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by Ledger Staff

More is more in the case of the 2023 Huckleberry Festival. There were more parade floats, more vendors and more visitors than ever before as the 43rd annual festival took over the Trout Creek Park last Saturday and Sunday.

"Phenomenally, this is the best festival to date," said festival chairperson Elizabeth Haagenson. "We love to keep the people happy and we love this laid-back small-town fest."

Carrie Greene is the volunteer in charge of vendors for the festival. She said more than 100 vendors attended the two-day festival. Valerie Zlendick was back with her flavorful seasoned pretzels. During the parade on Saturday, Zlendick walked Highway 200, giving visitors free samples of her Z-Best Pretzels. Crafters had jewelry, pottery, dog treats, paintings and other decor, quilts and other wares.

Several of the regular food booths were back as well. The Huckleberry Festival itself sells milkshakes, cheesecake and other huckleberry delights. By Sunday afternoon, they were out of cheesecake and milkshakes. Trout Creek Community Improvement Association volunteers scooped gallons and gallons of huckleberry ice cream, selling cones and dishes of the treat. Liz Stender with TCCIA said as of Sunday afternoon they had scooped and sold more than 150 gallons of ice cream. Stender said it's the first time in 12 years that she has been involved with TCCIA that they have sold more than 50 three-gallon containers of huckleberry ice cream.

Another popular item this year was garments adorned with the 43rd annual festival logo. Sunday afternoon, there were just a few shirts left over from previous festivals on the clothing racks. They started with nearly 450 shirts.

Making its debut appearance at the festival this year was "Huck L. Berry," a new mascot for Trout Creek's festival Committee volunteercrafted stuffed Huck L. Berry toys that were sold, and volunteers donned a costume to ride in the parade and stroll the festival grounds, stopping to take photos with visitors.

The Trout Creek Rural Fire Department held its traditional huckleberry pancake fundraiser. From 7 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, volunteers served 1,286 breakfasts. The recipe for a successful breakfast hasn't changed much in the more than 40 years the firemen have cooked it. Thousands of huckleberry pancakes, sliced ham and scrambled eggs, complete with coffee and Tang, was served. There was a line out the door to the fire hall when doors opened at 7 a.m., and for much of the morning the line stretched back to Highway 200.

The parade kicked off at 11 a.m., drawing the biggest crowd as visitors lined up along Highway 200 throughout Trout Creek. The Cabinet Ridge Riders won for best parade entry. The group each year decorates ATVs of all sizes in all things purple for the parade. Justin and Andi Holmes of Thompson Falls Family Pharmacy drove their 1916 Packard milk truck. Their staff and family rode in the back wearing matching purple shirts.

Noxon artist Barbara Mullins served as grand marshal of the parade. Judy Erwin escorted Mullins, waved and smiled at parade goers. The parade had 35 entries and lasted nearly an hour, with hundreds of children scrambling to pick up candy thrown from the entrants.

A highlight of Saturday afternoon at the festival is the annual auction, with the crew from Kevin Hill Auction Service helping raise money for the festival. The auction total was over $9,500, according to organizer Liz Ugorcak. "That's twice the amount of last year, and we had twice the number of bidders this year," she said. Donations were gathered from businesses and individuals throughout the region, and each festival vendor donated an item to the auction. The auction attracted more than 70 bidders, a record for the festival fundraiser. A unit of lumber donated by Thompson River Lumber garnered the highest bid at $700. Rehbein Ford in Plains donated a WeatherTech mystery box filled with gift certificates as well as a custom set of floor mats valued at more than $1,300. That auction item raised $525 for the festival. Pat Hill, wife of auctioneer Kevin Hill, made a huckleberry themed quilt that went for $375. Liz Ugorcak was happy with the turnout at the auction. "The support of the auction this year by our local communities and vendors was phenomenal.We couldn't conduct a successful festival without this support and we are so grateful for everyone's participation," Ugorcak said. "These funds will go a long way toward funding next year's festival activities and maintenance needs." Ugorcak and her fellow volunteers worked for months to gather and organize donations, which filled up a small horse trailer.

"The business donations for the festival have been amazing," added Haagenson, the festival chairperson.

Volunteer Jesse Haagenson coordinated the horseshoe tournament this year. "I'm very happy with how it turned out," he said Sunday as he was preparing to compete in the championship match. "Normally we have between five and eight teams and this year we had 10 teams." While Haagenson's team ended up second in the tournament, following the competition he and other competitors were already making plans for next year's tournament.

On Saturday afternoon, the traditional pie eating contest was held. The kids went first, followed by the women and then the men. The winner of the women's competition finished in an amazing three minutes. The men's winner hailed from New York and was able to knock out the previous champion from the last two years. For the first time ever, the ladies champion and the men's champion competed for the title of grand champion. The ladies champion won by finishing her quarter of a pie at lightning speed once again.

This year's festival also saw a couple of new featured activities including axe throwing and a dunk tank. Both were attended very well by festival goers. Dog agility demonstrations were also back at the festival this year.

Honey venders from Libby showed up again this year. Angie and Bob McLaury had candles and honey in a variety of forms. "It was a great Saturday. There were good vibes and energy from all the people," Angie McLaury said.

The ladies at the What the Craft booth were from Libby and Troy. They enjoyed spending their weekend together. The booth had crafts made by Ruth MacPherson, daughter Stephanie Munts and daughter in-law Jessica Munts, as well as friend Jane Smook. They had knitting, wire art, resin art, lotions and quilting.

Sunday morning's festival began with the Trout Creek Community Church members taking the stage. Kathy Laurence was on the keyboard, Justin Frank lead vocals, Sheldon Frank played guitar, Debbie Parsons and Laura Howard did vocals, Pastor Dustin Albright played the drum and Zack Sears also played the guitar. They had people from the audience join in.

Also taking the stage on Sunday was guitar player LG Olver from the Seattle area. Some of the songs he played were from Chris Issaks and older songs such as Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding, along with some of his own. People wandered in and out of the music area listening to his deep mellow sound. Later Trout Creek native Debbie Metz had her time on stage. She sang and played guitar as well. Metz's music was more country and folkish. She drew a crowd with her energetic style.

Huckleberry treats were highlighted during the annual dessert and jam and jelly competitions. Gina Skoczylas and her huckleberry/raspberry jam won first place in the jams and jellies competition, with Lydia Swartzentruber taking second place with her huckleberry jam.

In the dessert competition, Paisley Huntsman won the junior division with her huckleberry cupcakes with a light, whipped huckleberry frosting. In the senior division, the winner was a huckleberry angel food cake with an accompanying sauce baked by Emily Sexton of Em's Cafe in Plains. Sophia LaFriniere-Thornhill took second with her homemade huckleberry crumb bars. This year's judges were Paul Vines, Maggie Heater and David Marich.

Shannon Brown

On Sunday, members of Trout Creek Community Church led worship during the festival church service.

The Noxon High School Pep Band gave a lively ending to the musical portion of the festival. Led by music teacher Sari MacArthur, the band consisted of Ian Brown and Finn Duffy on trumpet, Jazmyn Ivie on clarinet, Teagan Summers, baritone saxophone and electric guitar, Zack Storaasli on drums, Michael Byrd as guitarist, and Sam Christensen on clarinet and bass guitar. Fletcher Segura and Braun Parrish played the alto saxophone. MacArthur played the tenor saxophone and Isha McKell played the marimba.

Volunteer Paul Vaughn was the ice cream scooper for many people hungry for the cool huckleberry delight. Stephanie Simkins from Missoula bought cones for her young ones that Vaughn had just scooped. "The festival is lots of fun. We come every year," said Stephanie Simkins of Missoula, who bought ice cream cones for daughters Blake, 1 and Stevie, 3, to enjoy. A friend, Evie Stroot, 7, from Superior was with them.

Annie Wooden, Preston Wenz and Shannon Brown contributed to this article.