Fair fun unfolds all week long
It’s fair week in the Flathead, and what a great way to celebrate the pinnacle of summer. If you haven’t made plans yet to attend the Northwest Montana Fair and Rodeo, what are you waiting for? Get your rodeo and demolition derby tickets nailed down and head to the fairgrounds for a bastion of old-fashioned fun.
From displays of glorious dahlias to a wide array of farm animals, country life is front and center at the fair. 4-H and FFA students, along with dozens of quilters, bakers and crafters, have brought their finest to the fair for all to see.
Beyond the many exhibitions, the fair carnival offers thrilling rides and games of chance. Extreme thrill-seekers will want to try the new Vertigo ride. And don’t forget the fair food — it’s the main reason many attend the annual event. Funnel cakes, huckleberry shakes and bratwurst are tried-and-true fare, and there are some new goodies this year at the Sons of Norway food booth. Forget the calorie-counting for a day and indulge yourself.
Our hats are off to all of the sponsors and the scores of volunteers, along with the fairgrounds staff, who all come together to give us one of the best fair experiences in this part of the state. See you at the fair!
Body cameras
It will be interesting to see how an experiment with body cameras by the Kalispell Police Department works out in the next year.
In a tentative first step, the City Council has allocated $30,000 for a trial run, purchasing five to 10 cameras for local law officers.
It may be a while before the cameras actually are in use, pending decisions on when the cameras will be used, how the data will be stored and reviewed and how the city responds to public requests to see the footage.
There are many logistical and legal questions surrounding body cameras, which makes their limited rollout in Kalispell a wise course of action.
Shooting incidents across the country have raised a national clamor for body cameras on law officers, but that doesn’t mean Kalispell has to jump in without careful consideration.
Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset said the trial run will be an effort to determine if the cameras are a good fit for Kalispell police and the community itself. This measured approach seems a commendable way to get started, particularly since a comprehensive body-camera program will be not only more complicated but also much more expensive.