Great Northern Fair cancellation decision tabled again

The Great Northern Fair Board held its monthly meeting Tuesday where they voted unanimously to table for 14 days the decision on whether to cancel the fair.

The board determined that because of the governor's recent announcement of Phase Two of the state's re-opening, which begins June 1, that they would hold a special meeting June 2 to discuss further and make a final decision.

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Fairgrounds Community Center, members of the public are invited to attend and comment, assuming Phase Two goes into effect June 1 without incident.

Chair Bobbie Dolphay said the board will look into setting up a way for members of the public to make comment more easily and directly in the meantime. Members of the board said they haven't received any direct comments on the prospect of a fair cancelation, but Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean said she and the rest of the commission had received comments.

Hill County Public Health Director Kim Larson provided details of the impending implementation of Gov. Bullock's Phase Two re-opening including the fact that events with 50 or less attendees will be permitted in cases where social distancing is not entirely maintainable, and that food service establishments can now operate at 75 percent capacity in their dining areas.

Board member Tyler Smith said he was still very skeptical as to whether the fair could keep up with properly disinfecting the eating areas and keep them clean enough.

"In light of all that I still think the disinfectant procedures, while good on paper, are just simply unrealistic in a fair atmosphere," he said.

Smith said he doesn't think disinfecting tablecloths after every use is something that organizers and staff can keep up with and fears that it will cause violations of the guidelines Gov. Steve Bullock put out.

"I don't see where it's feasible to stay within those guidelines," he said.

Board Vice Chair Chelby Gooch said she shares some of the Smith's concerns about running the fair properly in the current circumstances.

"I just don't know that we have the man-power," she said.

Gooch said the recent announcement by Bullock has affected how she sees the potential cancellation.

"I think a lot the difficulty comes from, today we're meeting, and the governor decides today to introduce these changes and I think out biggest concern is, you know, Phase Three," she said, "Is it gonna start July 1? We don't know."

The implementation of Phase Two, specifically the lifting of 14-day quarantine for out-of-state travelers has opened up the possibility of rodeo events returning to the fair, but Smith said, he's not sure if the people running said events would be willing to return even if Phase Two is implemented as planned.

He also said he has doubts about whether the carnival will be able to come to the fair because events on its route have been canceled, making it a financially questionable decision.

"I can't imagine a much worse business environment for a carnival than what we're in right now," Smith said.

McLean said that there are similar events across Montana, some of which Hill County residents have attended, that haven't been canceled and have not resulted in an outbreak.

"There are multiple jackpots going on in our state, the state high school rodeo has been approved in Baker and that's the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth of June," she said, "There are multiple barrel races and jackpots scheduled in the month of June in multiple counties. Philips County, Yellowstone County, there's just a lot stuff going on, and they've been over long enough now that if there was going to be a great big outbreak, there would have been an uptick of cases, maybe even in this county."

"I think we're trying to be police officers here and we're asking to be opened up, the country is wanting to be opened up," said board member Ray Kallenberger after a brief discussion about the guidelines regarding rodeo events.

The board discussed during its meeting that the Cascade County Commission Tuesday canceled the Montana State Fair scheduled in Great Falls for July 24-Aug. 1.

Dolphay said every member of the board wants to have a fair, but the dynamic nature of the situation makes the decision a complicated one.

"We all want a fair, but you can't plan for the unknown," she said, "I mean, the fair isn't just one event, there are all these smaller events that make up the fair. There's the food booth, 4-H, all of these things come into play and we have to make sure everybody is following the governor's guidelines, and we could go back to Phase One at any point."

During the meeting Kyle Leeds of Havre asked, via GoToMeeting, if there was a possibility of using the days of the Great Northern Fair to put on a 4-H event to replace the fair if it was canceled.

Smith said that is a possibility if all participating parties think they can stay in line with the governor's guidelines.

"Essentially it's a 4-H fair, there are no night shows, there is no entertainment and essentially those who are conducting activities here would be going on their own," he said.

Montana State University Extension Agent Jasmine Carbajal said these 4-H activities would likely be virtually attendable anyway.

Kallenberger also gave a report on the fairground's budget.

"We're doing really good as far as the income side, and we're doing really good on the expenses," he said.

Dolphay also said the Fossil Festival, Antique Show and Hi-Line Cruz'N Association Show and Shine appear to have been canceled, though tentative plans were made for the Fossil Festival to take place on Labor Day weekend of 2021.