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Kids ready for fair, rodeo

Cynthia Smith, 9, pulls her reluctant goat, Hopper, into his stall with some help from Tiffany Palma, 10, at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Tuesday. Smith will show Hopper today, the first day of the fair, which runs through Sunday. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)
Meghann M. Cuniff And Sam Taylor Staff writers
Cynthia Smith, 9, pulls her reluctant goat, Hopper, into his stall with some help from Tiffany Palma, 10, at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Tuesday. Smith will show Hopper today, the first day of the fair, which runs through Sunday. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

For Brian Berger, the North Idaho Fair & Rodeo is a family affair and also a bit of a high school reunion.

“You see a lot of people you don’t see all summer,” the 18-year-old Post Falls High School student said. “All of them come and hang out.”

Berger has been going to the fair for at least eight years, he said, showing animals as a member of a 4-H Club. He’s got a steer at this year’s fair, which opens today, and said he spends a lot of time cleaning him and keeping his pen clean.

Nicole Wells, a 15-year-old Lakeland High School student, is showing a pig this year. But Wells had already done all the cleaning and preparation she needed to do Tuesday afternoon and was relaxing in a recliner outside a friend’s motor home.

“We’re waiting for the fair to start so we can show our animals,” she said as 11-year-old Eli Scarcello and brothers Matt Owen, 13, and Nick Owen, 9, lounged nearby. The three boys also had pigs to show and said they’ve been attending the fair for almost as long as they can remember. They’ll sleep in tents or in the motor home at night, though Wells said she’ll go home for a shower and change of clothes.

Livestock has been groomed, carnival rides trucked in and booths set up for the first day of the fair at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

Gates open at 9 a.m. each day, but most of the major events begin at 11 a.m. There are also plenty of new events this year.

Mutton bustin’ for children 6 and younger who weigh less than 60 pounds is new in the “Bustin’ Loose Arena,” east of the red gate on the north midway. The $12 event is scheduled for three times daily today through Saturday and twice on Sunday.

There will also be live music this year, and people are encouraged to get up and boogie. From today through Saturday, acts including The Kelly Hughes Band, Out of the Blue Grass, and Julie Anne and the Jukebox Junkies will perform at the Wells Fargo Show Ring on the midway.

The motocross event is today and Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. at the Grandstand arena.

Many will pack into the Grandstand for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeo Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

And as always, there’s a lot going on inside the fairground buildings.

Thousands of competitive exhibits, from the best jars of strawberry preserves to the biggest North Idaho pumpkins, can be found in 16 home arts departments. Livestock exhibits and shows run throughout the week, and more than 240 commercial exhibits will be on display.

The demolition derby ends the events of the North Idaho Fair & Rodeo at 4 p.m. Sunday.