PURPLE PARTY

In April 1981, Montana Governor Ted Schwinden signed a proclamation declaring Trout Creek the Huckleberry Capital of Montana. "The community of Trout Creek deserves the special recognition of this state because of its efforts in community development and its efforts to promote the natural resources and natural splendors of Montana," the governor wrote more than 44 years ago. The small town lived up to its selection once again last weekend for the 44th annual Huckleberry Festival.

Trout Creek always looks more like an NFL football game than a rural Montana town the second weekend of August. The annual Huckleberry Festival brought thousands of community members and visitors to Trout Creek on Saturday and Sunday for the annual celebration.

The festival kicked off Saturday morning with the annual pancake breakfast put on by the Trout Creek Rural Fire Department. More than 40 volunteers served scrambled eggs, ham and the legendary huckleberry pancakes to XXX people at the fire hall. Patrons began lining up for breakfast before the doors opened at 7 a.m., with the line stretching to the back of the fire hall several times. Long lines don't phase the volunteer firefighters, however, who after 44 years run the breakfast like a fine-tuned machine. While visitors see a handful of firefighters on the front line cooking the breakfast, more than a dozen were in a back room whipping up the pancake batter and scrambled eggs. Still more volunteers make sure tables stay clean and canisters of coffee, water and Tang are full for guests.

Also Saturday morning, hundreds of people joined the 5K run for fun, getting in a workout before enjoying those huckleberry pancakes. The highlight of the run for many was a pair of runaway goats who took off from a residence and started following runners along the course. One goat stayed with a runner the remainder of the 3.1 miles. She even carried it part of the way. "I didn't want it to get hit on the road," she said. Near the finish line, Bryon Ekberg with the Sanders County Sheriff's Office caught up with the goat, having already put the goat's partner in his patrol vehicle. Ekberg took the goats to a secure location at the festival grounds and they were eventually reunited with their owner.

Crossing the finish line first in the 46th annual fun run was Justin Morgan of Thompson Falls. The 22-year-old finished the course in just under 16 minutes. The first female to finish was 17-year-old Jamison Molloy in 20 minutes, 9 seconds. There were 181 participants in the run, in addition to a few toddlers in strollers, some dogs and the goats. The oldest participant was 78-year-old Bob Bristol, who finished in 52 minutes, 15 seconds, and the youngest registered were Lincoln and Dax Henderson, age 4, who finished in under 35 minutes.

Dave and Deb Oliver of Thompson Falls served as grand marshals for the festival parade that traveled through the Trout Creek Park and along Highway 200. While the official count is hard to tally, hundreds of people lined the road waving, grabbing candy and enjoying the parade. The winning parade entry was Waterway CSA with their train of homemade cars pulled behind a John Deere utility vehicle. Owners Beth and Mark Riffle had their grandchildren in the train, which was adorned with dozens of balloons. Also in the parade were local organizations and businesses, showing off their purple spirit. Jeannette Carr-Smith of Clearwater Properties Montana got cheers as she walked the parade route in an inflatable costume that made it look like she was riding a bear.

Food vendors had ques of hungry people patiently waiting their turn for cooked food or the ever popular huckleberry ice cream, pie, milkshake, or lemonade. From 4H tacos, on one end, to Elks Club fry-bread and sandwiches, on the other, crowds clamored to get their favorite festival fare.

The festival offered a variety of unique homemade goods, from jewelry, candles and pottery to various woodworking creations. One new vendor sold laser-cut clocks made out of records. Business was booming for vendors on Saturday, which tends to be the busiest day of the festival. Before the thunder brought the rain, the warm weather had people buying up the gallons of huckleberry ice cream. "We had 165 gallons of ice cream to start with," festival volunteer Liz Stender said. "Noon to 1 p.m. is our busiest time. We emptied out one freezer by 1:30," she said. The booth had six to eight volunteers working in shifts. "Todd Meagher and Theressa Miner are our super duper scoopers. The proceeds go to Trout Creek Community Improvement Association. This and the Redneck Ball are our biggest fundraisers," Stender said.

While a late afternoon rainstorm put a damper on some vendor sales, dozens of people still lined up to get their huckleberry treats. Safana Lowder, age 4 of Washington, was visiting with her family and it was her second time at the Huckleberry Festival. When asked what her favorite things were about the festival, she jumped and exclaimed "Huckleberry ice cream and huckleberry lemonade!" A few moments later, Lowder was walking the festival grounds with a big bowl of huckleberry ice cream.

The taco booth had 4-H members volunteering their time to serve customers. Leah Marie Stover and Brianna Horner said their day was very busy with lots of orders. And returning festival goer, youngster Rory Hall from Steilacoom, WA enjoyed her corndog. "The parade was better this year. I got more candy. My favorite huckleberry food is pancakes," she said. Hall has plans for returning to the festival next year when she comes back to visit her grandparents, David and Sherri Luick from Trout Creek. "Next year I want to bake huckleberry cupcakes and enter them in the baking contest," Hall said.

The impending rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of contestants for the pie eating contest. The age group of 12 and under had 11 pie hungry youngsters with some returning from last year. Weston Gregg, age 9 from Portland, Oregon, relished his berry pie devouring the quarter section before the other ten. Some contestants wore their pies on their faces. Mason Poray, age 14 from Miami, Florida, won the teenage age group. "It was a close call as another boy finished first," he said. The other contestant dropped some of his pie and let the judges know, giving the win to Poray.

The heavy rain sent several attendees to their vehicles, leaving the park over half empty compared to pre-rain conditions. Several vendors had to move tables and lower their tents to prevent damage to their crafts.

More huckleberry treats were sampled Sunday following the annual dessert contest and jams and jellies contest. Organizer Laura Ganatos said there were more entries this year, with some unique items. Hannah Riffle of Thompson Falls won the dessert contest with her huckleberry lemon bread. Riffle even got a perfect 100 from one of the judges. Riffle said she enjoys baking and has been making bread for local farmers markets this summer. Second place went to Ronda Cuevas with a chocolate covered huckleberry cordial. In the junior division, Shiloh Huntsman's white chocolate huckleberry swirl cookies were the judges' favorite, and Paisley Huntsman was second with her doughnuts with huckleberry frosting.

In the jams and jellies competition, Jodie Parker of Hamilton made the favorite jam, and Brenda Koch got second with a spicy huckleberry jam. Parker's husband Rod was one of the judges, as were their friends Gary and Shirley Layton of Stevensville, but the judges didn't know Jodie had entered the contest and were surprised by the winner.

Saturday's annual auction featured donations from businesses throughout the region, as well as festival vendors. The grandstands were still full from the pie eating contest as auctioneer Kevin Hill started the bidding. Auction winners took home gift certificates, fishing poles, coolers and a variety of other treasures.