It takes a village, Hilary Clinton once said. And that’s what Valley City brings to the North Dakota Winter Show: a wonderful community of people who come together every year and put on a spectacular winter event that brings the people of Valley City, N.D., and Barnes County up close and personal with people all over the region to enjoy the heritage of the western agricultural life we enjoy in the plains.
Packed with entertainment, education and agriculture, the North Dakota Winter Show (NDWS) begins Tuesday, March 1 and runs through Sunday, March 6, with the hub of activity centering on the NDWS Event Center in Valley City, N.D. But the bounty of events overflows to include the National Armory, the City Auditorium, the High School Activity Center, the Valley City State University, the bowling alley, the movie theatre, the Valley City Eagles Club and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2764 facility.
The NDWS volunteers make this event one for the whole family. Family is a theme that runs through the winter show. One family in particular has logged more than 82 cumulative years organizing the NDWS. Gerry Gerntholz has logged 32 years with the winter show and his wife Marian has volunteered 49 years. The NDWS has become a family affair for the Gerntholz family as their daughter, Beth, also joined as a board member this year.
“In the beginning it was mostly agricultural with a livestock show, crop show; we had home appliances and things like that the gals would be interested in. Over 100 vendors now exhibit at the NDWS.”
Gerry said he remembers “growing up near Valley City and the folks taking me to the winter show each year; even during the 40s, during the war, it was always the experience of the winter.” He was in 4-H. “It was a whole lot of fun; one thing was to eat a foot-long hotdog, looking at all the new tractors and farm equipment. It came at a perfect time when the weather is starting to warm up and a good time to get rid of your cabin fever. I am still involved because of the people you meet and the friends you make being involved in a show like this.”
Gerry’s wife Marian has been involved in the Women’s Division of the NDWS for 49 years and earned “Outstanding Chairperson of the Year” award for the State of North Dakota in 2009.
“It’s like a career for me, because I did not work outside the home but have been involved in this and other organizations,” said Marian.
“I was asked by some of the board members, they weren’t a board at the time, but a group of 8-10 people involved in planning the event. I was just a new mother. I accepted because I wanted to be on a leadership board in the community and it was a way to use my home economics degree. It worked out really well because we met every month. Now we meet from September to May, and we plan events that we think would be of interest to the community and the state. I have enjoyed being on the board,” said Marian.
“When I was first involved, it was an 11-day show and the ladies planned four days of shows with a cooking school, fair, or knitting show. We organized the type of things the ladies thought women would be interested in,” Marian said. “We changed the show quite a bit to include a style show, senior dance day, a hoe-down day, where we emphasize music. That has become a popular day; more than 400 people come for the hoe-down and stay the day.”
The NDWS began in 1937 as an agricultural event and has grown to one of the largest phenomenons in the state, covering six days of educational, agricultural and entertainment events. Marian said the Women’s Division has greatly impacted the NDWS by bringing events to the show that women like. “If the women want to go, then the guys go too,” said Marian. The Women’s Division organized the indoor yard sale that brings more than 600 people through the doors.
“We have an antique show and sale, a craft show, a senior dance day, the tasting bee where people buy bite-sized pieces and can choose what kind of food they want to eat. About 25-30 vendors participate in that. They have kugen, ice cream, salads, donuts, etc.”
Events cater to every taste including a trade show, crop show, chili cook-off, Community Olympics, Big Boys Toys, commercial exhibits, lectures, music, dancing, tractor pulls, horse pull competition, a pickup pull, farm toy show, a tasting bee, hog show, Northern Outlaw Wrestling, steer and hog auction, PRCA rodeo, rodeo queen competition, magic shows and music that includes country legend Sherwin Linton.
Sherwin Linton brings more than five decades of his musical legacy to North Dakota to perform the opening day of the NDWS in his “Tribute to Johnny Cash.”
For more information about the NDWS, please visit: http://www.northda
kotawintershow.com/ndws/
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