Fair derby contract up for grabs

A Thompson Falls man put his name in the hat for the Sanders County demolition derby contract at last Wednesday's monthly fair board meeting at the fairgrounds pavilion.

Rick Sanders handed in his proposal to run the "Carnage on the Clark Fork Demolition Derby" for the 2025 and 2026 to each board member and the fair manager. He said he wanted to make sure they all got it. The 60-year-old Sanders sent in a proposal four years ago, but believes it was not even looked at and was "round filed."

Randy Woods, the fair board chairman, said the two-year contract to conduct the demo derby is up. He said they haven't posted it yet and it'll probably go out for bid in January. Tim Denson, a former Thompson Falls resident, who now resides in Three Forks, operated the derby the last two years for $70,000 a year. "He would take care of the personnel, insurance, the pay outs, and helpEd with arena clean up after the demo at that price," said Kristy Sheehan, the fair manager.

Sanders' one-page proposal was for the same amount as Denson's was last year. "This would include all aspects of the derby, insurance coverage, social media, prize money, trophies, car inspections, arena set up and tear down, tow trucks, arena personnel, cleanup of the arena, and making sure all cars are clean of debris before entering into the arena," wrote Sanders, a veteran derby driver who has competed in the derby for 41 years and won five times. His son, A.J. is also a veteran driver and last year, his grandson, Rhyley, 13, won the derby's Mad Dog Award. Sanders has helped the Lions Club run the derby several times and volunteered his time earlier this year to help clean up the main arena for derby debris for an upcoming horse competition.

"When you and the Lions were running it, you had very few cars, and the board was actually trying to figure out to go ahead and what to replace the derby with. What's the difference between now and then?" asked board member Jim Newman. "We started losing the cars when the cheating got out of control. The Lions Club did good for a lot of years and we continually had about 60 to 70 cars for years and years," said Sanders. "When they stopped inspecting the cars is when there was cheating involved and a lot of local guys quit. They stopped showing up when they couldn't compete. The reason it went down to 17 cars was there were no rules," he said.

Sanders also said that he would return any of the $70,000 not used. He said that his primary goal is having the derby run by local people. "I don't think we need to spend a lot of money to run it," said Sanders, who added that they couldn't reduce the prize money because it has already been established. He told the board that he could get at least 70 cars, including many local drivers. Board member Jolene Burke asked him about insurance coverage to make sure the proper perimeters would be met and he said he'd get them.

"To me, it's always going to be a small town county fair and the money should stay here in town and not go anywhere else. And the local people should look out for it," he told the board. Sanders said that local people will take better care of the derby and the arena better than those from out of town.

Also at the meeting, Sheehan told the board that the Sanders County Sheriff's Office submitted its invoice for security at the fair, $11,953.62, which lowered the fair's profit to $123,243.24. Woods doesn't believe funds for security for the sheriff's office should come out of the fair budget.

"Personally, I still feel the fair happens every year, it's been going on for a hundred years, they know it's going on. That should be part of their budget and part of their plan. The fair shouldn't have to pay anything for it. That should be part of what they do. That's part of their job," said Woods.

During the 30-minute meeting, the board unanimously approved the purchase of a QuickBooks program for the office, which would help with invoices for renting spaces and it would make keeping track of finances easier and more efficient. Sheehan announced the she and board member Brian Crain would be attending the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) Convention in Las Vegas in December for three days and would be going over any new rules, talk with sponsors, and decide on an act for the next year's fair rodeo.

In a report from the 4-H, Juli Thurston of the Sanders County Extension Office, is looking into grants to secure funding to replace the roof on the swine barn. She said she already has bids for the project and should know about the grant in January.

The next meeting is Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 6 p.m. at the pavilion.