Plains Days to be packed with action

The Plains Days committee put out a schedule of events that they say is fairly firm, although something could change, according to the Facebook post.

Plains Days festivities begin on Friday with the Plains High School alumni football game at 5 p.m., followed by an alumni softball game at 6:30 p.m. and a basketball game at 8 p.m. Admission for the basketball competition is $2 or $15 for admission and a t-shirt, said Kevin Meredith, the high school principal and alumni events coordinator.

The core of Plains Days activities take place Saturday starting with the traditional Masonic Ponemah Lodge 63 pancake breakfast beginning at 7 a.m. at the VFW, followed by a fun run with the starting line at MT West Dentist at 9 a.m. The fun run is free, but organizers will accept donations toward the Mini Mermaids and Young Tritons Running Club. Kids under 12 years old will get a medal and all participants will be entered into a drawing for a tree, according to Gena Ferlan, the race coordinator. Ferlan also said the top two runners will receive a prize.

The majority of the non-sports activities take place in downtown Plains along the greenway and on the property of MT West Dentist, which used to be Wildhorse Elementary School.

Starting time for the parade has changed. Parade entries will line up at Plains School at 9:30 a.m. Judging will take place at 10 a.m. The parade starts at 10:30 a.m. “We’re going to have a great parade because we’re going to have some things that we’ve never had before,” said Nita Deardorff, who is coordinating the parade this year. The American Legion Post 129 color guard will lead the parade this year to celebrate the American Legion’s 100th anniversary. Medals will be presented to the first place of each of the eight categories in this year’s parade.

Don Kunzer of Plains was selected as this year’s parade grand marshal. Kunzer served in the Army for 32 years, retiring a first sergeant in 2010 as a member of the 279th Engineers at Fort Missoula. The 74-year-old Kunzer first went into the military in 1965 and was sent to Vietnam for two years. He was out for 13 years before going back in the Army and doing combat tours in the Middle East.

Deardorff is also involved in a new activity this year – free airplane rides for kids 8-17 years old. The plane rides will take off from Stohr Penn Field, the Plains airport, starting at 10 a.m. “We’re doing it to spark interest in aviation,” said Deardorff, who has five pilots for the event, including her husband, Dallas. The pilots will take kids – three at a time – from Plains to Thompson Falls and back.

The annual car show, sponsored by Rehbein Ford, will take place this year at MT West Dentist and will go from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the judging for the five award categories at 1 p.m. Other events include the traditional Rocky Mountain Bank ice cream social at 10:30 a.m. and the bank sponsored turtle races at 1 p.m.

The Plains Lions Club will host a variety of children’s games along the greenway and have teamed up with the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District for a watermelon eating contest and a dunk tank, both starting at 11 a.m.

In Fred Young Park, the Sanders County Arts Council will be conducting an “Art in the Park” project at 11 a.m. In addition, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Britt Riddle of Little Bird Photography will be offering free photographs.

The Plains Woman’s Club will have the old one-room schoolhouse across from the greenway open from about 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The club is participating in a project called Soles 4 Souls and will be collecting “gently used shoes,” which they will be distributing to people in need, according to club member Debbie Heckman.

The other sports activities take place at Amundsen Sports Complex Saturday with the kickoff of the 4th Annual Wildhorse ShootOut basketball tournament at 11 a.m., which include dunk contests, free throw competition and three-point contests at 2 p.m. Erika Lawyer, the event coordinator, said that as of last week there were teams from first grade to open men’s.

“We will have concessions and each contestant will get a commemorative water bottle to use throughout the day,” said Lawyer, who added that spectators can pick up a free water bottle from Deb Warren at Century 21 Real Estate and Jill Hermes will be offering massages onsite.

Plains School alumni activities continue Sunday with an 18-hole golf scramble with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. It will be a four-person scramble. Team fees are $200. Signup can be done by calling the school at 826-8600 or the golf course clubhouse. Meredith said anyone can sign up for the golf tournament, but alumni members get an extra mulligan. He said that players will be able to buy in for hole prizes for $20, which include long drive, long putt, closest to the Plains High School pennant, hit from the top of hole two and closest to the pin.