PLAINS – In less than two months the Sanders County Fairgrounds will once again be filled with visitors for the annual fair.

In preparation for the event, the Sanders County Fair Board came together on the evening of Wednesday June 25, to go over ongoing preparations for the yearly festivities and to discuss events going on throughout the summer.

Regarding the county fair, the fair board announced the Culinary Arts Department would be moving to the agricultural building.

Set up will occur on Wednesday, August 27 of the fair with the judging being held on Thursday, August 28.

All event tickets for the county fair went on sale on Tuesday, July 1.

Fairbooks for the late summer celebration were sent out and delivered across the county on Thursday, June 26.  

The Fair Board covered the completion of the cashier’s stand and improvements throughout the fairgrounds to ensure the facility is ready to go for its big week.

The monthly meeting wrapped up with a summary of the fair’s financial status.

At the end of May the fair was working with almost $42,000 a total, which since has gone up with the collection of the final property taxes throughout the county.

According to Fair Manager Mike Hashisaki this total sets a record of over $30,000 at this point in the fiscal year.

To open the meeting the Fair Board took some time to recap the Super Sort Event, which was held over the weekend of Plains Day earlier in June.

Patti Waldoch, the organizer of the event, was on hand for the review.

Waldoch noted participants in the sorting event came from across Montana, in addition to a few from Washington and even one from Alaska.

This year’s Plains Day was the first to feature a Super sort event, but based off of the positive reception from this year’s competition, it will not be the last one to feature the event.

“We have gotten a lot of positive feedback and participants are looking forward to next year,” Waldoch said.

The Fair Board was pleased with how the event went and noted they had heard some of the positive feedback as well.

Vice Chairman of the Sanders County Fair Commissioner Bruce Icenoggle was impressed with how the event turned out.

“My compliments Patti. You did a whale of a job,” Icenoggle said.

The first ever Super sort featured 102 participants competing over the two days of the event.

On the first day of the event 144 teams participated and on Sunday 234 teams competed in the sorting event.

“For the first year we pulled it off pretty successfully,” Waldoch said.

The Super sort donated $1,200 raised through donations during the weekend to Cowgirls Kickin’ Cancer, a county group which raises awareness and money for local breast caner patients and their families.

The Fair Board also touched on the upcoming Independence Day celebrations.

The board confirmed the fairgrounds in Plains will serve host to celebratory fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Hot Dogs, chilidogs and other food will be available from 6 p.m. on and the fireworks will begin at dusk.

Fireworks are to be launched from the beach area.