Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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There's no way to tell how many people attended the Sanders County Fair, since it's one of the few free admission fairs in the state, but it was wall to wall people Saturday and Sunday. "It's just been wonderful," said Randy Woods, chairman of the Sanders County Fair Commission, who roamed the fairgrounds throughout the week. He wasn't sure how Sunday would pan out after heavy rains hit early in the morning, but once it cleared, people showed up in droves. Woods said they might have had record...
The wildfire season in Sanders County was in like a lion and out like a lamb. The Niarada fire, which started July 30 and burned 20,370 acres, is now listed at 100% contained.The lightning-caused fire burned four structures. The River Road East fire in Paradise as of Tuesday was 54% contained and had burned 17,310 acres. Agencies across Northwest Montana have rescinded fire restrictions. Sanders County Commissioners voted last Wednesday to remove fire restrictions and Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) also reopened access sites. FWP had closed...
On October 6, NorthWestern Energy will begin drawing down the reservoir at the Thompson Falls Hydro Development about 16 feet from the current full-pool level to replace wooden flash boards along the bottom 8.5 feet on the face of the main dam. “The wooden flash boards on the main dam have been in place for about 50 years,” said NorthWestern Energy Hydro Foreman Noel Jacobson. “The boards are leaking water which requires a high level of maintenance and frequent repairs. Replacing the boards will reduce maintenance and make the dam perform more...
Town Pump has announced plans to build a new, larger convenience store and casino in Thompson Falls. The new store will be located on land behind the current Town Pump on a site occupied by the Falls Motel. The project will be open to bids on September 1, 2023, and construction is scheduled to begin in October. Completion is expected in December 2024. "Our team is so excited to watch this new larger store be built," said Town Pump manager Angie Lowe of Thompson Falls. "Town Pump has been a part...
I was a 4-H kid for many years. I was a proud member of the Whitepine Happy Workers. I did photography and sewing and cooking projects, but no animals, even though we raised cattle and had horses at home. When I was a sophomore in high school, something had to give. Between school and work and sports and 4-H, I had to let something go, and I decided to let 4-H go. Several times over the weekend at the Sanders County Fair, I told myself that I should have stayed in 4-H thorugh high school. I couldn't really let school go and I worked at the...
One thing I share with my husband is a strong work ethic. We jokingly tell people that work is our hobby. We enjoy the results of our efforts, and I’m not just referring to the financial aspects. There are also benefits of community involvement, having a purpose for each day and being able to share resources with friends and family as we give back. We have been blessed with being able to see opportunities and follow up on them. But we also have experienced times when opportunities were not p...
9 YEARS AGO • SEPTEMBER, 1933 THOMPSON FALLS WILL CELEBRATE Monument to David Thompson, Explorer, Will Be unveiled Today. Taken from the September 4, 1933 issue of the Spokesman Review, continued from last week: There were no rooms in the hotel (now the Black Bear) for a large crowd had come to the Thompson celebration (the unveiling of the David Thompson monument east of town by the high school turn off). Mrs. Shannon promised to have a room later in the afternoon. "I will leave my grip w...
Ambulance: Thompson Falls 12, Plains 10, Trout Creek 3, Noxon 2, Hot Springs 1. Monday, August 28 Suspicious activity, Trout Creek. Traffic stop, Plains. Traffic stop, Plains. Traffic stop, Plains. Traffic stop, Plains. Traffic stop, Plains. Traffic stop, Plains. Traffic stop, Plains. Report of possible cat theft, Hot Springs. Automated alarm call, Hot Springs. Welfare check, Noxon. Theft, Trout Creek. Traffic stop, Plains. Traffic stop, Plains Theft of cell phone and hand truck, Lonepine. Traffic stop, T. Falls. Traffic complaint, Hot...
Montana Highway Patrol Sean Fisher, 39, day speeding, $120. Timothy Imhoff, 63, seatbelt violation, $20; speeding in restricted zone, $85. Pegg Ganley, 65, speeding in restricted zone, $95. Matthew Bubar, 48, day speeding, $70. Maya Ferris, 18, day speeding, $70. Mathew Crosson, 30, seatbelt violation, $20. Cecil Jevons Jr., 71, seatbelt violation, $20. Cortis Johnson, 23, seatbelt violation, $20. Joshua Lindsey, 47, seatbelt violation, $20. Justin Susic, 47, operating without liability insurance in effect, 2nd offense, $85; seatbelt...
The Sanders County Fair gets revenue from people camping, renting the grounds and buildings, vendors and taxes, but there's also a group of people whose sole purpose is to help monetarily with the fairgrounds, and last week they were back in action in an effort to make the fairgrounds a better place. The Sanders County Fair Foundation, a nonprofit organization that began a dozen years ago, was kept busy running the beer garden for the four-day fair. At last year's fair, the foundation sales...
With the judging for individual animal and showmanship competitions complete, a select group of 4-H members competed in the round robin event on Saturday. The event includes the top showmanship winners for each species trying their best at showing other animals. First up Saturday afternoon was the small animal competition, in which junior and senior 4-H members showed a cat, chicken, rabbit, dog and goat. Judges had the competitors lead the animals, identify parts of the animal and answer...
It was a busy time for poultry barn superintendent Whitney Tanner-Spurr, who had to deal with some 80 birds, including chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, pheasants and 26 newborn chicks as of Saturday afternoon. Gordon Cummings of Ronan was once again the poultry judge, as he has been for the last 17 years. Cummings did things a bit differently this year. He first conducted the poultry interviews for the two seniors and six juniors. Each of the seven girls and one boy took Cummings to his or her...
There were only four competitors in the sheep contest - one senior and three juniors - yet it took more than an hour to get through the showmanship, meat and breeding competitions. Hannah Warnes of the South Side Sparks took the grand champion in the senior division. In the junior class, Ayla Rehbein of the South Side Sparks nabbed grand champion with June while Kyla Warnes took the reserve with SpongeBob. Contestants also included John McNamara and Moriah Champneys, both of the Plains club....
The rain Sunday didn't stop dozens of buyers from placing bids on market animals at the fair. After a soggy start, the weather took a break long enough for Sanders County 4-H and FFA members to parade their animals around the arena one last time. Unique to the fair this year were two turkeys, raised by Kendall and Cooper Spurr. Kendall's turkey got a high bid of $1,500 from Uffda Montana, and Cooper's brought in $825 from Burk Construction. Before auctioneer Kevin Hill opened the bidding for...
Pigs once again dominated the animal kingdom of the 4-H fair with six groups and nearly 40 swine in the barn. After some two hours of judging and in front of a crowd of more than 75 people, Mikiah Cook of the South Side Sparks nabbed the coveted grand champion ribbon in the senior category, followed by Josie Uski of the Hot Springs Future Farmers of America (FFA) taking the reserve champion. The swine competition was divided into three classes, but with a high number of pigs, each class was...
Doug Horner of Noxon said the rabbit barn was full this year with 29 rabbits, including seven from 4-H, but his biggest thrill this year might have been that his daughter, Brianna Horner of the Trout Creek Mavericks took grand champion ribbons in the meat class with Twix and overall with KitKat. The seven 4-H contestants were all juniors this year, including Brianna, who showed Comanche, and will compete in the senior division next year. There was also only one boy, Andrew Frank, of the...
There were only two competitors in the 4-H goat showing this year - Brielle Clarke of the Hot Springs Wranglers and Isabella Buchanan of the Whitepine Happy Workers. Both girls took home grand champion ribbons, Buchanan in the senior division with Nigerian dwarf Daisy, and Clarke with Marley, an Alpine sable. Buchanan took grand champion in the meat class and Clarke the reserve champion. Hannah Booth, who had raised goats for several years and showed them as a 4-H member in California, served...
FOS Promotions' Carnage on the Clark Fork Demolition Derby had another sold out year as 44 drivers over seven heats brought entertainment to Sanders County. The demo derby got kicked off by a few mini drivers in battery powered cars. The first heat had the crowd cheering for 10 cars with the promise of only four making it to the main event of the evening. After the countdown car 44 driven by Brett Andreason of Williston, North Dakota, came out wheels turning going head to head with 7e who had...
The arena at the fairgrounds was roaring Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights with various events in the rodeo. On Saturday, Felix Santana from Utah started the show on his Friesian stallion Zorro carrying the American flag for the national anthem. Santana and Zorro performed several moves to the audience's delight. Later Santana returned to the arena to show his Andilusian stallion dancing around the arena. Bareback riders were few. They kicked up their heels for a show. Trevar McAllister from...
The Sanders County Fair started Thursday morning with the 4-H horse show.. Vendors were up and ready for business early Thursday morning as well. A crowd gathered to watch the 12 young ladies show their horses and what they have accomplished in the last year. Tyrell Burklund from Frenchtown judged and Sydnee Wilson from Trout Creek was ring steward. Also attending were horse barn superintendent Wendy Carr from Plains, barn assistant Shannon Chojnacky and trainer Scooter Reeves from Trout Creek....
"Good boy, good boy, good boy," Josh Ekberg of the Whitepine Happy Workers kept telling "Hank" his polled Hereford during the 4-H junior showmanship beef competition at the Sanders County Fair Saturday morning. Judge Chad Booth even pointed out to the crowd how pleased he was that the 14-year-old was talking with his animal during the competition, which got him a blue ribbon. Ekberg was one of seven in the junior competition and one of 21 to take their 4-H steer intothe arena, which included 14...
The fair rodeo would not be complete without mutton bustin'. Halfway through each event Thursday, Friday and Saturday, youngster gave their best effort to stay on sheep. During Saturday night's rodeo the audience was entertained by the fast-paced event. The sheep were wooly which made it great for hanging on. The sheep were also fast which made it a challenge for the young buckaroos to stay on. All participants received a buckle and bandana from Justin Boots. Beck Jensen placed first and won a...
The small class of 4-H cat presenters was ready with their groomed felines for judge Casey Chenoweth from Trout Creek on Thursday afternoon at the fair. The three participants were John McNamara with his Main Coon, Thomas, Cooper Spurr with her 5-month-old kitten Matilda, and sister Kendall Spurr with her 5-month-old kitten Millie. The kittens are litter mates. In the showmanship portion, the three shared their knowledge by demonstrating what they could do with their felines. They went over the...
The Home Ec building was full Thursday afternoon with fair goers and 4-H members waiting to be interviewed with their projects. The Cloverbud group is for ages 8 and under. Carla Kinzie was the interviewer. She said that she really enjoys the young novices. Her first participant was Michaela Champneys. She had two items to show. "I painted a large mushroom and made a log cabin scene," she said. Her log cabin and accessories were structures made out of wood. Ayla Rehbein age 10 from Plains...
by Annie Wooden In another generation, people stayed in one job forever. In today's workforce, milestones are worth celebrating. Sanders County is celebrating some of its employees who have decided to move on. Last Thursday, the county celebrated the retirement of lead dispatcher Bill Brown, who worked for the sheriff's office for just shy of 20 years. "Bill has become one of our greatest assets in the dispatch center," Shawna Chenoweth said before presenting Brown with a custom plaque and vario...
