Fair board addresses arena safety

The Sanders County Fair Board monthly meeting last week started with a Plains woman placing dozens of scraps of metal on the tables in front of the board members.

"This could potentially cripple a horse," said Jolene Burke of Plains, referring to a large piece of metal that she and Kristy Sheehan, the fair manager, found in the dirt of the fairgrounds main arena a week earlier.

She had bags of metal pieces, from a fraction of an inch to one that was nearly two feet long. She told the board that the debris they found could not only injure a horse, but put riders in the hospital and maybe cause a "season ending injury, maybe even a career ending injury." The two only got through about one-third of the arena and went down only three to four inches and they found about 75 items, mostly metal that Burke believes came from demolition derby cars.

Burke runs Chase N Three Productions, a barrel racing clinic, and is scheduled to put on a competition on June 2, but she was concerned about debris in the arena, particularly with three horse events scheduled at the fairgrounds in May and June. A high school rodeo will take place at the fairgrounds May 17-19. A team roping competition will take place on June 1.

Board Chairman Randy Woods said the materials could have been in the arena for years and might have come closer to the surface after motocross or monster truck competition groups dug the arena up more to make mounds for jumps. Sheehan said it's in the derby producer's contract to make sure everything is cleaned up following a competition. Woods said they will make a better effort to clear the arena after a derby. Board member Ted Forkum reiterated that the arena needs to be gone through every year as much as they can.

"We just want to know what cleanup will be done after events by your people to ensure this stuff here doesn't cause injury to a cowboy, a horse, or a kid. This is not to shame anybody or to shame the community or the fair. This is an educational thing," said Burke. "What can we do to ensure that this stuff does not stay in the competition area of the arena?" she asked the board.

Burke said a better job needs to be done, but she also volunteered to help and said she would find others to help scour the arena. It's a bigger project than just one person can handle," said Burke, who added that she has no doubt it'll be taken care of. "I would like to see more of a board/community effort because there are a whole lot of community members that have horses and do compete and we are willing to donate our time to come help and make sure that stuff is cleaned out," she said.

"It just needed to be brought to the attention that we need to hold our producer more accountable and maybe after that weekend we really need to hit it hard to ensure that this stuff doesn't remain in the ground."

The meeting last Wednesday at the pavilion had several items on the agenda. The board is looking into the tweaking of both the Animal Use Policy, which Sheehan is handling, and the Fire Evacuation Policy, which is being worked on by Bill Naegeli of the county's Emergency Management Department. They also unanimously approved the new MOU between the fair and the 4-H, which was signed by Sanders County Extension Agent Juli Thurston, who heads the 4-H activities in the county. In addition, Sheehan said musician Kelly Hughes will perform in the beer garden on June 1 during the roping competition.

Sheehan also read the proposed fair themes submitted this year - "Horseshoes & Buckaroos," "Let's Stir-up Some Fun," "Dinosaurs or Tigers," and "Super Heroes Pokémon" - but the board wasn't thrilled about the suggestions. Woods said they had two or three good runners-up themes last year and suggested they look at those.

Sheehan found a lawn mower for the beachfront park, now under the jurisdiction of the fair. It's a Husqvarna mower for $3,300. Woods was hoping the county would pick up the tab for the mower, based on an agreement with former commissioners when the fair took over responsibility for the park. Commissioner Dan Rowan, who was at the meeting with Commissioner Johnny Holland, said they will discuss it. Sheehan is also working on getting bids for the fair for the parking, security, and ticketing ushers contracts.