BELTRAMI COUNTY FAIR

Beltrami Electric's annual meeting, Night at the Fair event draws 1,700 guests

Pioneer Staff Report — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 19:09:58 GMT

BEMIDJI — Beltrami Electric Cooperative held its 84th annual meeting and Night at the Fair event on Aug. 7 at the Beltrami County Fairgrounds.

More than 1,700 members and guests attended the Night at the Fair program.

Members attended the business meeting at the Marilyn Shutter Country Stage, which included a financial update from Director of Finance and Corporate Services Arlene Hogquist, as well as a cooperative update from President and CEO Jared Echternach.

Beltrami Electric’s Youth Tour Delegate for 2024, Hunter Wright, also spoke about his trip to Washington, D.C., and Kay Mack, board president of the Beltrami Electric Cooperative Trust for Operation Round Up, presented on the success of the program in our local communities.

The members of the cooperative then elected three directors to the board, which included Kevin Geerdes for District 3, incumbent director John Lund for District 6 and incumbent director Sharon Lembke for District 9.

Beltrami Electric then sponsored a free concert in the grandstand, where fairgoers had the opportunity to hear Figuring It Out, the Abello Family Acoustics Band.

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Thousands flock to Beltrami County Fair for first day of fun

Madelyn Haasken — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 16:38:34 GMT

BEMIDJI — Despite a rainy afternoon, fairgoers came out to the Beltrami County Fair as the clouds parted on Wednesday to enjoy an evening of carnival rides, animal barns and fair food.

The rest of the week will feature plenty of fun activities for attendees, including several events at the Grandstand. Motocross will be held on Thursday evening, with Hot Laps starting at 6 p.m. and a feature race at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Grandstand Ticket Office and online through Eventbrite. The cost is $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger.

For the third year in a row, Wojo's rodeo will return on Friday and Saturday nights. The gates open at 4:30 p.m. with the rodeo starting at 6:30 p.m.

Pre-sale tickets for the rodeo can be purchased at $20 for adults and $15 for children until Aug. 8, and are available at Northdale Oil, Blackduck Co-Op, Luekens North and South. E-tickets are available through Eventbrite until 11:59 p.m. the day before the event.

Tickets can also be purchased the night of the event at the Grandstand Ticket Office for $25 for adults and $20 for children 12 and younger.

Demonstrations will be held at different locations around the fairgrounds, including blacksmithing, Historical Society presentations, rug and quilt making, wood burning and more. The North STAR Center Initiative will also be giving robotics demonstrations in its newly remodeled building.

In Heritage Square, attendees can experience Tae Kwon Do, Headwaters Science Center appearances, Trout Unlimited fly tying and interactive casting demos, and Bemidji woodcarvers club and Loon Country Arts projects.

Activities in the barn include a poultry parade and barnyard Olympics on Saturday and a Paint a Pig event and livestock races on Sunday. Beltrami County 4-H will also hold many of its traditional events and activities.

A daily scavenger hunt will be offered throughout the fair with two age categories: 14 and younger and 15 and older. Attendees can stop in at the fair office and pick up a scavenger hunt list — participants who find everything on the list can return it to the office and one winner will be drawn for a prize from all the correctly completed lists each day from Thursday to Saturday.

If you go:

What: Beltrami County Fair

When: Wednesday, Aug. 7, through Sunday, Aug. 11.

Where: Beltrami County Fairgrounds, 7223 Fairgrounds Road NW.

Cost: $5 gate fee per day to park on the fairgrounds or a $10 season pass.

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Music, magic and motocross: Beltrami County Fair returns Aug. 7-11

Carley Swanson-Garro — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 13:00:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Beltrami County Fair is quickly approaching, with the opening day set for Wednesday, Aug. 7, and events running through Sunday, Aug. 11.

Featuring all the traditional summer favorites of carnival rides, food stands and farm animals of all kinds, the fair has something for everyone.

George of the Juggle will kick off the performances on Wednesday with a magic and juggling show from 4:15 to 6:15 p.m. in Heritage Square.

In the Grandstand on Wednesday, the Figuring It Out Abello Acoustics Band will be performing at 6:30 p.m.

On Thursday evening, fairgoers can watch the Motocross, with Hot Laps starting at 6 p.m. and a feature race at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Grandstand Ticket Office and online through Eventbrite. The cost is $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger.

For the third year in a row, Wojo's rodeo will be returning on Friday and Saturday nights. The gates open at 4:30 p.m. with the rodeo starting at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets can also be purchased the night of at the Grandstand Ticket Office for $25 for adults and $20 for children 12 and younger.

Sunday's Grandstand event is to be announced. Visit beltramicountyfair.org for more information.

The rest of the week will feature a variety of demonstrations, including blacksmithing, Historical Society presentations, rug and quilt making, wood burning and more.

The North STAR Center Initiative will also be giving robotics demonstrations in its newly remodeled building.

Activities in the barn include a poultry parade and barnyard Olympics on Saturday and a Paint the Pig event and livestock races on Sunday.

Beltrami County 4-H will return with its many traditional events and activities, including a pet show, horse show games, a llama and alpaca show and a dog agility show.

A daily scavenger hunt will take place throughout the fair with two age categories: 14 and younger and 15 and older. Attendees can stop in at the fair office and pick up a scavenger hunt list — participants who find everything on the list can return it to the office and one winner will be drawn for a prize from all the correctly completed lists each day from Thursday to Saturday.

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Beltrami Electric to hold annual meeting, Night at the Fair event Aug. 7

Pioneer Staff Report — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 16:07:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — Members of Beltrami Electric Cooperative are invited to attend the cooperative’s 84th Night at the Fair event, including the annual meeting, on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at the Marilyn Shutter Stage at the Beltrami County Fairgrounds.

Registration opens at 4 p.m., with the business meeting slated for 5 p.m.

The agenda includes the election of director candidates from Districts 3, 7 and 9, and will feature reports from President and CEO Jared Echternach and Director of Finance and Corporate Services Arlene Hogquist, a report on Operation Round Up by Beltrami Electric Trust board president Kay Mack, BEC’s 2024 Youth Tour delegate Hunter Wright and other business, a release said.

The Night at the Fair event will feature family-friendly activities throughout the evening, including a free concert in the grandstand from 6:30 to 8 p.m. by Figuring It Out, the talented Abello Acoustics Band, a family ensemble that promises to captivate audiences with their diverse musical repertoire.

Parking is free on Wednesday, and co-op members who register for the annual meeting will receive $10 in BEC "Food Bucks" to use at participating food vendors on Wednesday.

"Touchstone Energy’s mascot LED Lucy will be there to meet and greet members," the release said. "See the fairgrounds from a lineworker’s view in the bucket of a line truck, and watch Beltrami Electric’s skilled lineworkers give a live high-voltage safety demonstration."

New to the event this year is a duck pond for kids.

For more information, contact the co-op at (218) 444-2540 or visit www.beltramielectric.com.

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Bemidji's North STAR Center to provide much-needed space, resources for area robotics teams

Daltyn Lofstrom — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 12:30:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — Area robotics teams will soon have a designated practice space of their own.

With plans to break ground this upcoming fall, the North STAR Center — STAR referring to science, technology, automation and robotics — will provide space and resources for teams who don’t currently have a dedicated location to prepare for robotics competitions.

“When a football team plays their first game, imagine they’ve only been practicing on a half field or a quarter field, or throwing passes in the gymnasium. The very first game of the season is the first time they step onto an actual regulation football field,” Bemidji High �� teacher and Robojacks Coach Kirk Anderson said. “That’s actually the state of almost every robotics team in northern Minnesota.”

Without a dedicated space, many local teams commonly conduct practices on fields temporarily set up in classrooms or commons areas. FIRST Robotics changes its games from year to year, adding another layer of difficulty to a team’s preparation.

Travel to and from events and workshops can also add a cost-prohibitive challenge for a lot of teams.

A complementary organization to FIRST, the Northern Minnesota Robotics Conference conceived the idea of the North STAR Center to be constructed on the Beltrami County Fairgrounds to serve as a hub for local robotics teams.

“The goal is to give everybody in the NMRC a field where they can test their equipment on a regulation field with regulation equipment and to give them a chance to test things out before they go to their first competition,” Anderson added. “It’s also a place to store the materials that the schools will own collectively.”

Making space

Students and coaches from BHS, Red Lake, Cass Lake and Thief River Falls were hard at work last week tearing down a fencing area southwest of the 4-H Building as they prepared the site for eventual construction, which will be managed by Christiansen Construction Company in Bemidji.

The 7,200-square-foot facility will house a playing field, NMRC trailers and equipment.

“This has been a big project and we’re looking at probably half a million dollars for everything once we get it all done,” NMRC President and Cass Lake-Bena Coach Jesse Frost said. “We’ve had some good support from local entities.”

To accommodate the North STAR Center, the fairground’s dog park was moved further south on the grounds. Frost commended the Beltrami County Fair Board for their support of the center, which will provide opportunities for fairgoers to learn more about robotics.

“The fair board has been really good to work with,” Frost added. “This is the kind of stuff that they want to see and they understand that technology is the direction that agriculture is going. They want to evolve with the times, too.”

Beltrami County Fair Board President Vern Holzhueter spoke to the North STAR Center’s future impact and its fit within the larger context of a county fair.

“A lot of people view the fair as nostalgic and about how things were, which we do try to preserve,” Holzhueter mentioned, “but fairs have also been about the newest technologies as they relate to agriculture in our daily lives.”

Holzhueter noted several examples of robotics’ increasing involvement in daily life including the construction of cars and even robotic milking systems for dairy producers.

“We’re always trying to be on the cutting edge of technology not just in agriculture, but our lives in general,” he added.

As all stakeholders look ahead to the center’s opening, Frost emphasized Bemidji’s potential to become a central location for technology.

“There are places in the Metro area and in other states that have STEM facilities that can be utilized for this kind of stuff. (The North STAR Center) will make us more competitive overall,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s hard to get these resources up here when there’s not a lot of industry, especially in the tech sector. But we’re trying to even out the playing field a little bit.”

Anderson shared similar sentiments as he noted the Northwoods’ preparation of students entering various STEM fields.

“We may think of ourselves as being ‘up in the backwoods,’” Anderson left off, “but up here, we’re driving. We’re really trying to give our students an opportunity to develop their programming and engineering skills, and robotics is one cool way to do that.”

The North STAR Center is currently seeking financial assistance via grants, sponsorships and donations. More information can be found at nmrconference.org/northstarcenter.

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Pinewood Fire Tower, Forestry Education Center open June 16

Pioneer Staff Report — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:31:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Pinewood Fire Tower and Forestry Education Center at the Beltrami County Fairgrounds will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 16, weather permitting.

"Did you get tired of waiting in line to climb the Forest Fire Tower at the fairgrounds during fair week?" a release asked. "The tower will open early for one day only on June 16."

In the case of inclement weather, the tower will be closed but the FEC building will be open for attendees to see the new displays.

The Beltrami County Fair is set for Aug. 7-11 this year. Those interested in working at the fire tower during fair week should call (218) 766-9692 and ask for Dave Quam.

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Fire tower at Beltrami County Fairgrounds is lit up for the holidays

Pioneer Staff Report — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 18:02:46 GMT

The Beltrami County Fairgrounds got an early start on preparing for the holidays by lighting up the Pinewood Fire Tower this week.

"I had to climb the tower 10 times to get the job done," volunteer Dave Quam said in a release. "But I slept great that night."

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Beltrami Electric's annual meeting, Night at the Fair event draws 1,600 guests

Pioneer Staff Report — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 15:57:59 GMT

BEMIDJI — Beltrami Electric Cooperative held its 83rd annual meeting and Night at the Fair event on Wednesday, Aug. 9, at the Beltrami County Fairgrounds.

More than 1,600 members and guests attended the Night at the Fair program, which included a live high-voltage safety demonstration and bucket truck rides for kids, a release said.

Members attended the business meeting at the Marilyn Shutter Country Stage, which featured a financial update from Director of Finance and Corporate Services Arlene Hogquist, as well as a cooperative update from President and CEO Jared Echternach.

Beltrami Electric’s Youth Tour Delegate for 2023, Elena Harmsen, also spoke about her trip to Washington, D.C., and Communications Specialist Angela Lyseng presented on the success of the organization’s Operation Round Up program.

The members of the cooperative elected three directors to the board, which included incumbents Charlie Perkins for District 2, Craig Gaasvig for District 4 and Rick Coe for District 6. In addition, the 2022 annual meeting minutes were approved by a majority vote of the members.

Beltrami Electric then sponsored a free concert in the grandstand, where fairgoers had the opportunity to hear the Waddington Brothers, a versatile acoustic group who played a variety of bluegrass, cowboy songs and gospel music.

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Wojo's Rodeo draws hundreds to Beltrami County Fair

Madelyn Haasken — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 02:29:58 GMT

BEMIDJI — Hundreds of attendees flocked to the grandstand for some Friday night fun as Wojo's Rodeo got underway, kicking off the weekend at the Beltrami County Fair.

Participants took part in plenty of traditional rodeo events, including saddle bronc, mini bronc, goat tying, barrel races, bareback riding and more.

Wojo's Rodeo makes its return to the grandstand on Saturday, Aug. 12. The gates open at 4:30 p.m. with the rodeo starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Grandstand Ticket Office for $25 for adults and children 12 and younger for $20.

Sunday will play host to the Baja Races at noon featuring a class 4 race and kids power wheel race. Tickets can also be purchased from the Grandstand and online from Eventbrite at $15 per adult and $10 for children.

Beltrami County 4-H will also continue throughout the weekend with its many traditional events and activities. Local authors are also making an appearance on Saturday and Sunday to show fairgoers what they’ve been writing.

If you go:

What: Beltrami County Fair

When: Wednesday, Aug. 9, through Sunday, Aug. 13.

Where: Beltrami County Fairgrounds, 7223 Fairgrounds Road NW

Cost: $5 gate fee per day to park on the fairgrounds or a $10 season pass

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Beltrami County Fair kicks off in perfect summer fashion

Annalise Braught — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 00:33:45 GMT

BEMIDJI — Summer was made for perfect nights at the county fair.

Thousands descended on the Beltrami County Fairgrounds on Wednesday to enjoy just that as the temps hovered in the mid-70s and wispy clouds made for a beautiful sunset over the animal barns, food stands and midway rides.

The fair continues through Sunday, Aug. 13. Remaining Grand Stand events include Wojo’s Rodeo on Friday and Saturday nights. The gates open at 4:30 p.m. with the rodeo starting at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at the Grandstand Ticket Office for $25 for adults and children 12 and younger for $20.

Beltrami County 4-H will also continue throughout the weekend with its many traditional events and activities.

Local authors are also making an appearance on Saturday and Sunday to show fairgoers what they’ve been writing.

If you go:

What: Beltrami County Fair

When: Wednesday, Aug. 9, through Sunday, Aug. 13.

Where: Beltrami County Fairgrounds, 7223 Fairgrounds Road NW

Cost: $5 gate fee per day to park on the fairgrounds or a $10 season pass

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