Local fair attendance soars

The numbers couldn’t be much better for this year’s edition of the Northwest Montana Fair, according to Flathead County Fairgrounds Manager Mark Campbell.

Attendance was up 4 percent compared to last year, a concert attendance record was set, more people hopped on carnival rides, more people entered various exhibits and people dipped deeper into their wallets to pay top dollar at the livestock sale.

Fair officials counted 78,508 people attending events and exhibits during the five-day event. The 2,952 fans who attended the Wednesday night concert by Little Big Town set a fair concert attendance record, he said.

He conducted a random poll of people leaving the Little Big Town show, and not one person made a negative comment.

“Of course, it may have been the setting, they were just leaving and seemed happy,” Campbell said.

The Newsboys, who performed Tuesday night, attracted 1,558 people, also up from concert attendance numbers last year. Campbell attributed the boost in concert attendance to lower ticket prices and quality acts.

Ridership at the Inland Empire Shows Carnival was up 13 percent from last year.

The 8,500 exhibits in 4-H, FFA and open class competitions was the highest number in several years.

And, gross sales at the livestock sale increased by $29,000 from a year ago, Campbell reported.

“In general, overall, I’m very pleased with the fair this year,” Campbell said.

The fair, which ended Sunday night, was Campbell’s first in Kalispell. He began working for the county last fall.

“It was a big learning curve for me,” he said Monday.

Before the fair began, Campbell had played out multiple scenarios in his mind of “what might happen.” In the end, he said he was pleased with the results of the way some things happened “that were different than I thought they’d be.”

Nearly 12,000 people attended the three nights of rodeo action, a 21 percent increase from the 2010 fair rodeos.

That didn’t surprise Campbell. He said one of the best parts of this year’s fair, and previous fairs in Kalispell, is the “great rodeo.”

He’s seen plenty of rodeos, but says “This one is different. It’s very special.”

The reason?

“The size of the audience,” he responds. “It brings out the best in people.”

The outstanding quality of the rodeo stock and the top-notch cowboys and cowgirls who compete in Kalispell just add to the mix, he said.

“It’s great entertainment and a great sporting event, pitting great cowboys and cowgirls against the clock or the animals,” Campbell said.

Campbell was pleased that the public noticed some of the “small changes” made to this year’s fair, such as the grounds layout and changes in where some exhibits were placed.

No serious injuries were reported, Campbell said, always a worry when “that many people are together in one place.” A couple of “health-related” incidents occurred, he said, but emergency responders handled them quickly.

Campbell’s not resting on his laurels after a successful fair. He already has begun a list of things to address before next year’s event.

On the top of that list is finding some way to mitigate the amount of dust at the fairgrounds.

“By the third day, my voice was gone,” he said, because he breathed in a fair amount of dust.

“We really have to address that. A cleaner environment without the dust will be more enjoyable and better for everyone,” he said. “We had beautiful evenings during fair and it would have been nice for more people to spend more time outside, if there had been less dust.”

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.