Joplin hosts its own all-day activity-packed event

The fifth annual Joplin Montana Car Show and Art in the Park event will host an activity-packed Saturday that will end with a snowmobile race intended to ignite an old rivalry between Joplin and Inverness high school alumni.

Event coordinator Shay Richter, who dubs himself a "young pup" who grew up in a Bulldog family after Joplin and Inverness schools were consolidated, said the event will have something for everyone.  

"It's pretty much the best combination of beverages and horsepower a guy can think of," Richter said. "It's Joplin's time to shine."

The first event of the day will be a 1-mile run commemorating Dawson Fraser, a boy who died in a motorcycle crash years ago, that will begin at 10 a.m.

Also beginning at 10 a.m. and lasting until 4 p.m. will be Art in the Park.

The event includes kids' activities, arts, craft vendors, a beer garden, live entertainment and a horseshoe tournament.

"There's a bunch of stuff for kids to do," Richter added.

The car show will begin early in the day and prizes will be given out around 4 p.m., before the main event, the Juvat Sled Jam.

The Sled Jam will be a team race between Joplin and Inverness alumni on older model snowmobiles. The participants will be dressed up.

Richter said Tuesday they were still trying to find two graduates from Inverness for the team challenge.

Richter said the event resulted from a combination of idleness and innovation.

"Me and a couple of guys wanted something to do," he said.

They all had snowmobiles, but summer prevented more use than they would have liked. So they came up with a snowmobile race in the summer in which they would race their older model snowmobiles.

The goal, Richter said, is to work "our way down the Hi-Line and bring some of the old stories and community together once again."

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Watch for photos and a story about the activities in Joplin in next Friday's Hi-Line Living.