Winter in North Dakota can be a challenge, but it can also offer great experiences and traditions. Dakota Datebook joins the celebration of winter in conjunction with the Northern Plains National Heritage Area and Sons of Norway Sverdrup Lodge for the inaugural “Vinterfest,” a celebration of all things winter, throughout the month of January.
There are many fairs and festivals throughout the state during winter. But one of them, the North Dakota Winter Show, has been a staple of the winter season since 1938. The agricultural fair takes place every March in Valley City to promote and improve agriculture, horticulture, and various mechanical, manufacturing and household arts. An agricultural show in winter may seem odd, but the date was chosen deliberately as it’s a time farmers and ranchers are not busy with seasonal work. Instead it’s time for planning, and they’ve had had all winter to prepare livestock for shows and sales.
Despite being a late-winter event in the middle of North Dakota, weather troubles have rarely been a problem for show organizers, with the event only cancelled once during the first 50 years of the show, in the aftermath of the 1966 blizzard.
The winter show also provides some much needed entertainment after the long winter months. Early years offered area music groups, lectures, and radio shows. Performers included the Hoosier Hot Shots known for appearances on the NBC Dance Barn. In 1944, USO entertainers appeared. In 1949, former Miss America BeBe Shopp performed. 1950 featured North Dakota native Peggy Lee, who was already famous at the age of 29. Another big event came in 1963 as the show began hosting an RCA rodeo.
The Winter Show is also an opportunity to gather, as families, ranchers, and farmers come year after year, to catch up with friends and family from across the state. In a 1983 newspaper article, E. W. Richman, a past director of the show said one of his favorite things is seeing old friends, their children, and grandchildren, and watching those families grow.
Dakota Datebook by Ashley Thronson
Sources:
- North Dakota Winter Show Records, MSS 10208, State Historical Society of North Dakota
- Halvorson, Brenda, The first 50 years: North Dakota Winter Show, Valley City, North Dakota. Valley City Times-Record, [1987]
