Plains ready for fun-filled weekend

Plains will be a hub of activity this weekend with nearly 30 activities planned for this year’s Plains Days, which will begin Friday evening, when the youth take on adults in the first Alumni Flag Football Contest, which starts at 6 p.m. on the school football field.

The evening continues with the traditional Alumni Basketball Game in the school gymnasium at 8 p.m. Kevin Meredith, the high school principal and coordinator of this year’s alumni games, said they plan to have only one coed game for each sport. The alumni competition continues on Saturday at noon with a four-person scramble at the golf course. The games are being put on as a fundraiser for the school’s Youth Mentoring Program. An MVP plaque will be awarded to a player of the football and basketball contests, said Meredith.

This is the first time that the annual festival is a three-day event, said Erika Lawyer, treasurer for the Plains Business Association, which sponsors Plains Days. This year’s celebration will include a number of sporting events, which will be held at the school, the golf course and at the Amundson Sports Complex. Saturday’s sporting events will start with the Mini Mermaid Running Club’s 5K run at 8 a.m. at the sports complex. The 3rd Annual Wild Horse Shootout 3-On-3 Basketball Tournament will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at the sports complex. Dunk contests and free-throw competitions will be held at the complex at 2 p.m.

Sports activities will continue at the complex Sunday with co-ed softball games at 10 a.m. and soccer games at 1 p.m. Lawyer said people can just show up for the softball and soccer games, which are free.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun for everyone, young and old. It’s going to be a good year,” said Sandy Chenoweth, president of the Plains Business Association. “I think we’re going to have a bigger turnout, especially with all the sports going on,” said Chenoweth, who added they’ll have vendors in Fred Young Park and along the greenway, where the Plains Lions Club and the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District are setting up a dunk tank, starting at 10:30 a.m. with Commissioner Carol Brooker as the first participant, said Duane Highcrane, the Lions Club president.

The Lions Club is also hosting this year’s children’s games on the greenway and a Watermelon Eating Contest at Fred Young Park at 5 p.m. Highcrane said there is no entry free for the watermelon competition, which will have different age groups.

Saturday activities begin once again with the Masons Pancake Breakfast from 7-11 a.m. at the VFW. Rocky Mountain Bank is sponsoring the Ice Cream Social at 11 a.m. and the Turtle Races at 1 p.m. Rehbein Ford is hosting the annual car show again. It will be held along the greenway. Awards for the different vehicle classes will take place about 3 p.m., said Todd Logan, the contest coordinator.

The parade is taking a different route this year and is starting at 10 a.m., said Lawyer. Instead of going down Railroad Street, it will form up at Studs True Value Lumber. The parade will start on the east end of Lynch Street and travel down Lynch to Helterline Drive.

New this year is the Kids Art Mural at Fred Young Park at 11 a.m. It will be sponsored by the Sanders County Arts Council, which will supply all the materials and be on hand to help the kids. Also new this year will be the 4-H South Side Sparks Club Dessert Auction at Fred Young Park at 6 p.m.

The day’s activities don’t end at Fred Young Park. The Ryan Family is hosting a community potluck dinner, starting at 5 p.m. at the pool park, where the Ryans will have a live band, a dance, a DJ, and a limbo contest around 8:30 p.m. Activities will end with a drive-in style movie at the pool park at dusk.