Let's have fun!

COEUR d’ALENE — This is Cole Cooper’s eighth year at the North Idaho State Fair. Cousins, parents and uncles before him have shown livestock at the fair.

“Ever since I’ve been little I’ve been here,” the Post Falls teen said Thursday afternoon as he groomed “Poopski,” his 1,358-pound entry, at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

A moment later, Poopski lifted its head from the feed bin and let out a loud “moo,” then another.

Cooper believes he has a good chance to win.

“I should do pretty well,” he said. “It’s a tough area. The best calves are right in my weight, so it’s going to be a competition.

Cooper is looking forward to the fair and having fun after a summer of working and before his senior year of high school begins.

“I can focus on me and my animals,” he said.

The North Idaho State Fair begins its 10-day run today. It was abuzz with activity Thursday as some began setting up and hustling for help, while others were making final preparations on a sunny afternoon.

Adults and kids worked alone, in pairs and in groups posting banners and decorating booths, arranging art, moving merchandise and preparing to serve food and drink to the hoped-for thousands of daily customers.

Dan Ritchie of Mary Lou’s out of Spokane said they’ll be ready with favorites like huckleberry ice cream and cinnamon apple fries, along with jumbo elephant ears and root-beer floats.

“Huckleberry ice cream is the most popular thing we sell,” he said. "We’re famous for that.”

It’s Mary Lou’s first year at the North Idaho State Fair.

“We’re been trying to get in for years so we’re excited to be here,” he said.

The apple fries did the trick. Apples are cut like fries, deep-fried, coated with cinnamon and sugar and served with caramel and whipped cream. Sounds good, and it is, Ritchie said.

“That’s kind of what got us in here because nobody else does it,” he said.

Nicole Beam of Nine Mile Falls, Wash., brought her Sparkles Face Painting to the fair for the third year and was in good spirits as she set up her booth Thursday.

She’ll be painting faces, foreheads, arms, legs and “all that good stuff.”

“I”m excited to get out and make some kids smile,” she said.

Beam is glad they added extra days to the fair.

“It gives people more of a chance to get out and have fun and let the kids enjoy the fresh air,” she said.

The Coeur d’Alene Lions Club is back with its popular chicken and fries for $9, biscuits and gravy for $4 or $7, and corn on the cob, too.

Dale, a member who declined to give his last name, was finishing up in the food court. He said he had trouble getting all the chicken they needed, but pulled it off.

“It took me two weeks to get it,” he said.

Corn, on the other hand, was easier to come by, but the price rose by 50% over two years ago.

“I bought 120 cases of corn to get us started,” he said.

Wayne Waddoups of Franklin brought his Rustic Wood Works to the fair, a skill he learned from his parents. When he was a boy, they took him to fairs.

“My father did the wood work and my mother painted,” he said. “I was a little scrap going to all the fairs. It was in my blood.”

Waddoups carves, burns and paints to create beautiful wildlife scenes with bears and eagles on wood.

“Anything in northern Idaho, northern Montana, I come up here no matter what it is,” he said.

He likes that the fair expanded to 10 days from the usual five.

“Might be twice as fun,” he said.

Pam Shultz of San Diego was making the final touches to her Wild Science show that’s new to the fair.

It includes giant chess and checkers pieces and an array of hands-on activities that encourage kids to use their imaginations and make discoveries through maps, mazes and more.

“There’s so much science between chess and checkers,” she said.

Shultz is traveling to fairs around the country with Wild Science. She was just in Gillette, Wyo., and after this stop, heads to Ellensburg, Wash.

She said families don’t often have opportunities to go to a science museum, so she brings it to them.

“All we want to do is excite kids,” she said.

She was also pleased the fair is 10 days and is sure it will attract big crowds for every one of them.

“Everybody is happy to be working, people want to get out,” she said.