Landusky Fun Day scheduled for July 5

Just because the Forth of July will have come and gone by the end of next Friday night doesn’t mean that the celebration in Phillips County needs to end. On Saturday, July 5, the townsfolk of Landusky invite you to come out for a day’s worth of activities as the Fifth Annual Landusky Fun Day.

The Landusky Fun Day started out as a Historic Day, but in the absences of anything new to cover historically for the town, the foundation decided that a Fun Day was in order and might bring a bigger crowd to town, this year marking the fifth Fun Day in Landusky.

The Fun Day is hosted by The Landusky Foundation. The Foundation, formed in 2008, was founded because the Landusky School was donated to the town after closing down around the same time as the school had no students for a couple of years. The school was the oldest continually running school in Montana before it closed.

“We are just trying to keep it as a place where community members can go and keep the cohesiveness together in the community,” Claudia Shimko, Landusky Foundation secretary, said.

Shimko said that the population, after counting all the town’s people in her head, is about 10 people in the winter and doubles in size in the summer.

“And I’m just talking about in the town itself,” she said. “The Kolczaks and the Heppners live out there on the corner so that is another six people, at least.”

Carol Heppner is the head of the Landusky Foundation and Darlene Kolczak is the treasurer while Gary and Angie Loining are chairpersons and Aggie Kolczak is the “member at large.”

There have been plans to have a band provide live music for the day’s events, but that is only tentative. Last year one of the most popular events during the Landusky Fun Day was a Chili Cook Off and that event is returning this year.

“We don’t actually have anyone cook at the facilities because we don’t have enough space there,” said Shimko. “So people bring their cooked chili and we have a secret panel that judges it and then people donate the chili and we serve it for dinner. We probably had about eight entries last year, but the more the merrier.”

There is an entry fee for the cook off and the winner of the event takes half the pot while the other half goes to the Landusky Foundation.

The Chili Dinner ends the day after several events. In the morning, Fun Day kicks off with a free-will offering brunch consisting of eggs, sausage and pancakes, a Wool Spinning Demonstration by Diana Maxwell and a horseshoe tournament. There will also be a Washoe Tournament – in the game, metal discs are thrown through holes in two boards. There will be games and prizes for children, a ladder ball tournament, three 50/50 drawings, and a live auction starting at 3 p.m. to be followed up by the Chili Feed at 5 p.m.

“The money from the second 50/50 Drawing will go to help fund our fire hall in town,” Shimko said. “We hope everyone comes out and enjoy the day with us.”