Let the festivities begin

Alice Campbell Havre Daily News [email protected]

Back for a 29th year, Havre Festival Days offers a full slate of activities for family fun this weekend. Events range from a car audio competition and a quilting show to a softball tournament, a demolition derby and area school sporting events. Plenty of homemade crafts and goodies will be available, too. Favorites like the parade and pancake feed are back for another round. Mugs and pins are for sale to provide discounts to festival goers. Mugs are available for $6 each at Murphy's Pub, Dairy Queen, PJ's, 15 West Bar & Eatery, McLean's Grocery, Maui Nights Casino, Yummy Yogurt, Boxcars, the Golden Spike, Crystal City Casino, Hi-Line Gold Casino and the Eagles Club. People who work up a thirst traveling to the different events can fill their mugs with draft beers for 50 cents at participating taverns. The Friends of the Library Book Sale, already opened Thursday, continues through the weekend, with every imaginable genre of books available for basement prices, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The books have been collected throughout the year from donations and also from books withdrawn from the Havre-Hill County Public Library. Proceeds will help support library programs. Standard barbecue favorites will be dished out tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. at the VFW Club parking lot, free of charge. Food Art Judging from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Atrium Mall today and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday will show off people's creativity with non perishable food items. Festival goers can purchase tickets to vote for their Favorite sculptures for $1 each. The Hi-Line Quilt Guild Festival of Quilts Show opens at noon. Vibrantly colored and patterned quilts will remain on display until 6 p.m. tonight. The show also is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. During the show, raffle tickets costing $1 each or $5 for six will be sold for a chance at a “Dressed to the Nines” quilt. Proceeds will be donated to the Havre Community Food Bank. A quilt-themed flea market will be held during the show, and vendors will sell goods. An “I Spy” challenge also will be held, with a mall gift certificate given as the prize. During the Commercial Products & Craft Show, people can browse handmade items from vendors from across Montana. Items include jewelry, quilts, blankets, pottery, wood crafts, dried floral arrangements, soaps, candles, books, coffee, jams and jellies. The show opens at the Great Northern Fairgrounds today at 2 p.m. and runs until 7 p.m., opening again from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Beginning at 6 p.m. today, softball fans can view 48 hours of action at the 6th Avenue Ball Park. Sixteen teams are on the roster for this year's tournament, including some from Havre. Round-robin games begin at 3:45 a.m. Saturday, and the championship game is set for 4 p.m. Sunday. Concessions will be sold during the games. There is no admission fee. At 7 tonight, people can participate in the Walking to Save a Life event at the clock on Montana State University- Northern's campus. Registration for the walk, sponsored by the Suicide Awareness Council, begins at 6:30 p.m. A $10 registration fee includes a T-shirt, glo-necklace and luminary. People can kick up some dust knowing they're helping raise funds for a good cause duri n g t h e H i - L i n e Ta v e r n Association Band & Dance, beginning at 8 tonight. During the event that will be held at the Havre Ice Dome, the Sliptones will perform a concert featuring various genres of music, from rock n' roll to rhythm-and-blues. A beer garden and concessions will be available during the event. Tickets cost $10 in advance or $12 at the door, with $1 discounts given to people wearing Festival Days buttons. Proceeds will go to benefit the building of a new campground at Beaver Creek Lake. Festival goers can enjoy a pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the VFW Club, Saturday. Proceeds will help fund Kiwanis Club programs like the Key Club leaderhip camps, Camp Kiwanis, the Hi-Line Sletten Cancer Center and the R e t i r e S e n i o r Vo l u n t e e r Program. S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y. Market will be held during its regular hours of 8 a.m. to noon at Town Square. Shoppers can stroll around the small park while deciding what fresh fruits, vegetables and homemade goodies to purchase from area farmers. From 8 am. To 5 p.m. Saturday and again during the same times Sunday, sportsmen can get help sighting in their weapons for hunting season or target practice at the Hill C o u n t y S h o o t i n g S p o r t s Recreation Area during the Havre Rifle & Pistol Club Annual Sight in Days. Spotting scopes, targets and chronographs, along with people to help, will be provided. Range safety wear is preferred, but not required. The annual parade and Pet and Doll Parade is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, beginning at Rod's Drive-In on 5th Avenue and going along 5th Avenue to 1st Street where it will turn west. The route takes another westward turn at 3rd Avenue and ends at 6th Street. A local color guard ensemble will lead the parade, and floats from area businesses and organizations will follow, vying for awards given at the end. Pet and Doll Parade participants will be dressed like a Havre person from the past or present. Kids can enjoy games from noon to 5 p.m. at the Atrium Mall during the Free Kids' Carnival. The Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line Bike-A-Thon, from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the club, offers several events for enjoyment. People can participate in the bike rodeo six competitions make up the event. And memb e r s o f t h e H av r e F i r e Department and Havre Police Department will compete in the Battle of the Badges obstacle course. Re g i s t r a t i o n fo r t h e Summer Sound Challenge at 6 p.m. begins at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Independence Bank parking lot. The competition gives audio and car fanatics from Montana, and even out-of-state, a chance to show off their sound systems and vehicles. Door prizes are given in addition to prizes for the best and loudest stereo systems. A banquet to recognize area agriculture producers and advocates will begin with a no-host cocktail hour at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Havre Ice Dome, followed by a dinner. Two awards are given during the event: the Outstanding Agriculture Leader Award to recognize someone active in agricultural production and with a record of leadership and the O u t s t a n d i n g A g r i c u l t u r e Advocate Award will be given to a person who has promoted the industry through avenues different from production. A dance for teenagers will be held Saturday from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club. Keystone Club members will act as disc jockeys during the dance from which proceeds will help support the club's activities. Admission is $3 a person or $2 with the donation of a nonperishable food item for the food bank. At 8 a.m. and again at 11 a.m. Sunday, Christ the Lord Clubhouse meetings will be held at First Lutheran Church. In addition to a worship celebration, a game of first-club trivia will be played. Runners and walkers will race on the newly-paved Bill Baltrusch Nature Trail beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday during the Festival Days Run/Walk. Prizes will be given, and proceeds from the run go to the Havre High School boys and girls cross-country program. The start is at the RC Model Flying Club field, which is located beside the trail, south of Havre on 5th Avenue. Take the first left after the Border Patrol Montana Sector Headquarters and turn left at the RC Flying Club sign, just before the bridge. Good, old-fashioned fun awaits people during the St. Ma r k 's Ep i s c o p a l C h u rc h Croquet Tournament and Ice Cream Social. Homemade ice cream, cookies, lemonade and coffee will be served during the event that begins at 1 p.m. Sunday on the church lawn. Registration for the Jaycees Soap Box Derby begins at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, with the first race heat at 1 p.m. Soap box cars will race down Hospital Hill on 13th Street to 5th Avenue for the second year during the festival. Prizes will be given to winners and participants, with several special awards given. Helmets, long sleeves and pants legs and close-toed shoes are required for participation. For a smashing time, head to the E-1 Demolition Derby, set to begin at 3 p.m. in the outdoor arena at the Great Northern Fairgrounds. Heats include a Herby Derby and mini-van round. Electric Ranch will entertain spectators in between heats with live music, and a haystack game with golden coins hidden in it will be set up for youngsters. Admission is $10 a person, and concessions will be sold by the Montana State University- Northern Skylights to help raise money for their program. Local schools will hold sporting events over the course of the weekend as well. Havre High School Blue Ponies are set to clash pads with the Sidney High School Eagles at the Blue Pony Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday. Northern Lights players take on the University of Montana-Western Bulldogs from Dillon at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Blue Pony Stadium. Tonight at 6, Saturday at 8 a.m. and again at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m., Northern's rodeo team will host rodeo competitions at the Great Northern Fairgrounds outdoor arena. Ten schools are expected to attend the competition. The Frank DeRosa Railroad M u s e u m a n d t h e Pa c i f i c Junction Railway Club will present a special showing of trains from the 1940s and 1950s. Donations will be accepted, but there is no admission charge from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.