Fergus Falls hands Chris Tungseth $10,985 from community celebration
Fergus Falls handed Chris Tungseth $10,985, the net proceeds from Chris Tungseth Day after expenses were paid. The payout capped a hometown effort that drew thousands and showed how the city rallied behind a local singer with national reach.
Chris Tungseth left the Fergus Falls Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday morning with a $10,985 check, the remaining money raised for Chris Tungseth Day after event expenses were covered. The payout closed the loop on a community celebration that grew far beyond a single check presentation, turning a local performer’s run on American Idol into a citywide show of pride and support.
The chamber and the volunteer committee that organized the event presented the funds as a thank-you for what Tungseth meant to Fergus Falls during the season. Chamber President Lisa Workman said he gave the city a reason to rally and that residents wrapped their support around him both in person and online. The money handed over Tuesday was the net support left after costs, not a new fundraising drive.
Tungseth’s connection to the community had already been strengthened months earlier, when he sang Lonely Road during his televised audition on Feb. 16. The 27-year-old wrote the song in honor of his father, Mark Tungseth, who died on May 8, 2023 after a two-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Born in Mankato, Tungseth moved with his family to Fergus Falls in 2007, when his father took a ministry job, and his hometown embraced him as his American Idol run gained momentum. Season 24 premiered on ABC on Jan. 26, and Tungseth reached the Top 5 before his elimination on May 11. Hannah Harper went on to win the season.
The city’s support built in stages. On April 16, Dairyland, The Viking Café, Don Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant and Uncle Eddie’s Ice Cream Parlor each donated 10% of revenue for Chris Tungseth Day and raised $6,122.75. Fergus Falls had originally planned a hometown celebration for May 6, then moved it to May 16 after Tungseth’s elimination. That Saturday, thousands turned out for a parade and concert, and the city unveiled a new sign on Alcott Avenue near Hillcrest Academy reading Home of American Idol’s Chris Tungseth.
The day ended with Fergus Falls formally proclaiming May 16 as Chris Tungseth Day. For a city that helped build the event from restaurant receipts, volunteer planning and a packed downtown celebration, the final $10,985 check served as a clean finish: the community raised the money, covered the costs and passed the rest directly to the performer it had come out to support.
Tungseth’s hometown sendoff now sits alongside a broader career step. He recently released his first single, Lonely Road, and performed in Nashville on June 3 at 6th & Peabody alongside Billy Ray Cyrus and Bucky Covington, a sign that Fergus Falls’ hometown pride is following him into a larger national stage.
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