The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Information from unapproved minutes of March, 2016 Fair Board meeting.

Four months remain until the opening of the 2016 Blaine County Fair in mid-July. That may seem like a long time away but fair organizers are feverishly working to complete plans for the annual event. During its March meeting Fair Board members discussed and approved a number of regular events and many new ones. This information is a preview and still subject to some changes before the fair opens officially on Wednesday, July 13 and runs through Sunday, July 17. A full schedule of events will be available well before opening day.

Many events will continue in 2016

4-H, FFA and Open Class competitions will be back in 2016, with a few day and time changes. (see later in story). The Dreamland Carnival, a special edition created to serve the county fairs along the Hi-Line, will open its rides and booths on Thursday at 5pm, Friday at 3pm and Saturday at noon. Sunday the carnival will be open noon to 6pm and will stay open if there is still a crowd. This a part of the carnival that appears each spring at the mall in Havre.

Food booths will be available and some of them will open on Wednesday to serve visitors to 4-H events during the day and the Kids' Rodeo held on Wednesday evening, starting at 5pm. The Demolition Derby will start at 6pm on Saturday and Pig Wrestling will be held at 4pm on Sunday afternoon. Exhibits at the Commercial Building will be open starting at noon on Saturday and 4-H and other agricultural buildings will be open, some as early as Thursday, mid-morning. A more detailed schedule of various openings and times is being prepared.

Some changes already in the works

Based on dwindling attendance, the Fair Board decided to take a different approach as far as evening stage shows at the grandstand. This year Cale Moon, an up and coming country singer and song writer, will make appearances at the evening event and around the fairgrounds during the fair. After each evening event, around 9pm, Moon will present a free concert near the grandstand area. Moon has already made two albums, written more than 200 songs and has a busy tour schedule for 2016. You can learn more about Cale Moon at his website: http://www.calemoon.com.

Another major change during the evenings at the grandstand will be the Bear Paw Rodeo action, 7-9pm on both Thursday and Friday nights at the arena. In years past the Bear Paw Roundup Rodeo was held separately from the fair. Slack is set for Friday morning. Fair organizers believe the combination of the rodeo, the fair and the carnival will give guests a greater choice during the fair.

4-H Interview Judging will start this year on Tuesday, at 8am, in the Commercial Building. The 4-H Horse Show will run Wednesday from 8am-2pm in the arena. These are changes from prior years and will allow time to prepare for the Kids' Rodeo on Wednesday evening.

The Fair Board discussed additional changes at the rodeo arena. The public address speakers are planned to be hung from cables across the arena improving the clarity of the announcing for the various events.

Another proposal was to create a "VIP seating area" between the bucking chutes and catch pens used for the calves after roping events. This seating would be for chute sponsors and others willing to pay for front row seats to the rodeo and other events. VIP seating is still under discussion but the Fair Board liked the idea and plans are underway to create the new seating area.

Denie Carey, with 4-H, told the Board all the 4-H buildings will have new signage this year. She also described changes in the ribbon premiums program-a simpler and more consistent way of calculating awards. The Fair Board approved using the new award program for all classes of comeptition.

Carey also reported the Extension Service has purchased a new online Fair Entry program and that will be available this year for the first time. She said the new online system should speed up the registration and tracking process and reduce the amount of paperwork. More details will be available on how to access the online registration system before the entry period opens for this year's competitions.

The Fair Board, and other volunteers, have been busy to provide another great fair this year. Not all plans are complete but things are moving along well toward the mid-July event. This year's fair will run Wednesday, July 13 to Sunday, July 17.

The next Blaine County Fair Board meeting will be held on April 14 at Richman Insurance in Harlem. The board felt a change in their meeting location would give folks in the Harlem and Fort Belknap area access to a meeting as the fair date looms.