Benefactor rescues boy's fair week after paperwork miscue

Fair time is the culmination of months of hard work for young exhibitors, sometimes leading to an emotional roller coaster just as dramatic as any ride at the carnival.

For one 12-year-old planning to exhibit his prize hog, this year’s Northwest Montana Fair provided a lesson in hard work, sudden loss, and acts of random kindness that he will remember for a lifetime.

Months ahead of the fair, Heidi Wallace had watched her 12-year-old son, Carson, spend each morning with the pig at the family ranch. He did all the involved chores himself: feeding, watering and footing the cost of raising the pig.

“He hung all over that pig,” Wallace said. “They were buds.”

While standing in line to register for the fair’s show and exhibitions on Aug. 16, Wallace realized she had made a fatal error in her son’s application paperwork.

“He was pretty excited, so you can imagine how sad it was for him to know he wasn’t going to get to show his pig at the fair after all that work,” she said.

Heidi and her son spent the next few minutes speaking with fair personnel and 4-H leaders. Everyone they spoke to wanted to help, she said, but due to the established rules, no exceptions could be made. Months of dedication, financing and building excitement about showing his first pig at the fair had slipped out of the realm of possibility.

“It was just a bad circumstance,” Wallace said. “I felt horrible.”

But that’s when fate intervened.

At the front of the line, registering pigs for the show was Rod Leese, president of West One Bank in Kalispell. Leese had heard of the situation, and approached Carson about personally purchasing the pig.

They negotiated the sale to $2.40 a pound, enough to cover the cost of the pig and a little extra for Carson. Leese explained to Carson that the hog would be donated to a local family that provides a home to 15 foster children. After a handshake that completed the transaction, Leese called the recipient family to let them know know about the incoming donation.It would be Carson that delivered the processed pig.

“It was a really good thing for my kid to learn,” Heidi Wallace said. “His hog project became considerably more meaningful to him that day.”

Carson was invited back for Saturday’s livestock sale to work the pig lane and see what the event will have in store for him next year.

“It’s an amazing way for our community to come together,” Heidi said. “The big events and the carnival really stand out, but a lot of people submit a lot of really neat stuff to the fair and it’s really great to see the talent in our community, and the fair gives us a chance to see all of that.”