Sugarbeet Festival Made Downtown Chinook the Place to Be Saturday
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The 2022 Sugarbeet Festival was a huge success with something going on all day long. Vendors lined main street in downtown Chinook throughout day and they had plenty to offer. Some great food and drinks were available to go along with trinkets, candies and various other goods. Several businesses had special deals going on or hosted a specific event.
The Fun Run/Walk kicked off the day with a good number of entries. The Fun/Run had been on a bit of a hiatus recently, but First Bank of Montana stepped in and sponsored the event this year. Shores Floral hosted a Dog Costume Contest, B&B Buyers held a Pie Eating Contest. The Pastime hosted a Cornhole Tournament, Rad's Pizza and Deli held a Trivia Contest. The Mint had a Washer Toss. The Eagles and Bear's Paw Saloon had good food to offer as well as cold beverages and the Blaine County Museum held a 'Lass in the Glass' lookalike contest. At the end of it all the Sugarbeet Festival Parade concluded the festivities uptown
The Dog Costume Contest held at Shore's Floral had an amazing 13 entries and raised $260 for the PAWS Shelter in town. "It went really well, and we had a fantastic turnout. I hope to make this an annual event, and might add on to it some," said Shore's Floral owner, Tomi Simenson. The winning entry was 'Dog a Tello' entered by Brittany Niederegger and girls. Second place went to Alana Gunderson with 'Farmer Ollie' and third was Laurie Faber with 'Mexican Senorita'.
The Pie Eating Contest took place right on main street with 10 chairs lining three tables as competitors did their best to finish their pie the fastest. Mark and Betty Billmayer of B&B Buyers sponsored the contest and Betty made pudding pies with homemade crust. Contestants could not use their hands and had to finish the entire pie first to be the winner. First place received $75 in camber bucks and that honor went to André Silva. The runner up finisher was a gentleman named Gabe from Great Falls falling just a bite short in the end. "It was really fun to see everyone enjoying themselves watching it," said Betty.
The Pastime Bar and Lounge had a solid turnout for their cornhole tournament with 19 teams signed up for the double elimination tournament. When all the bags were done being tossed the winning team was Mitchell Healy and Michelle Lonebear from Harlem. Second place went to Justine and Torrie Friede and third went to Tony and Shay Gretham.
Rad's Deli & Pizza was packed with contestants taking part in the trivia contest mixed in. No word on the winner of the contest but this reporter may have helped out with a couple answers! The 'Lass in the Glass' contest hosted by the Blaine County Museum included an amazing prop provided by the Montana Actors Theatre. The winner of the contest was Leslie Zellmer. The prop wasn't used just by contestants, anyone who visited the Museum could get their photo in the display and many did. Groups also took a turn being photographed with the iconic signage.
The Parade capped off the day with all the bells and whistles and a number of interesting floats for people to see. The day was well received by all in attendance, the businesses were full of people enjoying time together and seeing old friends. One common theme among folks attending each of the events, at the fairground, the park or on main street,was that they all seemed to embrace everyone coming together, supporting each other. Each function - the Brewfest, the Car Show, the Gun and Antique show and the Sugarbeet Festival as well as the businesses open uptown all benefited from working together to support each other's cause. Many referred to the camaraderie and opportunity to just visit with friends as something that was a highlight for them.
"The Sugarbeet festival went really well. I feel like with the short notice the tractor show actually was better than I expected, the Lady in the glass contest was lacking participation, but I think with the Board I have in the Chamber we can come up with ways to improve it. We were lucky and the rain didn't start until after the parade which went really well. So, over all it was good day and we look forward to making some small changes to make it better next year," said Chinook Area Chamber of Commerce Board President Daniel Dahl.
