Outdoor fun offered indoors
Massive show runs for 3 days
Can it be possible to fit more outdoors attractions under one roof?
Organizers of the Great Rockies Sport Show will do their best, cramming outdoors-related displays, demonstrations, activities and products into the Majestic Valley Arena north of Kalispell this weekend.
It is billed as the largest assembly of outdoors goods and services in Montana, a spectacle that is actually many shows in one - fishing, hunting, camping, boating, all-terrain vehicles and adventure travel.
"It's just everything for the outdoors," organizer Bill Reier Jr. said.
Just setting it up takes three days, with the show opening Friday from 1 to 8 p.m. and continuing Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
"It takes a while to get it all ready, but we make it work," Reier said.
The traveling show already has been to Billings, Great Falls and Bozeman.
The Kalispell show is enhanced by including the long-running Kalispell Boat Show, with Western Montana dealers displaying the latest models of watercraft, from pontoon boats to sport fishing vessels.
The show's big draws are demonstrations and activities, with the centerpiece a colossal 850-pound grizzly bear named Brutus, Reier said.
The 6-year-old griz comes from Montana Grizzly Encounter, a menagerie operation located between Bozeman and Livingston.
At this weekend's show, Brutus will be kept in a 30-foot by 30-foot cage with a clear-glass panel that allows visitors a clear view of the bear for photographs.
Reier said the bear is trained and has appeared in motion pictures.
The show offers a variety of free seminars.
Mike Lapinski will be on hand to discuss new and experimental elk hunting techniques and Primos representative David Holder will lead a seminar on consistent elk hunting.
Smoke Elser will conduct a seminar on horse and mule packing, and members of the Flathead Back Country Horsemen will lead a seminar on trail building and no-trace campfires.
Reier said the show offers some offbeat but popular demonstrations.
The Big Sky Hunting Retriever Club will hold a retriever demonstration and seminar on Saturday. And there will be Dutch oven cooking demonstrations that have become very popular, Reier said.
On Sunday, there will be a youth coyote calling contest.
Other attractions include the Third Annual Heads and Horns competition, the Northwest Big Game Display, an Outdoor Writers Association photo contest winners display, the Wall of Fish, a U.S. Forest Service Low Impact Backcountry Display, a fly-tying theater, fly-casting demonstrations and a children's fly-tying contest.
Majestic Valley Arena will be full of outdoors services and products for sale, including fishing gear, outdoor clothing, backcountry equipment, tack and outfitting gear, outdoor supplies and wildlife art.
Information on how to enter the Third Annual Big Buck and Bull Contest, and a complete schedule of seminars and demonstrations are available on the Internet at: http://www.greatrockiesshow.com
The Kalispell show is sponsored by the Daily Inter Lake, Bee Broadcasting and the Montana Outdoor Radio Show.
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com