Havre people made Havre Festival Days great

Where does one begin to say thank you for making Havre Festival Days such a great weekend. The weekend's success would not have happened without the continued support from the many volunteers and the willingness of many different community organizations coming together on this third weekend in September to throw a community celebration for all to enjoy. It truly takes a community to make Havre Festival Days.

Debbie Vandeberg

It takes partners such as Montana State University-Northern who was our Festival Days sponsor again this year.

People were everywhere — from the opening events and activities on Friday to the final event on Sunday, there was truly something for everyone. The achievement of the weekend goes to the groups that organized and hosted the long list of activities that filled the weekend's schedule: from the Kiwanis Pancake Day, to the Festival run/walk, the barbecue competition, the book sale, the quilt show, the demolition derby, the 48-hour softball tournament and the car audio fights. Thank you to all of you for your time and commitment.

It was so exciting to see the energy placed into the building of the floats marking the 100th anniversary of Hill County. Thank you to all who contributed to the success of the parade through participation and to the community for coming out in force to support the parade. Congratulations to Bullhook Blossoms Garden Club for best non-commercial honors, to Walmart for being selected the best commercial float and North Star Dance Studio for winning the Mayor's Choice Award.

As I noted earlier, it takes the whole community to accomplish the weekend. And the thank-yous start with Tony Vigliotti and Kathy and Mike Palmer for their guidance with the parade line, and the awesome support crew of Shauna Albrecht, Julie Holt, Cindy Knudson, Kaylee Woodwick, Sharon Caven, Andy Carlson, Craig Mueller, Jacob and Lindsay Lorang, Christen Obresley and Dominique Preputin.

The Festival Craft and Commercial Products show was a sell out and a huge success under the volunteer leadership of Gerry Dolven. The show had several new vendors. Thank you, Gerry, for your commitment to the continued success of the craft show.

Many enjoyed the music of the South Alberta Pipe and Drum Band during the parade as they celebrated 100 years as an organized pipe and drum band. The band also entertained many on Saturday afternoon at the Atrium and during the evening as they made their traditional "tavern crawl." Thanks to the Havre Lions Club for their sponsorship of the band and keeping this wonderful tradition alive.

The commemorative buttons and mugs were again a hit! Thanks to all Chamber member businesses that participated and supported the Festival Days mug and button promotions. The Chamber drew six numbers a day for the week of Festival Days and the winners received either a Chamber gift certificate or a Festival Days mug. To date we have 10 lucky winners.

Getting the word out is always the key to a successful event, and we thank the radio and the newspaper for giving Festival Days weekend such great coverage.

To the Crystal City Casino and Creative Leisure, thank you for sponsoring the Festival Day's flyer with the weekend's schedule of events.

I venture to say every event in our community is supported or sponsored by private business. They are certainly responsible for the success of this Chamber event and all of our events and projects. We are extremely grateful for the ongoing support of our members.

Thank you! City department heads — police and fire departments and the MDT — for all of your help and support. The support you give the Chamber for Festival Days and throughout the year is unsurpassed.

The Chamber's Agribusiness Committee hosted their 17th Annual Ag Appreciation Banquet Saturday evening of Festival Days. The banquet was attended by more than 400 farmers, ranchers and ag producers and businesses. Thanks to all who donated to the banquet. Funds from the banquet support agriculture scholarships at Northern. Thank you to the businesses that sponsored tickets, door prizes and auction items.

The Saturday Market wrapped up on Saturday after a grand summer. The market grew to 42 vendors with an average of 38 each weekend. Thank you to all vendors who made the market a fun place to shop and to the community for supporting the market. See you next summer.

Many compliments have been received with regards to the weekend and that's because many people jumped in and helped. When a request or a need developed, someone was there to help. As you can see, events like Havre Festival Days don't just happen.

(Debbie Vandeberg is executive director of the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce.)