enforcement.  

“And many of our law enforcement officers around our community today were Sheriff's Posse members at one point,” Nunnally said. “A number of officers, Highway Patrol troopers, have been a posse member.” 

His interest in a law enforcement career faded, however, when he started making more money than the positions he was applying for. In the late 1990s, Nunnally started working at Logan Health Medical Center, following in his mother’s, grandmother’s and great-grandmother's footsteps.  

“We have four generations that have volunteered and worked at the hospital, and that's over 200 years,” Nunnally said.  

He worked at Logan Health for more than 20 years, serving in materials management before he switched over to information technology. His wife still works in the Logan Health IT department.  

But that’s not where they met.  

“Actually, she worked in the coffee shop,” Nunnally recalled. “My grandma and mom, and her grandparents and her dad were trying to set us up, and it worked out."   

ASIDE FROM his draw to law enforcement, Nunnally also had an interest in politics. He worked on a few campaigns over the years, including Sheriff Brian Heino’s first run for Flathead County sheriff.  

In 2019, Nunnally tossed his hat in the ring and ran for Ward 2 on Kalispell’s City Council. He won the seat unopposed with 640 votes, according to coverage of the election in the Inter Lake.  

“It was that next step of getting in and really trying to get involved in the community and the direction of where the community could go,” Nunnally said, who won a second term in 2023. 

His approach to the city council is finding ways to support small businesses, especially since his first term encompassed the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as investing in projects to support Kalispell’s population surge.  

“We saw that large influx of people moving to Montana,” Nunnally said. “A lot of my focus has been, how do we manage that?”

Nunnally’s community footprint is visible throughout the county, whether as an elected city official, county fairgrounds manager or lifetime honorary member of the Sheriff’s Posse and Flathead County Search and Rescue. 

With America’s 250th birthday coming up next year and the fairgrounds' 125th anniversary the year after, Nunnally hinted at big plans in the works for the county fair — but no spoilers.  

“These next two years are going to be, really, a fun historical look back in many ways,” Nunnally said. “There'll be a lot of fun.” 

Reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at 758-4439 or [email protected].