A great day for Plains Day

The Town of Plains might have tripled in size Saturday as people flooded in to Plains Day for its annual festival, which took place along Railroad Street, the greenway, at Fred Young Park, the lawn of MT West Dentist, and at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Park.

Plains Day this year was again sponsored by the nonprofit organization the Free Americans and coordinated by Blair Blizzard, who introduced new activities and brought back an old favorite, along with traditional ones. Its theme this year was "Your Vote, Your Voice, Your Future." Blizzard felt it was appropriate because 2024 is a big election year. "I think it was very successful and I'm pretty happy with the turnout," said Blizzard. "I thought it was amazing, I thought everything was pretty much over the top. I really enjoyed seeing the smiles of the townspeople."

Blizzard has no way of knowing how many people attended the festival throughout the day, but she believes there were a lot more than in recent years and she might have had a record number of vendors that filled the greenway and surrounding area with 87 booths of toys, apparel, leatherwork, woodwork, metalwork, jewelry, flags, and even a recruiting booth by the Plains Volunteer Fire Department and American Legion of Thompson Falls. Denny Hensen of Sandpoint, Idaho, and Adrian Bois of Argentina attracted crowds with chainsaw carving demonstrations.

"Most everybody was blown away by the number of vendors and the quality of goods we had there," said Blizzard. "Everybody really liked the food vendors and there were very many varieties of food," she said. Blizzard felt that Teresa Jackson of Noxon especially did an excellent job with her food trailer Blondeez and the different choices of food. Blizzard was pleasantly surprised that Plains resident Dave Proctor volunteered to entertain visitors on the greenway by singing and playing his guitar.

Rehbein Ford again sponsored the annual car show. Coordinator Todd Logan said they had 18 vehicles this year from a 1930 Ford Tudor by Joann Mathers and Joe Shepherd to a 1991 Chevy pickup by Tom and Shelly Rummel. Logan gathered 120 votes from the public and Kalispell residents Lucas Kelly and his 1969 Chevy Camaro won with 31 votes. The Best in Show went to LeRoy Kelly for his 1947 Studebaker convertible. The show included the top 10 vehicles, including: Randy Olsen of Trout Creek and his 1956 Chevrolet Belair, Vern Buchanan and his 1966 Chevrolet Nova, Bob Brion and his 1969 Chevrolet Corvette, Tom Kelly and his 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Michael Hochstetler of Plains and his 1972 Chevrolet C10 Pickup, Chuck Snow and his 1949 Plymouth Business Coupe, Wade Rehbein of Plains and his 1972 Ford Torino, and Josh Miliate of Plains and his 1983 Chevrolet El Camino.

The Plains Pickleball Association held a corn hole contest. It was a round robin competition with 13 teams signed up and nine games going on at a time. Randy Garrison served as the emcee. Preston Smith and Ethan Smith went undefeated and took home Plains Pickleball Association coffee mugs and each received a corn hole set, according to Karla Padden, one of the contest coordinators. Second place went to Dakota and Shailyne Killgore of Plains, netting them an association mug and a $30 gift certificate for the Wildhorse Bar, which happened to be their team sponsor. Third place went to the team "Hole Finders" of Dillan Erickson and Tyler Kellar. Each received an association mug. The Hole Finders defeated the team "Republican Rednecks" of Troy Fryxell and Tom Rummel in the quarterfinals, said Padden. Entry fee was $50 a team. The money raised will go toward the association's pickleball courts that will be built at the Amundson Sports Complex. The association also raffled a kayak that was won by Oren Kendall of Plains.

The Plains Alliance Church and the Church on the Move teamed up this year to put on the annual watermelon eating contest, which had eight adults, a dozen teens and more than 60 kids from 3-12 years old, said Brienne Champneys, one of the coordinators. The winners had an assortment of toys to choose from.

Along with the traditional "Ice Cream Social," the Rocky Mountain Bank again sponsored the "Turtle Races." They had 88 turtles and eight heats. First place went to Miles Mitchell, followed by Garrett Taylor, and in third was Kyla Warnes. The winner of each heat won $5. First place in the final heat received $15, second got $10 and third received $5.

Though no one stepped up to run a chainsaw competition, the VFW conducted a crosscut contest with 13 men's teams, two in the women's class, and one Jack and Jill team. Studs Building and Home provided the prizes. Amy McGraw and Sarah Carlisle of team "Studs" won the women's with a cut of 37.31 seconds and won $20 and T-shirts. The Jack and Jill team of "Rednecks" Carlisle and Hunter Fielders won at 45.98 and took home $20 and hats. Noah Hathorne Jr. and David Showers took the men's class at 28.89 seconds and won $20 and two chainsaw wrenches.

Blizzard felt the event went well, although the return of the street dance didn't draw the crowds that were expected, but the festival had plenty of activities for children and adults alike. The bouncy house, put on by the Plains Bible Chapel, attracted a number of children, along with miniature horse rides by Shining Diamond Stables of St. Ignatius, and the vendors drew hordes of people from in and outside Sanders County.

"Overall, it was really, really good. It takes a lot of time. I loved doing it," said Blizzard, but she added that if she takes it on again next year, she'd like more help.