FINAL FAIR PREPARATIONS

The fairgrounds was a busy place the Saturday before the fair with nearly 200 kids and adults sprucing up the place in preparation for the big annual event.

It was Fair Readiness Day as the 4-H clubs of Sanders County got their barns and the pavilion ready for show time. More than 75 4-H kids, along with over 50 parents, 4-H leaders and barn superintendents, spent Saturday cleaning the facilities, inside and out. They filled the animals' stalls with wood shavings and did minor repairs on stalls and fencing. They hauled away old leaves, pulled weeds and cleaned and sanitized the buildings in preparation for their animals and fair projects.

"Everyone seems to be pitching in. We want it to look good for fair," said Wendy Carr, an agent with the Sanders County Extension Office, which runs the 4-H program. She said all the buildings needed some work and cleaning, but the horse barn needed more than the others with numerous repairs to the stalls. Karen Dwyer, a volunteer with 4-H for 32 years, helped get the Home Economics building ready for the kids to show their non-animal projects. Donna Maughlin has no connection to 4-H, except that she was a 4-H'er as a child in Kansas, but volunteered her time to help get the Home Economics building ready because she feels 4-H is an important part of the community.

Juli Thurston with the extension office said Fair Readiness Day went well and the volunteers worked very hard. The buildings are ready and she said they "even got the bathrooms cleaned." Workers attached a hog fence to the steel fence around the 4-H main showing arena in an effort to make sure the pigs don't escape during the showmanship competition. The volunteers worked for about three hours, finishing around noon, said Thurston.

Two truckloads of sand and sawdust were hauled onto the grounds for Readiness Day. Warren Wickum of Plains donated the sand and Thompson River Lumber donated the sawdust. Sanders County Solid Waste delivered the sawdust and waste bins at no cost, said Thurston. The stalls in the beef barn had to be leveled after animals that were berthed there due to the Paradise fire dug holes. Workers watered and packed down the stalls before placing a layer of shavings on top. The kids hauled away old shavings and materials in the stalls and loaded each up with fresh shavings.

Thurston said she's looking forward to seeing what her 4-H'ers have to offer this year. "Every year there are new and interesting projects and new families to get to know," she said.