Fair board putting final details in place

The Sanders County Fair Commission agreed at its monthly meeting last week that they are confident of a successful 2023 fair, which takes place Aug. 31 to Sept. 3.

"It's going to be a great fair this year," said board member Kim McMahon at last Wednesday's meeting at the fairgrounds pavilion, which included Sanders County Commissioners John Holland and Dan Rowan. The fair board, along with Manager Melissa Cady, and 4-H representatives Juli Thurston and Wendy Carr, ironed out a few minor details for the upcoming event.

Fair and 4-H officials recently did a walk-through inspection of the buildings used to house 4-H animals. Randy Woods, the board chairman, said they spent about $2,000 on repairs. He said that this was the first time they did an inspection together before the fair and they plan to do another one right after the fair. Woods said they did the walk through because there had been accusations about past damage. Thurston, the Sanders County 4-H Youth and Extension Agent, who heads the 4-H program, said they might have to house some of the poultry entries in the sheep barn this year. A few birds were caged in the beef barn during last fair, but there are more 4-H beef entries this year.

Other than some painting and numbering of the main arena bleachers and putting up signage throughout the grounds, the fairgrounds are nearly ready. The fair has more than 25 food and drink vendors and nearly 60 commercial vendors lined up this year. Heather Lane, the administrative assistant, said around 50% of the vendors are from Sanders County. Woods said they're trying to get new food vendors every year and they try not to have vendors with the same type of food. He said they're going to have a nice variety and quality fair food products.

The three PRCA rodeos are scheduled for 7 p.m. each night on Thursday, Aug. 31, Friday, Sept. 1, and Saturday, Sept. 2. Woods said they are bringing in some of the top rodeo contestants of the world. "Felix Santana will be our specialty act with his Andalusian stallion ''Romano' and everyone will want to see them during the rodeo," said Cady, who said that every year she hopes the people that attend the fair make great memories. "Come down and walk through, grab lunch and listen to all the local talent perform as well," she added. "I believe Sanders County will have a great fair this year, I'm looking forward to it," said Rowan. The demolition derby takes place on Sunday, Sept. 3, at 5 p.m.

This will be the first time that participants for the children's mutton bustin' contests will need to preregister online, according to Woods, who added they did this to streamline the process and to make it fair for the kids. He said they will take six kids for the mutton bustin' contest each night prior to the rodeo. Parents can sign their kids up for the competition on the Sanders County Fair website. The names will be drawn each night and posted.

"It's going to be a good show again this year. Everything is going to be bigger and better," said Woods, who's been with the fair board since 2018. Woods said things are coming together nicely primarily because the various groups work well together. Cady, Woods and other board members routinely travel to other fairs to get ideas and new vendors, and to promote the Sanders County Fair among the rodeo riders. "There's just too much competition on Labor Day, so we have to be out there promoting the fair and shaking the trees to get bigger and better vendors and riders," said Woods.

The six 4-H clubs will have over 100 animal entries and almost 500 home economic exhibits this year. Carr, Sanders County 4-H Extension Agent and a horse project leader,, said they have all their judges and barn superintendents for the fair lined up. Carr and Shannon Chojnacky, a leader in the Trout Creek Mavericks, have volunteered to share horse barn superintendent responsibilities for the first time. The 4-H kids will be doing their interviews and showmanship throughout the week with the non-animal judging taking place all afternoon, Aug. 31, in the home economics building. The 4-H market sale is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 3. "I'm excited to see the kids exhibit and showcase what they've learned this year," said Thurston.

This will be the second consecutive year that the 4-H dog show will not be held at the fairgrounds at fair time. Carr said that it's too distracting for the dogs. They held the competition after the fair last year. It's scheduled this year for Sunday, Aug. 27, from 6-9 p.m. at Bailee Patten's P3 Dog Training facility in Trout Creek. Carr said they'll be conducting the Ranch Horse competition after the fair at a ranch in Hot Springs.

At last week's meeting, the board talked about a request from Commissioner Tony Cox on speeding up the payment process and getting companies that do business with the fair paid faster. With the board meeting only once a month, they made the decision to give Cady the authority to approve payment and the board would review the paperwork at the next meeting. Cady said there's not a problem for most companies, but they would like to get the smaller contractors paid quicker.

The board also voted unanimously to hire Smith Electric of Thompson Falls to replace the aging lighting system in the main arena. Smith was one of two bidders for the project, which wouldn't be started until next spring. Slatercom Lighting Solutions of Salem, Ore., placed a bid of $114,870. The bid from Smith Electric was $62,631. Woods stated that not only was Smith less costly, he felt that he's already familiar with the arena light system and because he's local, he would be quicker to respond to problems.

"If we have a transformer go down in the electrical building, we don't have any light," said Woods. "If we lose the transformer then we're just done completely because that's all obsolete," said Woods, who believes the present system was installed some 60 years ago and they can't find replacement bulbs.