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GREAT NORTHERN FAIR
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4-H activities: Sunday is auction day for livestock 4-H'ers ■ Continued from page 13 The Fair Foundation is sponsoring the event as a fundraiser, she said. She encourages people to sign up for the fun. “Go for the legs and cover the eyes,” was the advice she offered. Pigs tend to calm down where their eyes are covered, she said. On Thursday, she said, everything gets started in earnest. The crowning of the queen and teen takes place at 1 p.m. At 2 p.m., Jackie Sutton of Dell will judge the small animal contest. All kinds of small animals will take part, she said. While some people consider it one of the easier contest, that’s not so, she said. “It takes a lot of work to get them ready to show,” she said. And making the presentation for the judge isn’t easy. “Can you imagine keeping a chicken still?” she said. “It’s pretty hard to get them ready for the fair.” Friday starts with the market beef project at 9 a.m. Josh Stroh of Roy will judge the large animals portion of the activities. He has a lot of experience, she said, in this part of the contest, which is difficult to judge. Thirty-eight people will take part, she said. At 2 p.m., 12 kids will take part in the dog project. Every participant goes through a pattern, she explained. The dogs have to sit, walk and halt. At 4 p.m., the robotics part of the show will be held. The show is gaining interest, she said. It will be held on the porch of the 4-H Museum, she said. Each of the robots is designed differently, she said. Some are programmed to go forward on command. Others respond to claps. Most
Havre Daily News/File photo Michael Compton and Natalen Kinsella are called up to be crowned 2013 Teen and Queen of the Great Northern Fair. have sensors so they stop if they come in contact with an object. “If they see something in front of them, they stop,” Larson said. Others turn around when they see a particular color on the ground. Older people especially marvel, she said. “The kids are really tremendous,” she said. Twenty-one people will take part in the sheep show, a program especially important to Larson. “My kids raised sheep,” she said. “I know how hard it can be.” Then comes the round-robin showmanship part of the competition. “All of the winners come together,” she said, to show the animals from each of the categories. The participants have to exhibit “the principles of showmanship,” she said. “The person who wins this is very talented and put in a lot of work to do it,” she said. Sunday, the final day of the fair, it all comes together, she said, with the livestock auction. The morning starts with a breakfast for the young people sponsored by Milk River Cooperative. At 11:30 a.m., there will be a barbecue. This is a good time for the young people to talk to potential buyers about their work, she said. the 4-H’ers usually learn a lot during this session, Larson said. At 1 p.m., the auction begins, she said. Even after this culminating event, there is still work for the young people to do, she said. They have to settle up their finances and complete their reports by the end of August, Larson said.
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Concert, bump-n-run new for 2014 Great Northern Fair Long list of staple favorites returning for annual event Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com With its long-time tradition of something old and something new, the 2014 Great Northern Fair is set to entertain fairgoers this week. Two new events are tied to old events or buildings, or at least returning events. Last year was the premiere of pig wrestling at the fair, and it returns Wednesday, scheduled to start at 5 p.m. in the Bigger Better Barn. Hill County 4-H — members of which plan to help with the pig wrestling — have set up a concert afterward, a fundraiser for their effort to bring something else new to the fair. Joni Harms, an Oregon rancher and Country and Western recording artist, will perform in a concert with her daughter, Olivia, after the pig wrestling wraps up. 4-H is holding the concert as part of its fundraising efforts to pay for building a new C h u c k wa go n a t t h e G re a t N o r t h e r n Fairgrounds, with a grand opening of the new building planned for July 2016. Tickets for the concert are $10, and are available at the door and at Norman’s Ranch and Sportswear, the Hill County Extension Office on the bottom floor of the Hill County Courthouse, the fair office at the fairgrounds and from 4-H members. Another new event is tied closely to a long-time favorite. A bump-n-run race will be held in conjunction with the annual Havre Jaycees Demolition Derby, which, once again, closes out the arena events Sunday night. Fair board members at their March meeting approved the Jaycees’ request to run the race, filling up time between the main heats and the consolation heats at the derby. The Jaycees have been working to complete a track for the race — described as a cross between a circle-track race and a
demolition derby — running through the arena and proceeding south and around the arena. The other arena events are remaining the same, with a junior rodeo slated for Thursday and the professional rodeo action Friday and Saturday at the Northern Rodeo Association-sanctioned event. The free-stage action also is a mix of something old and something new, with the escape artist Lady Houdini making her first appearance at the Great Northern Fair. The other free stage entertainment is musician Washboard Willy, returning to the Great Northern Fair with a new accompanist. Guitarist, singer and entertainer Lloyd Mabrey will join Willy for stage acts during the fair, with the returning artist also entertaining people in walkarounds on the fairground. Lady Houdini is scheduled for walkaround fairground entertainment, also. The fair is bringing back something old and something new with a slant on animals, too. After an absence of several years, a petting zoo will be at the 2014 fair, and in a separate activity the company bringing those animals also will be bringing ponies to give rides to children. The carnival also is returning, with an expectation of slightly more exciting offerings. After problems with the previous carnival led to a contract cancellation, the board last year approved bringing Brown’s Amusement, in its first trip to north-central Montana. Some fairgoers complained that, although the carnival had the number of rides required, it didn’t have much for taller, exciting rides. Fairgrounds manager Tim Solomon told the Great Northern Fair Board at recent meetings that the owner of Brown’s Amusement has acquired some additional rides and was working to make certain popular rides like the Zipper were working and would be in Hill County for the Great Northern Fair. One thing is not new at the fair — the event continues to offer free parking and free admission to the fairgrounds.
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