Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
The Great Northern Fair is again set to tempt patrons with a week of their favorite food, carnival rides, entertainment, and agricultural and crafting displays and competitions. The fair is slated for mid-July, with 4-H interviews and entry day for open class exhibits set for July 17, the midway, judging and the first entertainment starting July 18 and activities running through July 22. Parking at and admission to the fairgrounds is free. The carnival this year will be put on by Royal West Amusements, which had been a standard attraction at the Hill County fair in decades past and returned last year after missing the fair for about 10 years. The price for ride tickets at the fair will be $25 for a hand stamp good for one full day of rides, 10 tickets for $14 or single tickets for $1.50. Rides require one to three tickets. Advance all-day tickets are available for $15 at the office at the fairgrounds and at Gary & Leo’s Fresh Foods in Havre through July 18 or until supplies run out. People also have the opportunity to pay $15 for an all-day pass at the fairgrounds ticket booths on one day only, July 18. The carnival will be open from noon to midnight on July 18 and July 21, open from 2 p.m. to midnight July 19-20, and open from 2 to 11 p.m. July 22. The grandstand entertainment also starts July 18 with the Junior Rodeo slated to start at 5 p.m. Tickets for the rodeo all tickets are available at the gates or in advance at the fair office on the southwest edge of the midway cost $3. There is no grandstand entertainment scheduled for July 19, but the rodeo action picks up again on July 20 with the Great Northern Stampede, a National Rodeo Association event, scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tickets for the pro rodeo cost $7. On July 21 people can see two related events in the grandstand for one price, with a local truck pull scheduled for 1 p.m. and the professional Pro-West Truck Pull slated for 7 p.m. Tickets, which gain their owners admission to both events, cost $10. Sunday once again holds a highlight of the Great Northern Fair the Havre Jaycees Demolition Derby. The derby is set to start at 5 p.m. and will run until the last car is still running. Tickets for that crash’em-bash’em event are going for $10, $12 for reserve seating. The free stage at the fairgrounds will also hold a special event this year: The Wild World of Animals, an educational program scheduled to run three times a day from 2 to 7 p.m. July 20-22, with live animals including an alligator and a leopard scheduled to be part of the show. The 4-H activities will be running throughout the entire fair. After the interviews July 17, horse judging and showmanship starts at noon on July 18; the 4-H exhibits open at 1 p.m. and the Chuckwagon opens at 4 p.m. Market animal weigh-ins start at 7 a.m. July 19, and the 4-H queen and teen will be crowned at 11 a.m. The candidates for teen this year are Brad Duncan of Joplin, 16, representing the Chirping Meadowlarks 4-H Club and Taylor Springer of Kremlin, 16, representing the Kremlin Hawks Club. The sole candidate for 4-H queen this year is Casandra Springer of Kremlin, 15, also representing the Kremlin Hawks. The 4-H animal showmanship events continue through the fair, with cat, pocket pet, rabbit andPoultry scheduled throughout the day on July 19; beef and dog scheduled for July 20 and swine, sheep and a round-robin scheduled for July 21. A showmanship workshop is slated for 6 p.m. on July 19, and the 4-H market livestock sale will start at 1 p.m. July 22 in the Bigger Better Barn. The exhibit buildings open at 1 p.m. July 18, and open at noon through the rest of the fair. The food booths, used by local groups for fundraising, are open from noon to midnight July 18-21 and from noon to the 11 p.m. closing of the fair on July 22. People will once again be able to sample their favorite fair food, from scones to pronto pups; from Vikings, a meatball on a stick, to their favorite burgers grilled by members of local service groups, clubs or other organizations.
