Festival Days full of sports action

When it comes to celebrations, at least in Havre, it doesn’t get much bigger or better than the annual Festival Days celebration.

It’s one of Havre’s oldest and proudest traditions.

And while there’s plenty of different things to do, see, and participate in each year during Festival Days, one of the big attractions is local sporting events.

And this year’s version of Festival Days will be jam-packed with sports.

Especially football.

On Friday night during Festival Days, the Havre Blue Ponies will be under the lights at Blue Pony Stadium. It’s an exciting year for Blue Pony football, and their Festival Days game against the Sidney Eagles will be a big, festive and exciting game.

Saturday morning is always reserved for the annual Festival Days Parade, but right after, fans should march themselves back to Blue Pony Stadium. On Saturday, the Montana State University-Northern football team will take the field against the UM-Western Bulldogs. And not only is it a home game for the Lights, it’s their annual homecoming game, so it shouldn’t be missed.

But football is only part of the Festival Days’ equation. This weekend also marks the start of the MSU-Northern volleyball team’s home schedule. Tonight, the Skylights host Lewis-Clark State, then return to the Armory Gymnasium to face defending Frontier Conference champion Rocky Mountain College on Saturday night. Both matches start at 7 p.m., and again, it’s Homecoming Weekend at Northern.

Of course, the annual 48-Hour Softball Tournament will return to Festival Days. The event starts at 6 p.m. Friday and runs through the championship game Sunday. The tournament is played nonstop, and attracts teams from all over Montana, as well as Canada. The tourney is a huge fan favorite, and each year, softball fans can be seen viewing games under the lights at times like 1 and 3 a.m. at the famed Sixth Avenue Memorial Field.

And if that wasn’t enough, the Glacier Nationals Tier III Junior Hockey team also has a home game against the Helena Bighorns on Saturday night at the Havre Ice Dome, and the annual E-1 Towing Demolition Derby is also in town that weekend at the Great Northern Fairgrounds.

So once again, local sports will be a very big part of the what is already a very festive and fun weekend in Havre.