Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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The Sanders County Fairgrounds manager plans to make this year's Independence Day a big bash and the evening a bit more bright. Manager Kristy Sheehan announced at last Wednesday's monthly fair board meeting that she has a lot of festivities planned for the fairgrounds first annual "Freedom Festival" starting at noon for the Fourth of July celebration, including fireworks at dusk. Sheehan and her new administrative assistant, Rachel Largent, have scheduled kids' games, pony rides, a bouncy...
The Town of Plains was denied a request for an $87,000 grant that would have enlarged the volunteer fire department building and given the firefighters more space. Town officials were recently notified that the application did not follow the grant requirements, but that they could try again. "We got word about two weeks ago that our project was rejected because the grant was only for maintenance and repair of existing buildings, so the plans to add on with new construction was outside the scope...
Plains Day was extended beyond the town limits this year and went on for a second day with the Sanders County Fairgrounds "First Annual Plains Day Events" of team roping and barrel racing. Chip VonHeeder, formerly of Plains, and Jolene Burke, a Plains resident, held rodeo events on Saturday's Plains Day and Sunday, and the Kelly Hughes Band provided musical entertainment on Saturday night. It was the first time for Burke and VonHeeder to utilize the fairgrounds arena for their competitions....
Seventeen vendors participated in the first Plains Farmers Market at the Fred Young Park Friday, drawing a constant flow of people throughout the evening. "It was a pretty good turnout for the first one," said Linda Wilson, one of the coordinators for the seasonal event, which had a variety of goods - clothing, jewelry, eggs, fruit, vegetables, lavender, herbs, bath products, and jams and jellies. Wilson said they had six first-timers, including Amish bakers Reuben and Martha Yoder of Plains,...
The Town of Plains might have tripled in size Saturday as people flooded in to Plains Day for its annual festival, which took place along Railroad Street, the greenway, at Fred Young Park, the lawn of MT West Dentist, and at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Park. Plains Day this year was again sponsored by the nonprofit organization the Free Americans and coordinated by Blair Blizzard, who introduced new activities and brought back an old favorite, along with traditional ones. Its theme this year was "...
Despite rumors that this would be the last Plains Day festival for the Ryan Family to put on their special potluck activity at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Park, it looks as though it will continue. "It's a great community event that brings people out to have fun," said Jake Ryan of Plains. "It lets kids have a good time the whole evening and that memory will be with them the rest of their lives," he said. Each year, more than a dozen members of the Ryan clan sponsor a potluck, dance and limbo...
The Plains Day parade this year was one of the biggest in recent years with a wide variety of units from a single person to large groups on floats. Mary Halling, the parade coordinator for the fourth year, had 50 registered entries, but believes there were about 20 additional units that did not register, but participated, such as the dozen emergency medical services vehicles - including Smokey Bear - and the Horse Plains VFW Post 3596 color guard, which led the parade. The parade lasted nearly...
The Paradise Center's newest roundhouse opened for the public on Saturday with artifacts continuing to be moved into the building. Volunteers moved an antique velocipede into the mini roundhouse last Wednesday for the Treating Plant bay of the roundhouse. It took several people - Gary Sanks, Jacqueline Colyer, Keegan Hall, Douglas Wilks, and Dave Colyer - to move the 150-pound velocipede from the center's auditorium to its new home in the roundhouse. The velocipede was donated by Charles "Ole"...
It was a bitter disappointment for the Plains High School alumni basketball players, who had the lead against the students until the last three minutes of the game when the Spanish foreign exchange student hit his mark. It was the 5th Annual Alumni Basketball Game in the Plains High School gymnasium Friday evening with a crowd of nearly 75 fans. The alumni team consisted of only nine players from 19-year-old Jayden Weeks of the Class of 2023 to 44-year-old J.J Blood of the Class of 1998. "It is...
It was the final sporting event of the season for Plains School and the kids showed their competitive spunk throughout the day. Nearly 200 students from kindergarten to fifth grade took part in the annual Plains Elementary School Track & Field Day, which included 13 running and throwing events and two activity stations - the parachute game and flag tag - to keep kids busy instead of waiting for openings at the other stations. Teachers, paraprofessionals, title one staff members, and junior high...
People had their three-day weekend with their family picnics and leisure activities, but Horse Plains VFW Post 3596 wants people to know the true reason for the observance - paying tribute to the sacrifice of members of America's armed forces. "As long as two comrades survive – so long will the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States render tribute to our heroic dead. On this day, forever separated from our heroic dead, we are assembled once again to express sincere reverence," said Ron Ki...
It took 13 years of studying, reading, writing, figuring, and testing, but as of Sunday, they are free of high school, although for most of the graduates, the grind of learning continues, and it was a special graduation for a student who missed his time on the stage 52 years ago. Plains High School counselor Tyrel Allen presented Patrick Cleveland with the diploma he should have received in 1972. Cleveland needed only three credits and was only months short of graduation when he quit and enliste...
High school graduation was a historical event for the 24 students who received their diplomas from Plains High School last week, but it was also a different kind of history for graduate Brenden Vanderwall. The 17-year-old Vanderwall is the last student that left Paradise Elementary School before it closed its doors in 2013, when he was merely a first grade student. His older brother, Josiah, attended Paradise School from kindergarten to sixth grade, and older brother Conrad went through the...
A constant chilling rain didn't keep a group of military veterans from recognizing the past service of their fellow comrades in arms by placing an American flag at the gravesites of veterans who have passed away. "I see a lot of names that I knew when they were alive. A lot of good friends here," said Leyland "Butch" Murdock, one of 10 veterans that helped with the flags at Plains Cemetery last Wednesday. Each year, members of Horse Plains VFW Post 3596 place a small U.S. flag at the gravesite...
A Plains man was part of a nationwide observance to remember the lost men and women of the armed forces who gave their lives in the service of their country. Retired Air Force veteran Tom Bushlen participated in "Taps Across America" at the McGowan Grocery parking lot on Memorial Day by playing "Taps" on the euphonium. "I'm doing this to honor the servicemen and servicewomen who sacrificed their lives for our country," said the 74-year-old Bushlen, who served in the Air Force for 17 years, inclu...
Members of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) gathered at Fred Young Park in Plains Saturday to talk about fire prevention and some were doused in the process. "It's important to get the word out about what DNRC can do for the community," said Jase Sorenson, the department's Fire Adaptive Community Coordinator. Some 40 people showed up for the Wildfire Awareness Month Meet & Greet, where 10 DNRC firefighters met with the public. This was the first time that the...
The Plains School gymnasium was packed with family and friends for the Elementary Spring Concert "Good Vibes" last Tuesday. "The students performed exceptionally," said Kevin Meredith, the elementary school principal for the last three years. Meredith guessed that there were more than 450 spectators at the concert, which lasted nearly two hours. Meredith believed there were around 300 people in the second half of the concert to view the upper grades. The concert kicked off with the 29...
Organizers of Plains Beautification Day were happy to see so many volunteers show up for the semiannual cleanup on Saturday. Only a week earlier, they had only about a dozen people signed up to help with the event, but 36 men, women and children showed at the start and they just kept coming throughout the morning capping at 52, including a youth group from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Plains. "We had way more people show up than we thought. I was pleasantly surprised,"...
More than 200 young cowboys and cowgirls converged on the Sanders County Fairgrounds last weekend to show their meddle on horseback for the Montana High School Association rodeo competition, including a handful of local youth. Three Thompson Falls and two Hot Springs kids participated in the two-day event put on by the Northwest Montana Rodeo Club of Kalispell. This was the first time the organization has utilized the Sanders County Fairgrounds, according to club official Sue Cheff, who added...
by Ed Moreth An avid model train man donated one of his favorite sets to the Paradise Center's railroad display room and has become the newest member of the Paradise Center Railroad Club. Bill Beck donated a set of three engines and a dozen cars to the Paradise Center on Friday afternoon, when he delivered the set to Mac Hall, who heads the railroad display. Hall built a 22-foot shelf for the set. The 83-year-old Beck bought the set for around $900 some nine years ago, which depicts the...
The annual Plains Day festivities are fast approaching with traditional as well as new activities planned for the June 1 event, once again being sponsored by the Free Americans with Blair Blizzard at the helm. “This Plains Day will be full of fun and off the charts comparatively,” said Blizzard, who helped with coordination efforts last year and is looking forward to putting out a spectacular festival. “That will be my payday, seeing the smiles on peoples faces. That is what spurs me on with the coordinating of it,” said Blizzard. New this ye...
It was a bitter ending of the season for the U15 Clark Fork Soccer Alliance, but that didn't stop the kids from cheering with their coaches at the game's end. The Butte Mining City defeated the Clark Fork Soccer Alliance boys 11-0 at Amundson Sports Complex at Plains on Saturday. Butte had seven wins, four ties and only one loss prior to the start of Saturday's game. The Butte boys were a U16 team and most were taller and bigger than the local players, but that didn't stop the local boys from...
More than 80 people showed up for the Plains High School Exhibition 2024 last Monday to see first hand the talents of the school's art students. "I am definitely so proud of them," said art teacher Kristen Cole, who has put on a student art exhibit nearly every year since starting at the school 31 years ago. "There are some very talented kids doing this," she added. Forty-four students from freshmen to seniors displayed 243 pieces of art in the elementary school gymnasium and Opportunity Room....
A Plains graduate came back home last week to give a free concert at the Paradise Center, where he also attended school for nine years. More than 100 people attended the special piano recital by Moses Swedberg, a professional pianist preparing for a prestigious summer music program in Ochsenhausen, Germany. "It was absolutely astounding," said Kristen Cole, a Plains High School art teacher. "When I saw he was performing, I knew I just had to hear him play again. He was a standout years ago when...
The Plains Town Council last Monday was offered help to apply for a grant to build tourism in a manageable way while another person offered a way to pretty up the town. Council members again tabled two items of old business - a parking violation ordinance and an update and review of the billing of water shutoff - before moving on to new business and committee reports. Plains resident Kim McMahon addressed the council about getting in on a state community tourism grant program that could total...
