SANDPOINT — Ninety years of fairgoers have enjoyed the festivities of the Bonner County Fair, from its early roots at Memorial Field to its current location on North Boyer Avenue.

Those nine decades in will be featured in this year's "Remem-bering Our Roots" theme at the fair next week. The main exhibit building will open next week, revealing displays of Bonner County History.

"It will start at 1920 and end at 2017, so people can walk around, and all around will be the history of Bonner County," said Rhonda Livingstone, fairgrounds manager.

This year's festivities kickoff this weekend with the Bonner County Rodeo, which was named the 2016 Small Rodeo of the year in the PRCA Columbia River Circuit. The award-winning Bonner County Fair will then open with the main exhibit at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The fair will continue through Aug. 12, and includes the main exhibit hall, animal barns, livestock sales, commercial exhibits and plenty of entertainment and competitions to go around. 

And, of course, no fair would be complete without food — lots and lots of food. An abundance of elephant ears, pizza, pretzels, brats will be available. Some vendors this year also include Yogolicious, Huckleberry Scoops, snow cones and a new Chinese food vendor from Spokane.

On Wednesday and Saturday, the Eagles Auxiliary will be cooking up some finger foods, including jalapeno poppers, mozzarella cheese sticks and corn dogs. On Thursday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, across the street from the fairgrounds, will serve turkey sub-sandwiches from noon to 4 p.m., and then for dinner — turkey with all the trimmings. On Friday night, the teachers of Farmin-Stidwell Elementary will be serving up chicken-fried steak from 4-8 p.m. in the fairgrounds' food court.

The Doo-Wah Riders, who define their music as "high energy country with a Cajun twist" will perform at the fairgrounds at 9:30 p.m. Aug. 10 and Aug. 11.

"They are so good," Livingstone said. "I've tried to get them for years ... They have one of the best fiddle players I've ever heard."

On Friday evening, Aug. 11, is the Challenge of Champions, which, new this year, includes broncs as well as bulls. The Challenge of Champions includes the top 10 from the Tuesday night's barrel racing who will compete for the title. The Challenge of Champions starts at 7:30 p.m., with music from the Doo-Wah Riders to follow.

Also new this year, Livingstone said, is Metal Mulisha at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening. The freestyle motocross team will put on a show for the crowd, and during that event, a children's mini-motocross race will be held. Anyone interested in the mini-motocross should call the fair office to sign up. There will also be an inflatable horse race Wednesday night, so teams of four should call to sign up for that as well. During the Demolition Derby Aug. 12, teams of six to eight will compete in a battle of tug-of-war. The winners will take on last year's winners from Idaho Forest Group.

More entertainment throughout the week includes hypnotist Michael Swenson at 6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and 5 p.m. Thursday; a puppet company called Animal Cracker Conspiracy will be roaming the fairgrounds each day; and a petting zoo open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Interactive games and contests include a candy board contest where kids make up a story using the names of candies, which will be "Mounds of fun." Going back to the 90-year celebration, a decade pie baking contest will be held, with a pie category for each decade from 1920-2010. Rhubarb, for example, is the 1920 category and Twinkies were the pie of the 1930s. There will also be a decade scarecrow decorating contest, a duct tape fashion contest and more.

One area in the main building will be dedicated to help children with cancer by making them tied quilts and rag dolls. Fairgoers can come in between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day and make one and attach a note to it, Livingstone said. NuWay Cleaners will then clean and package the items for delivery to the kids.

"We always want to do something to give back," Livingstone said. "So anybody can come in and give by making something."

Sheena Fielder, fairgrounds administrative assistant, is the brains behind the giving campaign and the contests.

"She always comes up with some of the wildest stuff," Livingstone said. 

Advance tickets for main events, including the rodeo, Metal Mulisha, Demolition Derby and Challenge of Champions can be ordered online at bonnercountyfair.com.

The main route to the fairgrounds on Schweitzer Cutoff Road is currently under construction, but fair staff encourages everyone to head to the fair using one of the detour routes.

"Don't let that stop you because what you see here (at the fair) will be way more than what you expect," Livingstone said.

Detour routes include Baldy Mountain Road to Great Northern Road, where detour signs clearly direct traffic back to North Boyer Avenue; and for those heading from the north side of Ponderay, West Bronx Road connects with North Boyer Avenue as well.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.