Impressive entries at Sanders County Fair
First time competitor Fay Garrison, 3, from Trout Creek at the Sanders County Fair. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
Kendall Spurr gives a presentation to judge Melady Henault. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
Junior sheep judging at the Sanders County Fair. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
The junior swine competition at the Sanders County Fair. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
Kim McNeil is the 2023 winner of the Sanders County Community Service Award. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
The Plains military honor guard at the Sanders County Fair parade. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
The Plains School Booster Club at the Sanders County Fair parade. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
Miss Montana Teen Rodeo Elle Buchner rides in the Sanders County Fair parade. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
Children wait patiently for the next handful of candy to be thrown their way at the Sanders County Fair parade. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
The race is on for the best candy at the Sanders County Fair parade. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
A bareback bronc rider hangs on for the full eight seconds during Thursday's first go-round of the Sanders County Fair Rodeo. (Chuck Bandel/Valley Press)
Rodeo clown entrains the near capacity crowd at Thursday's opening night of the 2023 Sanders County Rodeo at the fairgrounds arena. (Chuck Bandel/Valley Press)
Sanders County Fair judges had their work cut out for them this year with the many outstanding entries.
Friday morning started out with the swine, sheep and goat judging. Husband and wife judging team Chad and Hannah Booth, from Post Falls Idaho, did an outstanding job with the youth explaining how they judged each entry and how to improve their showmanship techniques.
Senior Class swine showmanship Grand Champion was Mikiah Cook, with Reserve Champion Josie Uski. Junior Class winners were Grand Champion Kassidy Dana representing the Trout Creek Mavericks and Reserve Champion Mathew Thurston from the Plains South Side Sparks. Novice class winners were Grady Dana as Grand Champion and Annie Turner as Reserve Champion. Cook was representing the South Side Sparks Club based out of Plains, with Uski representing FFA organization.
The sheep competition was very competitive with some fine-looking entries. The Top Grand Champion honors went to Ayla Rehbein, from Plains, with Reserve Champion awards going to local Plains resident Kyla Warnes.
The sheep meat class awards for Grand Champion went to Kyla Warnes and the Reserve Champion was awarded to Hannah Warnes. Breeding Class sheep awards went to John McNamara and Reserve Champion went to Ayla Rehbein. One-yea- old sheep class was awarded to John McNamara as the Grand Champion.
The Ram Lamb class for under one year winner was John McNamara and McNamara was also awarded a purple ribbon for the over one-year class. Top Breeding Sheep award also went to John McNamara was Grand Champion and the Reserve Champion with his multiple entries.
This year, a new class for Baby Doll sheep was judged with Ayla Rehbein taking a ribbon for the effort. Open class awards for sheep went to John McNamara and he also took the Reserve Champion award with his multiple entries. A blue ribbon went to first time competitor, 3-year-old, Fay Garrison from Trout Creek.
Goat competition awards went to Grand Champion Isabella Buchanan in the senior class and Brielle Clark as the Grand Champion in the junior class. Ribbons were awarded to senior class Isabella Buchanan and junior class Brielle Clark for the yearling goat doe class. For the senior doe class, a blue ribbon went to Isabella Buchanan and a purple ribbon was awarded to Brielle Clark. Young buck class awards went to Brielle Clark. Best of class awards went to Isabella Buchanan as Grand Champion with Reserve Champion going to Brielle Clark.
A wide array of entries was shown for both the rabbit and poultry competition. Grand Championship for the rabbit competition went to Katherine Wrobleski with the Reserve Champion going to Cooper Spurr. A total of twenty-nine rabbits were entered in this year’s competition with eight birds being shown this year. Grand Champion went to Cooper Spurr for her silkie chicken breed, with the Reserve Champion going to Makaylin Reinhardt for her Banton breed of chicken.
