Great Northern Fair 2014

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The Great Northern Fair: It’s a part of Hill County life John Kelleher jkelleher@havredailynews.com During the old days, things were a little bit different at the Great Northern Fair.

More attention was paid to 4-H exhibits involving household projects — sewing cooking and baking. Projects such as robotics had never been thought of.

There were a bunch of old buildings used as exhibit halls. They have been demolished to make way for the Bigger Better Barn.

B u t ove r t h e ye a r s, t h i n g s h ave remained largely the same — especially the spirit of the fair.

It’s a place where the whole family can enjoy a wholesome atmosphere and fun, said Alma Seidel, who will be attending her 48th fair this year. That’s almost half of the 102 fairs that have been held since it was founded in 1912.

“You see people you never see anywhere else,” said Seidel. “And you won’t see them again until next fair.”

When he was a youngster, Solomon took part in 4-H activities, showing his animals.

He doesn’t remember doing very well at winning ribbons, but he still sees some of the friends that he saw when he was young.

“It’s a place where you meet up with old friends,” said Tim Solomon, who attended the fair as a child and, today, is the fair manager.

The gathering of people from far-flung parts of the county is one of the real services the fair provides to the community, Solomon said.

People get together with friends, enjoy the activities, listen to the music and go off their diets, eating the fair food.

“It gives community groups a great opportunity to raise funds,” he said.

Group’s ranging from Havre Jaycees to Hill County 4-H sell food or hold special events, he said.

This year there will be a special concert to raise money for the new Chuckwagon.

Solomon recalled getting his initiation into public service by selling food at the Chuckwagon when he was in 4-H. The Great Northern Fair is still doing well, he said.

The number of visitors keeps rising.

Groups keep raising money, and folks have fun.

“Some of the smaller fairs in Montana are having a hard time in the changing landscape, he said.

It’s getting harder for people to find carnival rides willing to come to small

Havre Daily News/File photo J Mackmer smiles at the judge after riding in the Western level 2 horse exhibit at the 2013 Great Northern Fair in the Bigger Better Barn.

General 4-H rules

Reid Friede steers a race car on a carnival ride at the 2013 Great Northern Fair. fairs.

This year, the Blaine County Fair will have carnival rides, he said, though it didn’t last year.

And the Shelby fair has pretty much thrown in the towel when it comes to rides, he said.

“They will still have the exhibits but no rides,” he said.

The fair provides a sense of continuity in the community, Seidel said.

She sees the third generation of 4-H’ers presenting projects today.

The Miller family in Gildford has a picture of their grandmother winning a tro-

phy at the fair nearly 100 years ago, at one of the first fairs. Along with the trophy for the best exhibit, she won $50, a sum that must have been real money in the 1910s, Seidel said.

Pictures from the old fairs remain treasures in many families, she said. Pictures of young people with their projects have survived up to 80 years, she said.

She’s afraid that with today’s technology, there may not be as many of today’s pictures in the next century.

People are taking more pictures on smartphones, she said. But she’s afraid they will be lost as new forms of technolo-

Havre Daily News/File photo gy develop.

But there are advantages to today’s technology.

The fair has always been a place where you take the family and every member can go their own way. Parents can feel safe that nothing will happen to the kids.

Her family would disperse, she recalled, and they’d agree to meet at a certain time and a certain place.

Almost always, at least one person didn’t show up at the appointed time, she said. A search party would be sent out.

“Today there are cellphones,” she said.

Problem solved.

Here are the general 4-H rules that guide participants in the various 4-H competitions.

• Cloverbuds are any members who are 5-8 years old by Oct. 1 of the current 4-H year and enrolled as a Cloverbud.

• Junior Members are any members who are 8-13 years old by Oct. 1 of the current year and are not enrolled as a Cloverbud member.

• Senior Members are any members who are 14-18 years old by Oct. 1 of the current 4-H year.

• In order to be eligible to exhibit in the 4-H portion of the Great Northern Fair, exhibitors must be members of a Hill County 4-H Club and must be enrolled in the project area in which the exhibit is entered.

• There are no entry fees for nonanimal project exhibits. (Animal Science Rules for Market and Small Animals has the list of fees.)

• All items need to have been completed by the exhibitor during the current 4-H year.

• Entries may not be exhibited in more than one class and lot unless noted otherwise.

• Individual exhibitors may enter only one (1) exhibit per lot number.

• Fair Entry Forms are due June 23 by 5 p.m. No late entries will be accepted.

All Interview Exhibits will be displayed in the 4-H Exhibit Buildings in the areas assigned to each club. If a youth elects not to display an entry at the fair they may be forfeiting premium moneys.

Interview Day Exhibits may not be removed from the Exhibit buildings before 4:30 p.m.

Sunday of the fair. If exhibits are removed prior to Sunday the premium money will be withheld.

All exhibitors are responsible for picking up their own exhibits.

The Great Northern Fair or sponsoring 4-H organization will not be responsible for the loss or damage of any exhibit either during the fair or while such is en route to or from the fair.

The Danish Group Award System will be used for judging of exhibits in all 4-H Department divisions. Under this system, all exhibits will be placed in either a blue, red or white ribbon group.

Job interview attire is the recommended dress code for interview day.

Decisions of the judges are final.

Project books may be brought to the interviews as supplemental materials but may not be used as an exhibit.

Ribbon premiums will be given on all interview day exhibits Members are responsible for handing in their Individual Judging Sheet after the Interview judging. If members fail to turn in their judging sheet at the end of interviews they have until Thursday 4 p.m. After that time the sheets will not be accepted and members will forfeit any premium money.

Ribbon Premium will not be paid on market animal and showmanship classes.

Ribbon Premiums: Blue, $3; Red, $2; White, $1; Cloverbuds, $1.

Havre Daily News/File photo Bryn Lien, right, smiles as she completes a 4-H interview about sheep.

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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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2014 Great Northern Fair schedule of events Monday, July 14

Saturday, July 19

5 to 8 p.m. — Open Class exhibits registration in Community Building.

Tuesday, July 15

8 a.m. — 9 a.m. — 9:30 a.m.

4:15 p.m.

7 p.m. —

Open Class exhibits entry; 4-H interview judging begins, St. Jude Parish Center; — 4-H Exhibit buildings open, fairgrounds; — Teen/Queen interviews begin, St. Jude Parish Center; Open Class exhibit entry closes.

Wednesday, July 16

11 a.m. — 4-H concessions, Bigger Better Barn, open to public; 10 a.m. — 4-H horse show; Noon — Open Exhibitors building opens;

Carnival opens; 1 p.m. — 4-H exhibit buildings open; 3 p.m. — 4-H Chuckwagon opens; 5 p.m. — Pig Wrestling, Bigger Better Barn; 6 p.m. — 4-H exhibit buildings close; 6 p.m. — Fair board pig wrestling (tickets required); 7 p.m. — Joni Harms concert, Chuckwagon fundraiser, Bigger Better Barn 9 p.m.— Open Exhibitors building closes; 9:30 p.m. — Bigger Better Barn concession closes; 11 p.m. — 4-H Chuckwagon closes; Midnight — Carnival closes.

Thursday, July 17

7 a.m. — Market Animal weigh-in starts; 11 a.m. — Chuckwagon opens to public; Noon — 4-H Exhibitors buildings open; Open Exhibitors building opens;

Commercial building opens; 1 p.m. — Crowning of 4-H Teen and Queen; 2 p.m. — 4-H small animal show;

Carnival opens; 5 p.m. — Jr. Rodeo begins, arena; 4-H BBB concession closes; 9 p.m. — Open Exhibitors building closes;

Commercial building closes; 9:30 p.m. — Exhibit buildings, BBB, beef and horse barns close; 11 p.m. — Chuckwagon closes; Midnight — Carnival closes.

9 a.m. — BBB concession opens to public; 4-H Beef Show 11 a.m. — Chuckwagon opens Noon — 4-H exhibit buildings open;

Open Exhibitors building opens;

Commercial building opens; 2 p.m. — 4-H dog show;

Carnival opens; 4 p.m. — Fair robotic show, Hill County 4-H museum porch; 7 p.m. — NRA Rodeo, arena; 9 p.m. — Open Exhibitors building closes;

Commercial building closes; 9:30 p.m. — Exhibit buildings, BBB, beef and horse barns close 11 p.m. — Chuckwagon closes; Midnight — Carnival closes.

Friday, July 18

8 a.m. — 4-H swine show; 9 a.m. — BBB concessions opens; 11 a.m. — Chuckwagon opens; Noon — 4-H exhibit buildings open;

Open Exhibitors building opens;

Commercial building opens;

Carnival opens; 1 p.m. — 4-H sheep and goat show; 3 p.m. — 4-H Round Robin competition; 7 p.m. — NRA Rodeo, arena; 9 p.m. — Open Exhibitors building closes;

Commercial building closes; 9:30 p.m. — 4-H exhibit buildings, barns close; 11 p.m. — Chuckwagon closes; Midnight — Carnival closes;

Sunday, July 20

8 a.m. — 4-H Appreciation Breakfast, sponsored by Milk River Co-op; 11 a.m. — 4-H Chuckwagon opens to public; 11:30 a.m. — Buyers' Appreciation Barbecue; Noon — 4-H Exhibit buildings open to public;

Open Exhibitors building opens;

Commercial building opens; 1 p.m. 4-H market sale, BBB; 2 p.m. — Carnival opens; 5 p.m. — Demolition Derby/Bump & Run, arena;

Commercial building closes; 11 p.m. — Fair closes.

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Activities start at 9 a.m. Tuesday at St. Jude’s Parish Center when community volunteer judges will interview and judge 4-H contestants on the projects they have undertaken during the past year.

While the volunteers judge the projects, they also visit with the 4-H’ers, offering tips on the projects or how to present themselves.

The volunteers are from all walks of life, Larson said. There are teachers, farmers, artists and photographers and retired people, she said, experts in the fields which they are judging.

Some of the judges are bankers, especially those involved in ag lending. They can help the young people with figuring out the cost of their projects, she said.

The projects vary from agriculture-oriented work to woodworking to small engineers to robots to arts and craft projects.

Candidates for 4-H queen and teen will be interviewed during this time, too.

Wednesday is horse day, she said.

Activities start at 10 a.m. at the Bigger Better Barn at the fairgrounds. Chrissy Cook, the 4-H agent in Judith Basin County, will judge the contest. She is good at working with the young people, Larson said.

There will be about 20 kids taking part in the various classes, she said.

At 5 p.m., the annual pig wrestling contest takes place. Crowds of people are usually on hand to enjoy the show, he said.

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Havre Daily News/File photo 4-H members wait to show their cats during the 4-H cat showmanship competition during the 2013 Great Northern Fair.

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4-H plans a variety of activities John Kelleher jkelleher@havredailynews.com

Havre Daily News/File photo Riders show their horses during a junior equestrian competition at the Great Northern Fair last year in the Bigger Better Barn.

Lee Ann Larson says employers in the community often tell her they know when it’s a 4-H member they are interviewing for a job.

They look the employer straight in the eye, talk clearly, stay on point and present themselves well, said Larson, the Montana State University Extension Office 4-H agent for Hill County.

That’s one of the many lessons young people learn in 4-H, she said.

The years they spend in 4-H teaches them things they will keep with them for the rest of their lives, she said.

There are about 200 young people in 4-H activities in Hill County this year, she said. They spend the year in a variety of projects, but most of their efforts come to a head during Great Northern Fair Week.

While carnival rides, fair food and games are an important part of the fair, a lot of people consider the activities in the 4-H buildings the highlight of the fair.

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Pig wrestling pits man versus beast John Paul Schmidt jpschmidt@havredailynews.com The second year of pig wrestling at the Great Northern Fair will bring teams of competitors to the Bigger Better Barn at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Tickets to witness the spectacle are $5 per person, and to partake, it costs $40 per team.

The categories teams may enter are the peewee category, for ages 5 to 8, the intermediate category, for ages 9 to 15, and for those aged 16 or older, men and women categories.

Co-ed teams may enter the competition, but they must enter under the men’s category.

Teams must be four people.

The first-place prize for the winners of their division is 50 percent of the entry fees of the teams in their division. Second place gets 30 percent and third gets 20 percent.

Linda Ferguson, the secretary of the fairgrounds, said she thinks the pig wrestling tournament will have a bigger turnout this year now that people know what it is.

The goal of the competition is the team to catch a pig and put it butt-first into a barrel, all in a mud pit. The teams each have one minute to put the pig in the barrel.

The event is hosted by the Hill County Fair Board and put on by Double D Livestock of Greybull, Wyoming. The company sets the equipment up and brings only the best wrestling pigs to stump and slip away from mud-covered competitors.

Havre Daily News/File photo Team Bacon Slayers, sponsored by the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line, reach for their pig during last year's pig wrestling in the Bigger Better Barn.

Havre Daily News/File photo Team Baconators struggle to catch their pig during last year's pig wrestling event.

Havre Daily News/File photo Team Ham Slams carry their pig to the barrel, winning the youth division and $120 in last year's event.

Havre Daily News/File photo Team Pig Tails cheers after getting their pig into the barrel at last year's pig wrestling event.

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NRA rodeo back The beginnings of the fair and the rodeo at Great Northern Fair Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com Two days of professional cowboying and cowgirling is coming to the fair in Hill County again with its rodeo, sanctioned by Northern Rodeo Association, Northern Women’s Rodeo Association and many Indian rodeo associations, set for Friday and Saturday at the Great Northern Fairgrounds arena.

The event continues to be held by a local association of rodeo-ers, following a short hiatus after the 2013 fair.

The group took on putting together the rodeo for the 2010 fair, but announced in July of last year it would stop doing so.

After a few months of negotiations, the group agreed it would again put on its toprated event.

Competition is set to run in the arena starting at 7 p.m. each night, with slack competition scheduled to start at 9 a.m.

Saturday.

The NRA website lists the events planned for the 2014 Great Northern Fair as a full slate of rodeo activities, including: • Bull riding • Bareback riding • Saddle bronc riding • Steer wrestling • Tie-down roping • Team roping • Ladies barrel racing • Ladies breakaway roping • Junior barrel racing • Junior breakaway roping.

A special offering is junior bull riding, with competitors 9-13 years old allowed to compete in that event.

Youth rodeo again takes center stage Thursday Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com Not to be upstaged by adults who compete the following two days, younger cowboys and cowgirls will be in the Great Northern Fairgrounds arena Thursday to show they have what it takes in the field of rodeo.

From young children to high schoolers, the Junior Rodeo at the Great Northern Fair lets competitors show their stuff in competition typically ranging from sheep riding to team roping, from pole bending and goat ribbon untying to barrel racing and steer wrestling.

The Junior Rodeo is scheduled to start Thursday at 5 p.m.

Havre Daily News/File photo Cassie Gibson competes in the 4- to 8-year-old barrel racing during the Junior Rodeo at last year's Great Northern Fair.

Gary Wilson The logo on the Great American Fair rodeo program bears the inscription of the “Great Northern Montana Stampede.”

This is to honor the memory of Havre’s once first-class rodeo and its principal founder, “Long George” Francis. The other offic e rs a n d d i re c to rs o f t h e S ta m p e d e Association included his friends, Jack Mabee and C.W. “Shorty” Young, as well as other Havre businessmen and area ranchers.

Francis was tall and slender at 6-foot-6 and 190 pounds, in a time when 6-foot was considered tall. He dressed in the best cowboy clothes with silver mounted spurs and belt buckle and even more elaborate silver dressing for his horse, Tony.

Tony was a high-spirited bay horse with a black mane and tail and large star on his forehead. Francis transformed this once mean animal into a gentle, candy-eating, skilled rodeo and trick horse.

The tall cowboy initiated the beginnings of a local rodeo during the 1912 J.J. Hill County Fair with steer roping and bucking bronco contests. This evolved into The Wild West Show, which became a major part of the fair sponsored jointly by Hill County and the Great Northern Railway.

Unfortunately, the Hill County Fair and Racing Association went broke, but James J. Hill, president of the railroad, decided to pick up the tab for five years on the 4-acre east end site. It was roughly located between the present U.S. Highway 2 and the old Theodore Roosevelt Highway near 18th and 19th avenues.

From this, the Great Northern Stampede Association was born, and in 1916 continued with both a more extensive fair and a larger rodeo. The rodeo’s theme was “The West As It Was,” and its motto was “Let ’Em Ramble.”

More than 1,000 people viewed the rodeo every day in a town with half that population. The rodeo was a big success and a personal triumph for Francis and his associates.

Each successive year the fair-rodeo facilities were expanded, and an added attraction was a replicate frontier town called Cypress in honor of the former camp that catered to the soldiers of Fort Assinniboine. It had been

Montana Historical Society "Long George" Francis and his famed horse Tony are pictured in a competion at the Great Northern Montana Stampede in Havre in 1913. located near Cypress Crossing on the Milk River near Big Sandy Creek. The “town” was situated at 1st Street and 6th Avenue, just west of the midway that featured the Butte Columbia Gardens Ferris Wheel.

The staged town of a saloon, dance hall and gambling hall was populated with fierce Indians, cowboys, Chinese, bull whackers, gamblers and dangerous gunfighters. From a 3,000 capacity grandstand, the public watched gunfights, Indian attacks. lynchings and the more tame horse square dancing

and cowboy band concerts.

Havre had a rodeo to rival most of those that started about the same time, and no doubt eventually would have rivaled the Cheyenne and Calgary rodeos. The event boasted prizes totalling $16,000, which was big money when a ranch hand made $30-$40 a month. Francis had reached major celebrity status, too, equalling the movie stars and rock stars of today.

But then things began unraveling when Francis got into legal difficulties, and he

went into hiding for almost two years. With Francis gone and long-term drought settling in as the economy stifled, the Stampede concluded in 1919. The local Elks Lodge sponsored a wild west show in 1920, but it was less than successful.

The Hill County Fair was discontinued until 1928 when 80 acres were acquired from Christopher “Shorty” Young’s ranch for the present day fair and rodeo site.

(Gary Wilson is an expert in Hi-Line history.)

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Out of Harms’ Way

Country singer Joni Harms will perform live in the Bigger Better Barn Wednesday at 7 p.m. ing the 4-H Club get their new chuckwagon.

"We have quite a few sponsors in town that helped bring her in," said Lee Ann Larson, the Montana State University Extension Office's 4-H agent for Hill County.

"We really want to thank them."

Larson said those interested in attending the concert can pick their tickets up at the Hill County Extension Office, at Norman's Ranch and Sportswear or at the door of the Bigger Better Barn at the fairgrounds before

Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com With time running down on people’s chance to visit a decades-old building at the Great Northern Fairgrounds, this ye a r a l s o l e t s p e o p l e h e l p w i t h i t s replacement with a fundraiser concert set for the 2014 Great Northern Fair.

Wednesday’s Joni Harms concert is a fundraiser for the replacement for the building, originally erected in the early

1950s with an addition put on in the 1970s.

W i t h 4 - H c l u b m e m b e r s wo r k i n g through the years to maintain — and repair — the building, Hill County 4-H is planning to demolish the building after the 2015 Great Northern Fair and hold a grand opening in July 2016 for the new facility.

The new building, planned as a 50 by 160 feet facility with heating and air conditioning and public restrooms, will be available for rental for events and for year-round 4-H activities as well as for 4-H food-serving activities.

Havre Daily News/Eric Seidle The current 4-H Chuckwagon building at the Hill County Fairgrounds shows its age in this June photo. Hill County 4-H plans to demolish it in 2015 to build a new, multiuse facility.

GREAT NORTHERN FAIR

Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com

Courtesy photo the concert.

"We're looking forward to a nice night of (pig) wrestling and a nice concert to kick off the fair," Larson said. "We thought this would be a good way to get everyone into things."

Plans move forward on new Chuckwagon Joni Harms concert a fundraiser for new building

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Derby slated with new bump-n-run race

John Paul Schmidt jpschmidt@havredailynews.com Joni Harms is gracing the stages of the Great Northern Fair at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 16, with her acoustic western country music.

Harms was playing country music long before she had her first record deal in the early 1990s. Her website says that she learned how to play country music by listening to artists like Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard and George Strait.

She says that she follows in these idols’ footsteps, playing music like it used to be played before pop country.

“I personally can’t live without Western music,” Harms says in her website. “I like a lot of today’s country music, but the truth of the matter is that I’m very serious about keeping the western side of country music alive.”

Her first record deal was with producer Jimmy Bowen of Capital Records and she has had eight albums since then.

She has charted two singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tr a c k s c h a r t w i t h “ I N e e d a W i f e, ” which rose to the 34 spot on the chart 1989 and “The Only Thing Bluer Than His Eyes,” which made the 54 spot in the same year.

She has also experienced some success in Europe and Australia.

The show is $10 per ticket and the funds raised by the concert will go toward help-

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Fairgoers have a new slant on a mainstay at the Great Northern Fair for years, with rowdy races set to run between heats of the Havre Jaycees’ Demolition Derby.

The derby has been one of the top events at the fair for decades, a stop on the area’s demolition derby circuit, and this year, the Jaycees are bringing in some bump-n-run racing to fill time between heats.

Bump-n-run racing typically has drivers using their cars to tap the car in in front of them, generally causing the driver in front to slow down and allowing the car behind to try to take the lead.

The Jaycees have been working to build a track on the fairgrounds for the event, and plan to use the track to bring races to Hill County outside of the fair.

Bump-n-run racing has been increasing in popularity in the state for years, with a circuit building in the eastern part of the state. Races regularly are held in Lewistown and more are held on the Hi-Line as well, including stops in Dodson.

Havre Jaycees say they plan to try to schedule more races at the track at the fairgrounds outside of the fair itself.

The race track will run right through the arena, with more of the route running to the east, south and west of the arena itself.

And the night will include the derby itself, with drivers set to run in heats — and consolation heats if they can get their cars back in operation in time — to qualify for the final heat to determine who is the king of crashem-up car competition in Havre for 2014.

Havre Daily News/File photo TJ Daulton competes in the first heat of the Havre Jaycees' Demolition Derby at last year's Great Northern Fair. This year's derby will include bump-n-run racing between heats, a new addition to one of the fair's most popular events.

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Kristen ‘Lady Houdini’ Johnson to perform death-defying escapes at Great Northern Fair John Paul Schmidt jpschmidt@havredailynews.com Lady Houdini is bringing her deathdefying act of escape magic to the Great Northern Fair.

In the same vein as legendary escape artist Harry Houdini, Kristen Johnson takes the escapes the original Houdini made and takes them to the next level of danger.

Johnson has performed more than

1,000 public escapes and beat Houdini’s record for most water torture cell escapes in 2012.

Her escapes include the water torture cell escape, in which she is shackled and then locked inside a tank of water. She then picks each of the locks and makes her escape, all while holding her breath for up to 3 minutes and 18 seconds, her website says.

The trick has backfired on her three times since she began performing it in front of crowds. Twice, she suffered

hypoxic seizures and blacked out. The third time, she was unable to pick the lock that held the cell shut.

“Those three harrowing failed attempts prove the real dangers that exist in her profession,” her website says.

Johnson also has the aerial straitjacket escape in her arsenal of tricks. In this trick, she is held upside-down in a straitjacket and then must escape the jacket and also save herself from falling from the restraints after she frees herself from them.

Lloyd Mabrey and Washboard Willy to play comedy country music John Paul Schmidt jpschmidt@havredailynews.com Lloyd Mabrey and Washboard Willy will be performing at this year’s Great Northern Fair.

Mabrey improvises on stage and sings

songs, with his 12-string guitar, about the lives of the people in the audience.

Willy is a washboard player who adds to the humorous music of Mabrey and together, they create an interesting musical duo. Willy also plays cajun-influenced music with his washboard and harmonica.

“Both these entertainers have been living their dreams for over 30 years as artists/musicians,” their website says.

The two musicians are slated to be at the Blaine County Fair in Chinook from July 11 to 13 and then will be at the Great Northern Fair from July 17 to 20.

Courtesy photo

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Kristen ‘Lady Houdini’ Johnson to perform death-defying escapes at Great Northern Fair John Paul Schmidt jpschmidt@havredailynews.com Lady Houdini is bringing her deathdefying act of escape magic to the Great Northern Fair.

In the same vein as legendary escape artist Harry Houdini, Kristen Johnson takes the escapes the original Houdini made and takes them to the next level of danger.

Johnson has performed more than

1,000 public escapes and beat Houdini’s record for most water torture cell escapes in 2012.

Her escapes include the water torture cell escape, in which she is shackled and then locked inside a tank of water. She then picks each of the locks and makes her escape, all while holding her breath for up to 3 minutes and 18 seconds, her website says.

The trick has backfired on her three times since she began performing it in front of crowds. Twice, she suffered

hypoxic seizures and blacked out. The third time, she was unable to pick the lock that held the cell shut.

“Those three harrowing failed attempts prove the real dangers that exist in her profession,” her website says.

Johnson also has the aerial straitjacket escape in her arsenal of tricks. In this trick, she is held upside-down in a straitjacket and then must escape the jacket and also save herself from falling from the restraints after she frees herself from them.

Lloyd Mabrey and Washboard Willy to play comedy country music John Paul Schmidt jpschmidt@havredailynews.com Lloyd Mabrey and Washboard Willy will be performing at this year’s Great Northern Fair.

Mabrey improvises on stage and sings

songs, with his 12-string guitar, about the lives of the people in the audience.

Willy is a washboard player who adds to the humorous music of Mabrey and together, they create an interesting musical duo. Willy also plays cajun-influenced music with his washboard and harmonica.

“Both these entertainers have been living their dreams for over 30 years as artists/musicians,” their website says.

The two musicians are slated to be at the Blaine County Fair in Chinook from July 11 to 13 and then will be at the Great Northern Fair from July 17 to 20.

Courtesy photo

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Out of Harms’ Way

Country singer Joni Harms will perform live in the Bigger Better Barn Wednesday at 7 p.m. ing the 4-H Club get their new chuckwagon.

"We have quite a few sponsors in town that helped bring her in," said Lee Ann Larson, the Montana State University Extension Office's 4-H agent for Hill County.

"We really want to thank them."

Larson said those interested in attending the concert can pick their tickets up at the Hill County Extension Office, at Norman's Ranch and Sportswear or at the door of the Bigger Better Barn at the fairgrounds before

Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com With time running down on people’s chance to visit a decades-old building at the Great Northern Fairgrounds, this ye a r a l s o l e t s p e o p l e h e l p w i t h i t s replacement with a fundraiser concert set for the 2014 Great Northern Fair.

Wednesday’s Joni Harms concert is a fundraiser for the replacement for the building, originally erected in the early

1950s with an addition put on in the 1970s.

W i t h 4 - H c l u b m e m b e r s wo r k i n g through the years to maintain — and repair — the building, Hill County 4-H is planning to demolish the building after the 2015 Great Northern Fair and hold a grand opening in July 2016 for the new facility.

The new building, planned as a 50 by 160 feet facility with heating and air conditioning and public restrooms, will be available for rental for events and for year-round 4-H activities as well as for 4-H food-serving activities.

Havre Daily News/Eric Seidle The current 4-H Chuckwagon building at the Hill County Fairgrounds shows its age in this June photo. Hill County 4-H plans to demolish it in 2015 to build a new, multiuse facility.

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Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com

Courtesy photo the concert.

"We're looking forward to a nice night of (pig) wrestling and a nice concert to kick off the fair," Larson said. "We thought this would be a good way to get everyone into things."

Plans move forward on new Chuckwagon Joni Harms concert a fundraiser for new building

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Derby slated with new bump-n-run race

John Paul Schmidt jpschmidt@havredailynews.com Joni Harms is gracing the stages of the Great Northern Fair at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 16, with her acoustic western country music.

Harms was playing country music long before she had her first record deal in the early 1990s. Her website says that she learned how to play country music by listening to artists like Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard and George Strait.

She says that she follows in these idols’ footsteps, playing music like it used to be played before pop country.

“I personally can’t live without Western music,” Harms says in her website. “I like a lot of today’s country music, but the truth of the matter is that I’m very serious about keeping the western side of country music alive.”

Her first record deal was with producer Jimmy Bowen of Capital Records and she has had eight albums since then.

She has charted two singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tr a c k s c h a r t w i t h “ I N e e d a W i f e, ” which rose to the 34 spot on the chart 1989 and “The Only Thing Bluer Than His Eyes,” which made the 54 spot in the same year.

She has also experienced some success in Europe and Australia.

The show is $10 per ticket and the funds raised by the concert will go toward help-

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Fairgoers have a new slant on a mainstay at the Great Northern Fair for years, with rowdy races set to run between heats of the Havre Jaycees’ Demolition Derby.

The derby has been one of the top events at the fair for decades, a stop on the area’s demolition derby circuit, and this year, the Jaycees are bringing in some bump-n-run racing to fill time between heats.

Bump-n-run racing typically has drivers using their cars to tap the car in in front of them, generally causing the driver in front to slow down and allowing the car behind to try to take the lead.

The Jaycees have been working to build a track on the fairgrounds for the event, and plan to use the track to bring races to Hill County outside of the fair.

Bump-n-run racing has been increasing in popularity in the state for years, with a circuit building in the eastern part of the state. Races regularly are held in Lewistown and more are held on the Hi-Line as well, including stops in Dodson.

Havre Jaycees say they plan to try to schedule more races at the track at the fairgrounds outside of the fair itself.

The race track will run right through the arena, with more of the route running to the east, south and west of the arena itself.

And the night will include the derby itself, with drivers set to run in heats — and consolation heats if they can get their cars back in operation in time — to qualify for the final heat to determine who is the king of crashem-up car competition in Havre for 2014.

Havre Daily News/File photo TJ Daulton competes in the first heat of the Havre Jaycees' Demolition Derby at last year's Great Northern Fair. This year's derby will include bump-n-run racing between heats, a new addition to one of the fair's most popular events.

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NRA rodeo back The beginnings of the fair and the rodeo at Great Northern Fair Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com Two days of professional cowboying and cowgirling is coming to the fair in Hill County again with its rodeo, sanctioned by Northern Rodeo Association, Northern Women’s Rodeo Association and many Indian rodeo associations, set for Friday and Saturday at the Great Northern Fairgrounds arena.

The event continues to be held by a local association of rodeo-ers, following a short hiatus after the 2013 fair.

The group took on putting together the rodeo for the 2010 fair, but announced in July of last year it would stop doing so.

After a few months of negotiations, the group agreed it would again put on its toprated event.

Competition is set to run in the arena starting at 7 p.m. each night, with slack competition scheduled to start at 9 a.m.

Saturday.

The NRA website lists the events planned for the 2014 Great Northern Fair as a full slate of rodeo activities, including: • Bull riding • Bareback riding • Saddle bronc riding • Steer wrestling • Tie-down roping • Team roping • Ladies barrel racing • Ladies breakaway roping • Junior barrel racing • Junior breakaway roping.

A special offering is junior bull riding, with competitors 9-13 years old allowed to compete in that event.

Youth rodeo again takes center stage Thursday Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com Not to be upstaged by adults who compete the following two days, younger cowboys and cowgirls will be in the Great Northern Fairgrounds arena Thursday to show they have what it takes in the field of rodeo.

From young children to high schoolers, the Junior Rodeo at the Great Northern Fair lets competitors show their stuff in competition typically ranging from sheep riding to team roping, from pole bending and goat ribbon untying to barrel racing and steer wrestling.

The Junior Rodeo is scheduled to start Thursday at 5 p.m.

Havre Daily News/File photo Cassie Gibson competes in the 4- to 8-year-old barrel racing during the Junior Rodeo at last year's Great Northern Fair.

Gary Wilson The logo on the Great American Fair rodeo program bears the inscription of the “Great Northern Montana Stampede.”

This is to honor the memory of Havre’s once first-class rodeo and its principal founder, “Long George” Francis. The other offic e rs a n d d i re c to rs o f t h e S ta m p e d e Association included his friends, Jack Mabee and C.W. “Shorty” Young, as well as other Havre businessmen and area ranchers.

Francis was tall and slender at 6-foot-6 and 190 pounds, in a time when 6-foot was considered tall. He dressed in the best cowboy clothes with silver mounted spurs and belt buckle and even more elaborate silver dressing for his horse, Tony.

Tony was a high-spirited bay horse with a black mane and tail and large star on his forehead. Francis transformed this once mean animal into a gentle, candy-eating, skilled rodeo and trick horse.

The tall cowboy initiated the beginnings of a local rodeo during the 1912 J.J. Hill County Fair with steer roping and bucking bronco contests. This evolved into The Wild West Show, which became a major part of the fair sponsored jointly by Hill County and the Great Northern Railway.

Unfortunately, the Hill County Fair and Racing Association went broke, but James J. Hill, president of the railroad, decided to pick up the tab for five years on the 4-acre east end site. It was roughly located between the present U.S. Highway 2 and the old Theodore Roosevelt Highway near 18th and 19th avenues.

From this, the Great Northern Stampede Association was born, and in 1916 continued with both a more extensive fair and a larger rodeo. The rodeo’s theme was “The West As It Was,” and its motto was “Let ’Em Ramble.”

More than 1,000 people viewed the rodeo every day in a town with half that population. The rodeo was a big success and a personal triumph for Francis and his associates.

Each successive year the fair-rodeo facilities were expanded, and an added attraction was a replicate frontier town called Cypress in honor of the former camp that catered to the soldiers of Fort Assinniboine. It had been

Montana Historical Society "Long George" Francis and his famed horse Tony are pictured in a competion at the Great Northern Montana Stampede in Havre in 1913. located near Cypress Crossing on the Milk River near Big Sandy Creek. The “town” was situated at 1st Street and 6th Avenue, just west of the midway that featured the Butte Columbia Gardens Ferris Wheel.

The staged town of a saloon, dance hall and gambling hall was populated with fierce Indians, cowboys, Chinese, bull whackers, gamblers and dangerous gunfighters. From a 3,000 capacity grandstand, the public watched gunfights, Indian attacks. lynchings and the more tame horse square dancing

and cowboy band concerts.

Havre had a rodeo to rival most of those that started about the same time, and no doubt eventually would have rivaled the Cheyenne and Calgary rodeos. The event boasted prizes totalling $16,000, which was big money when a ranch hand made $30-$40 a month. Francis had reached major celebrity status, too, equalling the movie stars and rock stars of today.

But then things began unraveling when Francis got into legal difficulties, and he

went into hiding for almost two years. With Francis gone and long-term drought settling in as the economy stifled, the Stampede concluded in 1919. The local Elks Lodge sponsored a wild west show in 1920, but it was less than successful.

The Hill County Fair was discontinued until 1928 when 80 acres were acquired from Christopher “Shorty” Young’s ranch for the present day fair and rodeo site.

(Gary Wilson is an expert in Hi-Line history.)

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4-H plans a variety of activities John Kelleher jkelleher@havredailynews.com

Havre Daily News/File photo Riders show their horses during a junior equestrian competition at the Great Northern Fair last year in the Bigger Better Barn.

Lee Ann Larson says employers in the community often tell her they know when it’s a 4-H member they are interviewing for a job.

They look the employer straight in the eye, talk clearly, stay on point and present themselves well, said Larson, the Montana State University Extension Office 4-H agent for Hill County.

That’s one of the many lessons young people learn in 4-H, she said.

The years they spend in 4-H teaches them things they will keep with them for the rest of their lives, she said.

There are about 200 young people in 4-H activities in Hill County this year, she said. They spend the year in a variety of projects, but most of their efforts come to a head during Great Northern Fair Week.

While carnival rides, fair food and games are an important part of the fair, a lot of people consider the activities in the 4-H buildings the highlight of the fair.

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Pig wrestling pits man versus beast John Paul Schmidt jpschmidt@havredailynews.com The second year of pig wrestling at the Great Northern Fair will bring teams of competitors to the Bigger Better Barn at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Tickets to witness the spectacle are $5 per person, and to partake, it costs $40 per team.

The categories teams may enter are the peewee category, for ages 5 to 8, the intermediate category, for ages 9 to 15, and for those aged 16 or older, men and women categories.

Co-ed teams may enter the competition, but they must enter under the men’s category.

Teams must be four people.

The first-place prize for the winners of their division is 50 percent of the entry fees of the teams in their division. Second place gets 30 percent and third gets 20 percent.

Linda Ferguson, the secretary of the fairgrounds, said she thinks the pig wrestling tournament will have a bigger turnout this year now that people know what it is.

The goal of the competition is the team to catch a pig and put it butt-first into a barrel, all in a mud pit. The teams each have one minute to put the pig in the barrel.

The event is hosted by the Hill County Fair Board and put on by Double D Livestock of Greybull, Wyoming. The company sets the equipment up and brings only the best wrestling pigs to stump and slip away from mud-covered competitors.

Havre Daily News/File photo Team Bacon Slayers, sponsored by the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line, reach for their pig during last year's pig wrestling in the Bigger Better Barn.

Havre Daily News/File photo Team Baconators struggle to catch their pig during last year's pig wrestling event.

Havre Daily News/File photo Team Ham Slams carry their pig to the barrel, winning the youth division and $120 in last year's event.

Havre Daily News/File photo Team Pig Tails cheers after getting their pig into the barrel at last year's pig wrestling event.

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2014 Great Northern Fair schedule of events Monday, July 14

Saturday, July 19

5 to 8 p.m. — Open Class exhibits registration in Community Building.

Tuesday, July 15

8 a.m. — 9 a.m. — 9:30 a.m.

4:15 p.m.

7 p.m. —

Open Class exhibits entry; 4-H interview judging begins, St. Jude Parish Center; — 4-H Exhibit buildings open, fairgrounds; — Teen/Queen interviews begin, St. Jude Parish Center; Open Class exhibit entry closes.

Wednesday, July 16

11 a.m. — 4-H concessions, Bigger Better Barn, open to public; 10 a.m. — 4-H horse show; Noon — Open Exhibitors building opens;

Carnival opens; 1 p.m. — 4-H exhibit buildings open; 3 p.m. — 4-H Chuckwagon opens; 5 p.m. — Pig Wrestling, Bigger Better Barn; 6 p.m. — 4-H exhibit buildings close; 6 p.m. — Fair board pig wrestling (tickets required); 7 p.m. — Joni Harms concert, Chuckwagon fundraiser, Bigger Better Barn 9 p.m.— Open Exhibitors building closes; 9:30 p.m. — Bigger Better Barn concession closes; 11 p.m. — 4-H Chuckwagon closes; Midnight — Carnival closes.

Thursday, July 17

7 a.m. — Market Animal weigh-in starts; 11 a.m. — Chuckwagon opens to public; Noon — 4-H Exhibitors buildings open; Open Exhibitors building opens;

Commercial building opens; 1 p.m. — Crowning of 4-H Teen and Queen; 2 p.m. — 4-H small animal show;

Carnival opens; 5 p.m. — Jr. Rodeo begins, arena; 4-H BBB concession closes; 9 p.m. — Open Exhibitors building closes;

Commercial building closes; 9:30 p.m. — Exhibit buildings, BBB, beef and horse barns close; 11 p.m. — Chuckwagon closes; Midnight — Carnival closes.

9 a.m. — BBB concession opens to public; 4-H Beef Show 11 a.m. — Chuckwagon opens Noon — 4-H exhibit buildings open;

Open Exhibitors building opens;

Commercial building opens; 2 p.m. — 4-H dog show;

Carnival opens; 4 p.m. — Fair robotic show, Hill County 4-H museum porch; 7 p.m. — NRA Rodeo, arena; 9 p.m. — Open Exhibitors building closes;

Commercial building closes; 9:30 p.m. — Exhibit buildings, BBB, beef and horse barns close 11 p.m. — Chuckwagon closes; Midnight — Carnival closes.

Friday, July 18

8 a.m. — 4-H swine show; 9 a.m. — BBB concessions opens; 11 a.m. — Chuckwagon opens; Noon — 4-H exhibit buildings open;

Open Exhibitors building opens;

Commercial building opens;

Carnival opens; 1 p.m. — 4-H sheep and goat show; 3 p.m. — 4-H Round Robin competition; 7 p.m. — NRA Rodeo, arena; 9 p.m. — Open Exhibitors building closes;

Commercial building closes; 9:30 p.m. — 4-H exhibit buildings, barns close; 11 p.m. — Chuckwagon closes; Midnight — Carnival closes;

Sunday, July 20

8 a.m. — 4-H Appreciation Breakfast, sponsored by Milk River Co-op; 11 a.m. — 4-H Chuckwagon opens to public; 11:30 a.m. — Buyers' Appreciation Barbecue; Noon — 4-H Exhibit buildings open to public;

Open Exhibitors building opens;

Commercial building opens; 1 p.m. 4-H market sale, BBB; 2 p.m. — Carnival opens; 5 p.m. — Demolition Derby/Bump & Run, arena;

Commercial building closes; 11 p.m. — Fair closes.

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Activities start at 9 a.m. Tuesday at St. Jude’s Parish Center when community volunteer judges will interview and judge 4-H contestants on the projects they have undertaken during the past year.

While the volunteers judge the projects, they also visit with the 4-H’ers, offering tips on the projects or how to present themselves.

The volunteers are from all walks of life, Larson said. There are teachers, farmers, artists and photographers and retired people, she said, experts in the fields which they are judging.

Some of the judges are bankers, especially those involved in ag lending. They can help the young people with figuring out the cost of their projects, she said.

The projects vary from agriculture-oriented work to woodworking to small engineers to robots to arts and craft projects.

Candidates for 4-H queen and teen will be interviewed during this time, too.

Wednesday is horse day, she said.

Activities start at 10 a.m. at the Bigger Better Barn at the fairgrounds. Chrissy Cook, the 4-H agent in Judith Basin County, will judge the contest. She is good at working with the young people, Larson said.

There will be about 20 kids taking part in the various classes, she said.

At 5 p.m., the annual pig wrestling contest takes place. Crowds of people are usually on hand to enjoy the show, he said.

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Havre Daily News/File photo 4-H members wait to show their cats during the 4-H cat showmanship competition during the 2013 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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2014

July 2014

GREAT NORTHERN FAIR

www.havredailynews.com

The Great Northern Fair: It’s a part of Hill County life John Kelleher jkelleher@havredailynews.com During the old days, things were a little bit different at the Great Northern Fair.

More attention was paid to 4-H exhibits involving household projects — sewing cooking and baking. Projects such as robotics had never been thought of.

There were a bunch of old buildings used as exhibit halls. They have been demolished to make way for the Bigger Better Barn.

B u t ove r t h e ye a r s, t h i n g s h ave remained largely the same — especially the spirit of the fair.

It’s a place where the whole family can enjoy a wholesome atmosphere and fun, said Alma Seidel, who will be attending her 48th fair this year. That’s almost half of the 102 fairs that have been held since it was founded in 1912.

“You see people you never see anywhere else,” said Seidel. “And you won’t see them again until next fair.”

When he was a youngster, Solomon took part in 4-H activities, showing his animals.

He doesn’t remember doing very well at winning ribbons, but he still sees some of the friends that he saw when he was young.

“It’s a place where you meet up with old friends,” said Tim Solomon, who attended the fair as a child and, today, is the fair manager.

The gathering of people from far-flung parts of the county is one of the real services the fair provides to the community, Solomon said.

People get together with friends, enjoy the activities, listen to the music and go off their diets, eating the fair food.

“It gives community groups a great opportunity to raise funds,” he said.

Group’s ranging from Havre Jaycees to Hill County 4-H sell food or hold special events, he said.

This year there will be a special concert to raise money for the new Chuckwagon.

Solomon recalled getting his initiation into public service by selling food at the Chuckwagon when he was in 4-H. The Great Northern Fair is still doing well, he said.

The number of visitors keeps rising.

Groups keep raising money, and folks have fun.

“Some of the smaller fairs in Montana are having a hard time in the changing landscape, he said.

It’s getting harder for people to find carnival rides willing to come to small

Havre Daily News/File photo J Mackmer smiles at the judge after riding in the Western level 2 horse exhibit at the 2013 Great Northern Fair in the Bigger Better Barn.

General 4-H rules

Reid Friede steers a race car on a carnival ride at the 2013 Great Northern Fair. fairs.

This year, the Blaine County Fair will have carnival rides, he said, though it didn’t last year.

And the Shelby fair has pretty much thrown in the towel when it comes to rides, he said.

“They will still have the exhibits but no rides,” he said.

The fair provides a sense of continuity in the community, Seidel said.

She sees the third generation of 4-H’ers presenting projects today.

The Miller family in Gildford has a picture of their grandmother winning a tro-

phy at the fair nearly 100 years ago, at one of the first fairs. Along with the trophy for the best exhibit, she won $50, a sum that must have been real money in the 1910s, Seidel said.

Pictures from the old fairs remain treasures in many families, she said. Pictures of young people with their projects have survived up to 80 years, she said.

She’s afraid that with today’s technology, there may not be as many of today’s pictures in the next century.

People are taking more pictures on smartphones, she said. But she’s afraid they will be lost as new forms of technolo-

Havre Daily News/File photo gy develop.

But there are advantages to today’s technology.

The fair has always been a place where you take the family and every member can go their own way. Parents can feel safe that nothing will happen to the kids.

Her family would disperse, she recalled, and they’d agree to meet at a certain time and a certain place.

Almost always, at least one person didn’t show up at the appointed time, she said. A search party would be sent out.

“Today there are cellphones,” she said.

Problem solved.

Here are the general 4-H rules that guide participants in the various 4-H competitions.

• Cloverbuds are any members who are 5-8 years old by Oct. 1 of the current 4-H year and enrolled as a Cloverbud.

• Junior Members are any members who are 8-13 years old by Oct. 1 of the current year and are not enrolled as a Cloverbud member.

• Senior Members are any members who are 14-18 years old by Oct. 1 of the current 4-H year.

• In order to be eligible to exhibit in the 4-H portion of the Great Northern Fair, exhibitors must be members of a Hill County 4-H Club and must be enrolled in the project area in which the exhibit is entered.

• There are no entry fees for nonanimal project exhibits. (Animal Science Rules for Market and Small Animals has the list of fees.)

• All items need to have been completed by the exhibitor during the current 4-H year.

• Entries may not be exhibited in more than one class and lot unless noted otherwise.

• Individual exhibitors may enter only one (1) exhibit per lot number.

• Fair Entry Forms are due June 23 by 5 p.m. No late entries will be accepted.

All Interview Exhibits will be displayed in the 4-H Exhibit Buildings in the areas assigned to each club. If a youth elects not to display an entry at the fair they may be forfeiting premium moneys.

Interview Day Exhibits may not be removed from the Exhibit buildings before 4:30 p.m.

Sunday of the fair. If exhibits are removed prior to Sunday the premium money will be withheld.

All exhibitors are responsible for picking up their own exhibits.

The Great Northern Fair or sponsoring 4-H organization will not be responsible for the loss or damage of any exhibit either during the fair or while such is en route to or from the fair.

The Danish Group Award System will be used for judging of exhibits in all 4-H Department divisions. Under this system, all exhibits will be placed in either a blue, red or white ribbon group.

Job interview attire is the recommended dress code for interview day.

Decisions of the judges are final.

Project books may be brought to the interviews as supplemental materials but may not be used as an exhibit.

Ribbon premiums will be given on all interview day exhibits Members are responsible for handing in their Individual Judging Sheet after the Interview judging. If members fail to turn in their judging sheet at the end of interviews they have until Thursday 4 p.m. After that time the sheets will not be accepted and members will forfeit any premium money.

Ribbon Premium will not be paid on market animal and showmanship classes.

Ribbon Premiums: Blue, $3; Red, $2; White, $1; Cloverbuds, $1.

Havre Daily News/File photo Bryn Lien, right, smiles as she completes a 4-H interview about sheep.

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2014

July 2014

GREAT NORTHERN FAIR

www.havredailynews.com