| New events planned for Mille Lacs Fair |
|
By Joel Stottrup Music (including shades of Johnny Cash), livestock shows, horse team drill, games for all ages and more beckon at the fairgrounds in Princeton Aug. 6-9. The Mille Lacs County Fair is coming. Gate admission is a fair button for $5, good for all four days for ages 13 and over. Younger than 13 get in free. Senior citizens are the exception on the Friday senior citizen day of the fair. Persons 60 and older will be able to get in for $2 then, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. The three grandstand events do have an admission. The grandstand events are the tractor pull on Thursday, Aug. 6, the car races on Friday and the demolition derby on Saturday, Aug. 8. All start at 7 p.m. The rides on the Stipe’s Shows midway require tickets. Friday and Sunday will be armband days. An armband, at $15, will provide for unlimited rides from 12:30-4:30 p.m. The ferris wheel, absent at last year’s fair, is scheduled for this year. What’s new? New events at this year’s fair include: • Longtime performing and award-winning country and rockabilly singer and guitar player Sherwin Linton and his wife Pam Linton. The Lintons and the Cotton Kings will do a tribute to legendary singer, the late Johnny Cash, at 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8. Sherwin will first appear as the emcee for the fair’s talent contest that begins at 7 p.m. on the stage that Saturday. Following the contest, the Lintons will do a regular show at 8 p.m. and then their Cash tribute show an hour later. Those interested can sign up for the talent show until 6 p.m. Aug. 8. The categories are preteen, teen and adult. The winner in each bracket can compete at the state fair. • The award-winning Peter and Paul and the Wendinger Band. They will perform Aug. 7 starting at noon. Those who enjoy polka can check out this act by Peter Wendinger and his father Paul who specialize in the concertina, and have band members playing other assorted instruments. Tricia and the Toonies mix in messages about the teamwork, respect, responsibility, education, environmental issues and stewardship. • Four contests in the open class exhibit building — homemade cinnamon rolls, red, white and blue flower arrangement, homemade dill pickles and the best-dressed Barbie Doll. This year is the 50th anniversary of Barbie. The four contests will all be Saturday, Aug. 8, each starting a half hour apart beginning at 2 p.m. Registration will be 30 minutes prior to contest start. Call Grace at (763) 389-4182 for more information. • A horse drill team is to perform at noon on Friday, Aug. 7, in the horse arena. The team is made up of 15 4-Hers in the horse project. • Ozseeker the Clown, will wander the fairgrounds each day of the fair. Many of the fair events have been seen and heard for years, but change in the fact that new people make up the casts. An example is the Share the Fun event. The winning and second place acts in the county contest will perform 1:30 p.m. at the band shell Aug. 8. The Garfield Climbers 4-H Club, Milaca, was this year’s winner and can advance to the state fair. Some cast members stay the same such as Kid Davie, who has appeared at the fair before on stilts. This time he is billing himself as Kid Davie, magician. Returning this year is a family stage comedy with puppets called Tricia and the Toonies. It will perform on Aug. 8 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Lists of event schedules are available at the fairgrounds. One set of contests added a few years ago has gained a following, the contests include: Nail driving, bale throwing and hula hooping. The contests are for adult men and women and offer cash prizes. Contests start at 4 p.m. the last day of the fair. Sunday will also feature the fiddle contest in which performers compete for cash prizes. The competition starts at 1 p.m. on the stage. Organizer Deb Bistodeau will take registrations until 12:30 p.m. that day. Another musical event, though quite different than fiddle music, will be the DJ known as Chopper. Usually clad in colorful shirt, shorts and zany hat, he will be playing music at the stage the first two nights of the fair starting at 8 p.m. One of the hits at the fair last year was the ranch rodeo in the horse arena. The rodeo will take place on the fair’s last day this year, running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Besides the exhibits in both open class and 4-H buildings, there will be the livestock shows on the first two days of the fair in the livestock pavilion. People and groups can, at 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7, bid in or watch the livestock auction. Part of the winning bid goes to 4-Hers with high award animals. Some of the proceeds go to a program of scholarships to help 4-Hers have a livestock project. One more livestock event will be the round robin showmanship at 2 p.m. Aug. 8. People with exhibits will be able to take them home an hour earlier this year, the time moved to 6 p.m., with completion by 9 p.m. Note that the 4-H dog obedience/showmanship and agility shows will be Aug. 1 and 2 respectively, which is several days before the fair. The Aug. 1 show begins at 8 a.m. and the Aug. 2 show begins at 2 p.m. The fair, for the second year, will have the Little Farm Hands exhibit in which children can examine how farm products are produced. Mille Lacs County 4-H Program Coordinator Amanda Swenson says that registration of 4-H exhibits are up this year. Three hundred childcare children and 84 adults associated with them were registered as of last Thursday to tour the fair. Kids in general can find activities such as money grabs, mini tractor pulls and other games at the fair to participate in. Those who want to see the premium list, or the categories to enter in open class exhibits, can check it out: www.millelacscountyfair.com. Interested persons cannot register on line but can print the on-line registration form, fill out and get it to the fairgrounds office by Aug. 2 to preregister. It saves time for the exhibitor and personnel during check-in time on Wednesday, Aug. 5. Check-in time for exhibits will be 1:30–8 p.m. Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
