Krista Corner Havre Daily News kcorner@havredailynews.com
A group of antique-lovers are planning to host an antique show in Havre in June. Volunteers are needed to help organize the event. The North Central Montana Antique Enthusiasts, a recently formed group of locals, are coordinating “The Northern Montana Antique Show,” which will be held at the Northern Montana Fairgrounds June 6 through 8. Charlie Inman of Havre said the idea was born during a trip to South Dakota. “I collect and restore Stickney antique engines,” he said. “My wife and I travel around the county to engine shows and car shows, and (since) there isn’t a lot of Stickney engines around, the people that have them stick together. There’s sort of a gathering every year this year we were down in South Dakota and we just asked around, If we had this thing in Havre, how many would be inerested in coming?’ Almost everyone said yes.” After Inman and his wife decided it would be possible, they started the ball rolling and friends, Rich and Sharon Skyberg and Mark Weston, joined in on the innovation. “Mark Weston he likes the old engines he talked to me quite a while ago about putting on an engine show in conjunction with Festival Days, but it never happened,” Inman said. “When he heard about (this show) he was anxious to get involved and Rich Skyberg and his wife Sharon were anxious to get invlved, also. Sharon is a collector of antique household stuff.” Inman said the first order of business was to find a place big enough to hold the event, that wouldn’t cost alot to rent. “We talked to the fairgrounds and decided just Stickney engines wouldn’t be enough (to put on a good show),” he said. “A few other people, thought we ought to have a bigger show.” The group collectively decided not to limit the type of antiques to be showcased during the event. Some of what they hope to see are antique cars, tractors, household items and antique tools. While both Weston and Inman said they are ecstatIc to be part of such an historic event, they’re both are well aware there is a lot of work ahead. “As far as we know there’s never been anything like this in Havre before, but it should be a lot of fun,” Inman said, adding that the never-before factor adds some obstacles. “It’s a little hard to do this because we’ve never done it before so we’re going to make a lot of mistakes,” he said. Weston, too, said organizing an event of this caliber can be fun, but painstaking when no previous format exists. “This is the first of its kind in Havre,” he said. “It’s a lot of work to get a club started and get people organized to do this stuff.” They did get a functional Web site right away, thanks to another friend, Marty Robinson, Weston said. They are hoping to recruit a few others interested in helping the group bringing the event together. “We need volunteers to make it happen,” Inman said. “We haven’t figured out how to fund it We’d hate to charge people who want to bring their stuff in. We haven’t figured out a lot of things. We just want to do it.” “We’re hoping to have vendors for food available,” Inman said. The local 4-H group will be invited to provide food and beverages during the event. “We haven’t talked to the 4-H (club) yet, but that’s the group we want to serve food because we want to help that club,” Weston said. “It will be a good fundraiser for them.” Though the event is in the very early planning stages, dates were set early so people coming from far away could arrange ftheir vacation times, Inman said. “The people from Minnesota already have motel reservations,” he said. Other are expected from Canada, Washington and Colorado. “It should bring a few dollars into the community,” Inman said. “That’s not the reason we were doing this, but it will bring in some money.” The group has been busy, too, spreading the word to interested parties for submissions. “We’re looking for more people that want to display items,” Weston said. “There’s no charge to bring (an antique), we just want to know what’s coming, so let us know. I’ve contacted the antique car and tractor clubs in Lewistown, and they’re planning on bringing some people.” “With the people we’ve talked to, the response is really good,” Inman added. In addition to bringing in antiques, Weston said he is inviting people who might be interested in viewing the treasures at the three-day event. “The Eagle’s manor we’re working on to bring a van up,” he said. “I called the Sweet Memorial nursing home in Chinook and they are excited to see some of this stuff.” Weston said he will have an old tractor, some stationery engines and a couple of toy collections, including Tonkas, available for viewing at the show. Inman plans to bring all of his Stickney engines and Sharon Skyberg plans to display an entire antique kitchen. For more information, to help or to enter a submission, go to ncmantiqueenthusiasts. Com or call Charlie Inman at 265-4757, Mark Weston at 265- 3489 or the Skybergs at 265-5361.
