Great Northern Fair starts this week

The 100-year-old county fair starts this week in Havre, with something old and something new for people who attend the annual festivities.

“It’s a year of changes,” fairgrounds manager Tim Solomon said.

For a full preview of the fair, see the special section inserted in today’s edition of the Havre Daily News.

With the exit of a longtime attraction at the fair, the local and professional truck pull, some events have moved to new days and an attraction new to the Hill County fair has been brought in.

Along with the new events, something that has been missing at the fair for many years is coming back, with the rodeo association sponsoring a concert in the arena after Saturday’s competition, and the Havre Youth Baseball Association and a local business bringing in a local band the night before.

Northstar Dodge is sponsoring a performance of Milk River Band in the baseball association-run beer gardens Friday night.

Kelly Compton of the baseball association said, with the sponsorship, people can watch and listen to the local favorite perform country music with no admission charge while they are in the beer garden, one of the main fundraisers for the association..

The concert Saturday, with tickets sold separately or in a package with the rodeo tickets, brings in a crossover band II Amendment from Eden, Utah. The six-member band describes itself as playing covers and originals ranging from country to rock, electronic to pop music, with band members listing influences ranging from Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum to Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.

With the professional Northern Rodeo Association-endorsed rodeo moving to Friday and Saturday and the Junior Rodeo moving into the Thursday slot, the Great Northern Fair is bringing a new attraction for Wednesday, but it's one that is well-established and a favorite at other local fairs.

People can go to pig wrestling Wednesday night in the Bigger Better Barn.

A longtime favorite at the Great Northern Fair, the annual Jaycees Demolition Derby, stays in its Sunday slot, wrapping up the main-event attractions this year.

The free stage and wandering performers also bring something old and something new, with Pippi the Clown returning to the Hill County fair after several years in absence, and new-to-Hill County ventriloquist and entertainer Jim Adams also performing.

Many longstanding attractions, including the full range of 4-H displays, events and competitions, and the local open and school exhibits, also will be back at the fair.

Solomon said many old favorites also will be back with the food vendors, along with some new attractions as well, and the same is true in the commercial building.

And while the carnival again will be at the midway of the fair, from Wednesday through Sunday, that also will have a new slant.

The fair board contracted with Brown’s Amusements to provide this year’s carnival, the first year that company has worked in Montana.