Two feet of snow on the ground and temperatures in the teens seems to be a good time to start planning for warm weather events.

Members of the Plains Business Association gathered at Dog Hill Bistro last Thursday to begin planning efforts for the annual festival of Plains Days. Matt Jaramillo, owner of Big Sky Network in Plains volunteered to be the director of the festival this year. Jaramillo moved from Texas to Plains six years ago and has put on four large events in the Lone Star State, including two beach festivals and a technology festival in the Houston Astrodome. Jaramillo believes Plains Days is important for the town and doesn't want to see it go away. He also said it's good for tourism and can bring money into the community. "I want to attract people from outside Plains – this can help stimulate our community," said Jaramillo, whose goal for the festival is to combine some of the traditional events with new ones. The new event director has come up with "Space Cowboys" as this year's theme to illustrate old activities meeting new ones.

Eight people attended the first of several meetings to plan for this year's Plains Days, which will take place from Friday, May 31, to Sunday, June 2, and will again include the Plains High School alumni football, basketball and golf competitions, as well as the three-on-three basketball tournament at Amundson Sports Complex. Erika Lawyer, treasurer of the Plains Business Association (PBA), said they had 47 teams in 2018 and hopes to get 60 this year.

The group used last year's schedule as a base for the 2019 festival and is making minor modifcations of some of the activities. Saturday begins again with the Mason Pancake Breakfast, but the run that started at 8 a.m. might be a little later in the day. Rocky Mountain Bank's Ice Cream Social and Turtle Races will be at their normal times of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The parade is again slated for 10 a.m., but will move back from Lynch Street to Railroad Street because there's more standing and parking room for spectators.

Steve Spurr, vice president of the Plains Lions Club, said they will again be hosting the children's games and teaming with the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District to have a dunk tank, which Spurr said was a big draw last year. He said the longest line was to dunk Plains Elementary School Principal Jim Holland. Spurr also noted that the club will hold a watermelon-eating contest, but will schedule it immediately after the parade. Plains Days will again feature the car show put on by Rehbein Ford on the greenway, along with an assortment of vendors. Jaramillo said he's looking to bring in some different food vendors for more variety.

Jaramillo wants to try some new events this year, such as having a drone obstacle course contest, having the Clark Fork Flyers radio control airplane club fly their machines down main street over the parade, and possibly having a Montana Department of Natural Resources helicopter on display on the greenway. He'd also like to move the community dance, usually hosted by the Ryan Family at the community pool park, over to the lawn of MT West Dentist, and have the potluck dinner at the VFW. In addition, he'd like to see the drive-in movie done at the dentist's lawn. "I want to make everything as close as possible so people don't have to get in their cars to a different location," said Jaramillo. "If it's more centralized, the activity level is higher."

Jaramillo also wants to bring back usage of the old Plains Jail to "arrest" people throughout the day, although people would be able to buy get-out-of-jail-free cards. Profits could be split between the town and the PBA. The group plans to hold another meeting on March 14 at 6 p.m. at Dog Hill Bistro.