Another successful Oklee Market Day

The weather was beautiful with blue skies and the temperatures were awesome on August 13th. And it was another successful Market Day for Oklee.  

A first time event at Oklee Market Day was the Key Hunt. The winners were: Owen O'Neill, Hunter Westcott, Bryar Lane, Nicole Barstad, and Caroline Knudson and the Grand prize key -Gunnar Sandeen.

The Chalk Art Contest was a favorite last year so this year it was brought back by popular demand and there were more artists than last year with 30 registered. There were three categories based on age. The winners were: 

Age 5-8: 

1st Mckenzie Hamm

2nd Ethan Johnson

3rd Munt Grandkids - Jack,Jemma, Caroline & Adele

Age 9-12:

1st Hannah Dudycha

2nd Bailey & Shelby Sherman

3rd Melby Girls- Karena, Dana, Lauren & Tatum

Adult:

1st Lars Schue

2nd Amy Sherman

3rd Lambert Sisters-Cindy & Kristi.

Pictures of the Chalk Art will be throughout the paper. There were some pretty interesting creations.

The 5K Walk/Run for Paul was held early that morning with 55 participants. There is always good participation and it was a good morning for a run or walk. The times for the winning runners are listed under their photos except for the two girls who tied in the under 18 category. The photographer missed them coming in. Shelby Gunderson & Karena Melby's time was 31.37, but the rest are pictured on page 2.

The Hall and School had 25  registered vendors from all types of crafts and products to purchase. 

There were food vendors (Zion Lutheran & American Legion) along with other businesses offering a variety of eats and the weather did drop a few quick drops of rain after lunchtime, but it also quickly left the area.

Due to the rain received before Oklee Market Day, the Plowing Demonstation was canceled because the field was just too wet. Watch for this event next year to return, if Mother Nature cooperates.

The Car & Motorcycle Show and the Tractor Parade were enjoyable. There were 40 cars registered and 9 motorcycles  on display. There was a wide variety of both for the public to enjoy. The tractors put on a short Tractor Parade which  was fun for the enthusiasts to enjoy. 

Car Show winners were $75.00 Dale Olson (Oklee); $50.00 Dan Andeson (AZ); and $25 Tyler Johnson (Mentor). The 50/50 drawing winner was Karl Sorenson (Plummer).

The Market Day Quilt Show was held at the RLCC High School gymnasium and there were some really beautiful quilts. About 200 people came through the display of quilts. The amazing handiwork these quilters do is exceptional. The time and skill needed to create these fabric wonders is a treat to view.There were 27 large quilts, 14 small quilts or projects and 6 Heritage quilts.

Winners of the Quilt show are - Larger Items: 1st Place: Florence Tvedt (quilt pictured middle top row); 2nd place: Dianne Christopherson (quilt pictured left top row) and 3rd place Cheryl Sistad.

Smaller quilts & projects: 1st place: Florence Tvedt, 2nd place: Janice Paulson, and 3rd place, Grace Dessellier.

For the third year in a row, the Back Seat Driver contest is a fun event for all ages. There were some young drivers, and a few older drivers. The direction givers had fun with their blindfolded drivers (victims) during the contest, sometimes leading them astray. Actually, for the most part, the direction givers behaved themselves. It is fun, but not easy if you are the driver. The winners of the Back Seat Drivers contest were George Burthwick and John Dudycha.

This year we once again had Street Games which had been missing for a couple of years in our festivities. There was a good group of adults and children that participated and had lots of fun. The games were old fashioned type of games like "Shoe Kick", "Golf Ball on the Spoon race", "Water Balloon Toss", "Egg Toss" and many more. Also added to this fun was a sandpile filled with coins. The $100 of coins were supplied by the Oklee Ambulance for the Sand Pile plus another $50 for the rest of the games. And the children loved it. Prizes were also donated from the Oklee Historical Society for the adult game. Prizes of Water-Weinies donated by Oklee Quilting.

On the adult side of the games, there was a guzzling contest. There was a tie: Rick Bjerklie tied his son in law Isaac Magnell in the Hamms Beer Chug. 1st place will be determined next Aug. at Oklee Market Days!

Something we have never done before was to have a ping-pong ball drop. This was done from the top of the Oklee Quilting building. Adults and children were included. 

The Red Lake County Fair decided to add to our event by holding a Baja Race at the South Park. And it was fun to watch. The results are not in to the Oklee Herald office yet.

The Oklee Market Day Chili Cook-Off was a fun event. There were seven contestants. There was one missing from the photos on August 17th, it was the team of Dean & Janel Walstad. They had a delicous chili and the recipe  from a Basic Training manual. Their table was decorated with military items you would see in a mess hall. 

The other contestants were the Jacob family, the Isaac Melby family, Carol Connell with LeAnn Smith, Trisha Lane, Jena Dessellier, and Chris & Virginia Christen, all of Oklee. 

The many different activities helps out the Oklee Market Day event and it was good to see businesses and other volunteers come out and help make this a day to remember for everyone. 

To finish off the day in Oklee, we were once again blessed with the musical talents of Jack Sundrud (orginally from Oklee), and his musical partner in Idlewheel, Craig Bickhardt. Their performance was great as usual and everyone seemed to enjoy the concert. 

After the concert, many folks then headed across the street to TJ's Tavern for "Shell Shock" which is an awesome band also. 

Next year the date will be on the second weekend of August which will be August 12th. So mark your calendars early. Bring in your cars, motorcycles, tractors for show, if your a crafter, plan your vending schedule to include Oklee Market Day and if you participated in an activity and have ideas to make it better or you would like to see something added, let the members of the Market Day Committee know. 

The Market Day Committee is always looking for more ideas, members, etc. to make this a great event for all to enjoy. And they would like to let you all know who came, participated, volunteered, etc. that without you, this would not be the great day that you have made it become.