Sugarbeet Festival set for Saturday in Chinook

The Chinook Sugarbeet Festival is this weekend running all day Saturday with a parade, food and tons of events put on by local businesses, including many new additions.

Chinook Area Chamber of Commerce President Daniel Dahl said this is his third year organizing the event, and it's looking to be the biggest festival he's done so far, with a lot of new events put on by business and many more vendors.

"We've got some new business owners and they're excited to be doing some new things for the festival," he said.

He said the theme of this year is "Back In My Day."

The first events of the day will be the Poker Run hosted by First Bank of Montana with registration at 8 a.m. and the start of the race at 9 a.m.

Dahl said poker cards will be handed to runners throughout the race and the best hand at the end wins.

Also starting at 9 a.m. will be the Chinook Rod and Gun Club Gun Show at the Blaine County Fairgrounds Commercial building, which will end for the day at 6 p.m.

The Blaine County Cruisers Car Show will also start at 9 a.m. and end at 2 p.m.

At 11 a.m. Shores Floral will be holding a Dog Costume Contest, at 11:30 a.m. B&B Buyers will hold a Pie Eating Contest and at noon the Pastime Lounge will host a Corn Hole Tournament.

The Washer Toss will be at the Mint Bar at 12:30 p.m. and the Blaine County Museum will be holding its "Lady in the Glass" look-alike contest at 1:30 p.m.

At 2 p.m., Rad's Deli and Pizza will have a trivia game and at 3 p.m. the parade will begin.

Dahl said a lot of these events are new, and he's excited to see what new businesses do this year.

The Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation Brewfest will be held at Sweet Park at 4 p.m. and the museum will hold a special screening of "Forty Miles From Freedom," in honor of the anniversary of the Battle of the Bear Paw.

Vendors and bounce houses, as well as the Tractor and Antique Vehicle Show, will be running all day, and the town's Wildlife Museum along with the Blaine County Museum will be open all day too.

The Blaine County Museum will have the "Blackfeet Indian Tipis: Design and Legend" traveling exhibit.

Dahl said the festival has a lot more vendors this year and since the event coincides with a local football game, which it didn't last year, he thinks attendance will be much higher this year.

"We just want people to come in and enjoy all the local businesses that we have," he said.

He said they did have a festival in 2020, but it was scaled back a bit due to the pandemic, and because there was no football game on the weekend in 2021, the year's he's organized have been relatively small. This year, he expects, will be much bigger, with more events and, presumably, more people.