Efforts put forth by Flathead County Fairgrounds officials and staff to prepare the grounds for the upcoming Northwest Montana Fair and Rodeo appear to have passed COVID-19 sanitary and social distancing guidelines, and the event is slated to unfold on time next week with many of the same offerings attendees enjoy year after year.

The Fair Board and fairgrounds manager have been holding special public meetings on a weekly basis for over a month to discuss various safety measures that will be in place at this year’s event to ensure attendees distance appropriately, sanitize often and wear masks. Thursday was the final regularly scheduled public meeting before the fair officially gets underway Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Health-care leaders and others praised Fairgrounds Manager Mark Campbell, COVID-19 event coordinators and others for their diligence.

“I want to thank you all for your efforts on this,” said Tamalee St. James Robinson, interim public health officer for the Flathead City-County Health Department. “They (the board and Campbell) are the ones responsible for enforcing their rules and it will blow back on them if they aren’t followed. It is important that everyone please abide by the rules they have set.”

Employees have implemented sufficient signage throughout the grounds, added plenty of sanitizing stations, added foot traffic markers and have collaborated with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Posse to enforce mask wearing, among many other measures. Last week, Campbell said “no stone has gone unturned,” in preparing for the five-day event.

But as the old adage goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. It’s a saying some of the fair’s biggest supporters are prepared to challenge as they place their faith in the community to follow rules and guidelines — namely the requirement that attendees wear masks. And at this point, some have argued the responsibility of ensuring a COVID-19 outbreak does not occur as a result of the fair falls to attendees as much as it does fairgrounds officials.

Over the past several weeks, 4-H representatives, local business owners and others have assured that they and others who intend to go to the fair are willing and ready to wear masks and do what has been asked of them in order for the event to go on.

“We expect everyone who shows up to be a fair champion,” Campbell said, referring to the fair’s recently launched campaign that encourages those who attend to “Be a Fair Champion” by following the safety guidelines.

At Thursday’s meeting, Campbell also went over current ticket sales and capacity for grandstand events, including a concert by Lee Brice and the rodeo.

Compared to this point in time last year, Campbell said ticket sales are down nearly 30% from last year for the rodeo and demolition derby. That equates to about 1,100 fewer tickets and nearly $23,000 less in sales, comparatively.

As for the concert Wednesday evening, Campbell said tickets have yet to reach the 3,000 mark and “most likely won’t.” While the fair can sell up to 6,000 tickets for the concert, Campbell said capacity has been decreased to 4,000 possible tickets this year.

“Overall, we are seeing softer sales this year because of the pandemic,” Campbell said. “We are watching all of this closely and have reduced capacities because of our social distancing needs. We won’t have the sales we had last year, and we’re fine with that. This has never been about making money.”

For a fair schedule, go to www.nwmtfair.com. For information on the online livestock auction — the bidding for which officially launches at noon on Friday and runs through Saturday — go to gardnerauction.hibid.com.

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com