Hundreds brave the cold to celebrate Plains Day

With activities starting near sunrise and going well into darkness, the 38th Annual Plains Day saw just about everything, except sunshine.

Not once Saturday, starting from the Mason’s pancake breakfast at 7 a.m. and ending with the drive-in movie “Gidget” at dark, did the sun poke through the gray, threatening clouds. And while, besides a few drizzles hear and then, the rain pretty much stayed away, the wind and the cold still kept people away.

“The weather really hurt our numbers,” said Ken Saner, the co-chair of the Plains Day Committee, which planned the day. Saner said the weather really hurt the car show. This year, only 11 vehicles entered the show compared to last year’s 21. Gary and Sophia McGraw’s 1931 Ford Roadster won the Best in Show, the roadster also won in the 1948 and older division. The People’s Choice Award went to Plains’ Jerry Kohm for his 1956 Ford pickup. Doug Browning’s 1968 Chevrolet Camaro won the 1943-1978 category and Brady Bergstrom’s 2002 custom-built motorcycle won the motorcycle category.

Despite temperatures hovering in the low 50s, Saner said the actual Plains Day was a success. “Overall, there could’ve been better weather, but other than that we couldn’t have asked for better community support,” he said. Saner said at one point during the showing of “Gidget” at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Pool Park, he counted 16 cars, many of which had five or six people in them, plus a couple of more on the grass with blankets watching the 1959 movie starring Sandra Dee.

One person who didn’t mind the cold was Larry Ballantyne, the chief of the Plains Volunteer Fire Department. Ballantyne was the first to get dunked in the dunk tank at Sinclair. With a large crowd gathered around the tank, Ballantyne showed no fear and kept egging on the crowd to pay up to get their chance to send him into the frigid water. Dallas Burgess, 13, was the first to sink Ballantyne. Plains Mayor Michael Brinson, Police Chief Shawn Emmett and Judge Joe Eisenbrandt each took their turn in the dunk tank.

“It was cold and windy and the people still came out,” said Kathy Logan, the co-chair of the Plains Day Committee. “The resilience of Plains people really showed, they all came and had a good time.” Logan said the committee mixed in some new events with some of the traditional ones and she thought they went pretty well.

Logan said over 20 people completed their passports in the Passport to Plains events. To complete their passports people had to go to nine historical locations and get their passports stamped. Some of the historical locations included : the Lynch Grave Yard, the Old Jail, People’s Cash Store and the Old Jail.

The pet contest was also a new event. At the pet contest in front of Colleen’s Country Store, three dogs, a kitten, rabbit and Guinea pig were judged by Mary K. Browning of Paws Here Pet Styling. Nine-year-old Kelsey Peters with her black kitten Yelpie won the look-alike contest. In the costume contest Marissa Nass, 10, and Maisy her Chihuahua poodle edged out her brother Brant Nass, 13, and Wilson his doxen Chihuahua.

The Plains Masonic Lodge Ponemah #63 kicked off Plains Day with a pancake breakfast at the VFW. Mason member Alvin Amundson said the lodge had served about 160 breakfasts. The money raised at the breakfast will go toward the three yearly scholarships the Masonic lodge gives to Plains graduates.

Twenty-five people ran in the five kilometer fun run. Recent Thompson Falls graduate Jacob Naegeli finished in first with a time of 18:20. His Bluehawk teammate Ryan Sol finished one minute behind him to take second. Andrew Gideon finished in third with a time of 20:19.

Close to 35 entrants walked down Main Street for the annual Plains Day Parade. Kathy Logan’s Bugs on Parade, which was two decorated Volkswagen bugs, took home first prize in the parade. The Paradise Elementary students took home second with their float that took 10,000 napkins to make. The VFW Post 3596 finished in third.

Rachel Wrobleski, 6, had the fastest turtle of the day. Squirmy beat out all of the other 28 turtles in the Rocky Mountain Bank parking lot, Jeremiah Allen’s turtle finished in second and Tianna McGonagle’s turtle finished in third.

Logan said that she doesn’t know what changes the committee will make to the Plains Day schedule next year, but said she would like to add some new events, but still keep the traditional ones.

Saner said he is just hoping for some moderate weather next year. “Last year it was in the 90s and this year it was in the 50s. I just hoping next year it is somewhere in the middle,” he said.