North Idaho Fair and Rodeo set to kick off

Watch the pigs race. See the llamas. View hatching baby chicks.

These are just some of the highlights of the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo, set for Aug. 23 to 27 at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

"We like to focus on creating more and more things for kids to do," said fair manager Chris Holloway. "There will be activities every day for kids."

The fair will include traditional favorites, such as the demolition derby, motocross racing, draft horse show and rodeo. But new this year is hatching baby chicks, the ferret olympics, a children's scavenger hunt and the return of llamas and racing pigs.

Also making a debut is a new kiddie ride, the Cartoon Wave, which goes around, up and down. The children will ride in seats resembling characters such as Donald Duck and Goofy.

The children's scavenger hunt will include questions about agriculture that encourage them to search for clues throughout the fairgrounds.

A sample question is "How many sheep does it take to make a man's wool suit?"

When children complete their booklets, they put them in boxes at exit gates. One lucky winner will be selected to win a bicycle on Aug. 27. Booklets will be available at the information booth and Family Fun Park.

"All the questions are geared to get the kids to think about agriculture," Holloway said.

The Family Fun Park will include Montana Clown Works, Farmer for the Day, Grocery Game, hay maze, mobile racetrack and kiddie cars. The ever-popular Turpin's Farm Babies petting farm also will return to the fair.

The draft horse show will include the log skid, a timed event where drivers weave their teams through a course consisting of four or five cones set in a straight line. The draft horse pull consists of six to eight two-horse teams, divided into light- and heavyweight classes. The driver rides on a 600-pound sled. Starting with a load of 1,500 pounds of concrete, each team pulls the sled for 12 feet down a 15-foot lane.

Motocross, a form of off-road motorcycle racing, involves a standing start and right and left turns and jumps. It is conducted on a closed dirt circuit over primarily natural, outdoor terrain.

The PRCA Rodeo will include bareback riding, barrel racing, bull riding, calf roping, team roping, saddle bronc riding and steer wrestling.

Musical entertainers will include Hotel California: "A Salute to the Eagles," Lake City Harmonizers, Maria's Melodies Children's Karaoke, Gadabouts, Atahualpa and the Coeur d'Alene Big Band.

About 30 drivers will participate in a demolition derby, which will be the final grandstand event.

Llamas made their debut at the 1999 North Idaho Fair and Rodeo and will return this year. A new youth division has been created, allowing youth to compete separately from adults.

"Judging in the youth division will be based on the youth, not the animal. This will allow them to have a pet-quality animal that is welltrained," said Chuck Riley, 4-H llama superintendent.

Like last year, people will have the opportunity to take llamas through an obstacle course. And the animals will be in a bigger show tent this year.

"There will be several demonstrations to educate the public on what we do with llamas," Riley said. "It is what I call Llama 101 to give people the basics of handling the animals."

Stop by the poultry barn to see the hatching of Americana, Speckled Sussex, Frizzles and Silky chicks. Lu Broadsword, 4-H rabbit and poultry superintendent, began planning in late July for the hatching of baby chicks at the fair. Broadsword will have an incubator in the poultry barn and hopes to hatch about three eggs each day.

"I usually let my chickens do their own thing," she said. "But I am hoping and am optimistic we'll get a few baby chicks this year at the fair."

Post Falls residents Devon and Darcy Sinsley will host a "ferret awareness day" Aug. 27. There will be a maze race, paper bag escape and racing through tubes. Ferret owners are encouraged to bring their pets to participate in the olympics.

"We want to introduce ferrets to the non-ferret community," Devon Sinsley said. "I think the non-ferret community somewhat fears them. They see them as vicious and that they bite. Most ferrets are warm and cuddly animals."

There are several types of ferrets, but the domesticated ferret is what the Sinsleys plan to have at the fair. Domesticated ferrets come in three varieties: albino, black and chocolate. The females weigh about 1-1/2 pounds, and the males can weigh up to five pounds.

"They are extremely playful," Devon Sinsley said.

Brad's World Reptiles, an educational interactive reptile exhibit, will include captive-raised turtles, frogs, lizards, snakes and insects. The zoo-quality displays can include up to 100 varieties of animals and feature a four-foot American alligator, a giant Burmese python and huge live insects.

Returning to this year's fair is Hedrick's Pig Racing and Let's Go Fishing, the largest mobile fishing aquarium in the West, at nearly 45 feet long and 4-1/2 feet wide.

Pig races will be held daily. Four pigs will race at a time for an Oreo cookie.

"The winner gets the cookie, and the loser gets the crumbs," said Joe Hedrick of Hedrick's Pig Racing.

The pigs, which are specially bred for racing, weigh about 50 pounds and race around a 50-foot oval track. The pigs will wear racing silks with numbers and begin the race behind starting gates.

"They are long, lean racing machines," Hedrick said. "Spectators are going to be really surprised how fast these pigs run."

For more information about the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo, visit www.northidahofair.com.

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