Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 2 78 youngsters for their hard work. Of course, the blue-ribbon animals fetch the most. Watching people bid against each other can be exciting, but it is also a poignant moment for the animal's owner. You see their pride well up inside as the bid- ding goes higher, but the moment their animal is sold there is the realization that this is the last time they will see the an- imal they bonded with for so long. While spectators feel their sorrow, they also know he or she will make a good rancher someday. Commercial booths and tents are often located between the exhibit barns and the carnival rides. When you are young this is the least enjoyable part of the county fair, because the longer your parents spend here, the longer it takes you to reach Narnia. Local businesses selling water softeners, hot tubs, hydraulic firewood splitters, lawnmowers, and home cleaning solutions are all on display. While there is some- thing here for everyone, the many contests and free compa- ny swag here are the real attraction. Every single county fair aficionado has a junk drawer at home filled with pens, rulers, coin purses, and key chains with the logos of local businesses from county fairs past. If you were a country kid who went to the fair, your parents never bought you a yellow Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil. Your pencils came blazoned with the names of tractor dealers, farm cooperatives, and insurance companies. And your wardrobe usually included something you won in a drawing from a seed or feed company at the fair. When your dad finally gets done discussing solar technol- ogy with the local dealer, you arrive at the carnival midway, the pantheon of fun. This is usually when your father reach- es into his pocket, pulls out his bulging wallet, hands every kid a crisp ten-dollar bill, and issues a warning. "Don't spend it all in one place, kid." Three Tilt-A-Whirl rides, two snow cones, one attempt to knock over milk bottles with a softball, and an hour or two later, though, you are broke. And it is at that moment when the county fair teaches every child his or her first lesson in money management. Though most of Montana's county fairs all have some things in common, every fair has at least one event more popular or unique than all the rest. The Chouteau County Fair in Fort Benton, for example, holds a pig wrestling con- test. The Northwest Montana Fair in Kalispell has an arm wrestling and rooster crowing contest. Unfortunately, how- ever, those events are not held at the same time. The Broad- water County Fair in Townsend features cow pie bingo. The Lincoln County Fair in Eureka has an annual karaoke con- test. The Marias Fair in Shelby hosts a popular truck and tractor pull. The Central Montana Fair in Lewistown features a BGM race, where amateur drivers race around a track filled

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