“I want everybody throwing your light on your cellphone,” he said. “… Let’s light up the night sky tonight for our final freestyle. If you want him to go big, light those phones up, wave ’em around.”

The crowd answered, creating a field of bright dots around the stands. By that point in the day, many of them had already been pulling out their phones for videos or snapshots of rides, talented performers or just fun family moments.

Full turnout won’t be announced until later. But Friday night had set a record for the fair, and Thursday was either a record or close, said fair office manager Carol Saari.

This year also saw the addition of cattle sorting, which was “really a big hit,” said fair board member Debbie Winquist.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Houghton County Fair attendees could browse the entries in the Youth Poultry Show, including Spade Stenersen’s Narragansett male turkeys, which won first place in their division.

The fair’s expanded exhibition building also had more exhibits in it than years past, fair board members said. In the youth division, 870 people had signed up for this year, said Cathy Isaacson, one of the youth superintendents.

She’d gone around to schools this year and told kids how to contact the fair. Kids can check online or go to the fair office to check the book to see what categories are available. They can also learn through word of mouth from their friends.

“I always tell kids, if you do a science project at school, save it,” she said. “If you do an art project at school, if you write a story, save it, put it in the fair.”

For the first time, the fair also broadened the exhibitor of the year award to youth. Jane Eskola and Sylvia Aho were named junior and senior exhibitors of the year, respectively, joining adult winner Pamela Hecht. Broadening the award had been a longstanding goal of the fair, Isaacson said.

Participating in the fair, whether by performing or entering an exhibit, lets kids put themselves out there, Isaacson said. It also encourages creativity in getting something together, and responsibility in getting it done.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette A line of antique tractors is seen at the Houghton County Fair Saturday.

Most of all, it gets them to be part of the community, she said.

“Nowadays, it’s so sad, you don’t see as much community,” Isaacson said after Saturday’s youth talent show. “So it’s really nice to see all these kids getting involved. They may have animals and livestock, they may be doing exhibits, they may be doing talent show. So a lot of these kids have different things on their plate, and I think that’s great.”

Bailey Strom, who had this year’s Reserve Steer in the youth livestock auction, has been showing steers and pigs for the past seven years. She learned the activity from her sister.

Around the time of the fair, she gets next year’s calves. She takes care of them throughout the winter and up until the time of the fair. Then she picks the best ones to show, looking at traits like bone structure, a soundness throughout their body, and their walk. (A stiff walk, where their back legs pop out, will hurt their score from the judges.)

Ultimately, Strom’s steer was sold for $7.25 a pound.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Jewel Laux showcases her 13th and final market animal, Goose, at the Houghton County Fair Junior Market Livestock auction Saturday. The 1,350-pound Grand Steer was sold for $11.25 a pound. Laux is using the money from the sale for her education at Northern Michigan University, where she is majoring in biology.

“It feels good to get that high price, but it also hurts a little bit because you have them for so long and they’re like your best friend,” she said. “It’s both good and bad.”

Strom has three more years of showing left at the Houghton County Fair, then another four at the U.P. State Fair. It’s taught her responsibility, and more.

“How you treat animals is a huge thing in showing a steer,” she said. “You learn how to present yourself, and the animals. You learn respect for that animal and respect for others. You learn a lot from it.”

Many of the people on the fairgrounds Saturday were just having fun. Out on the ballfield, kids enjoyed the new Magical Bubbles exhibit, where they could create giant bubbles using custom wands built by James Storck. He demonstrated one of his own, a fishing net design he estimated took 20 hours to create. As he lifted it up, a wind-aided armada of bubbles flew from the net, pelting a delighted gang of children.

Part of the gang were Dale and Nathan Whinter, who also made bubbles on their own. Their parents, Neil Whitman and Kristina Flesher, bring them out to the fair each year.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Auctioneer Jim Moker spots a bid during the Junior Market Livestock Auction Saturday at the Houghton County Fair.

“Every year it’s been getting better,” Whitman said. “Nothing better than taking the kids out on the one weekend that all these events are happening.”

At the moment, the bubbles were their favorite part of the fair. But that changes by the moment, Flesher said.

“We started with rides, we went on slides, and now we’re ready for nap time by finishing up the bubbles,” Whitman said.

They still had more fun ahead.

“We want to see the monster trucks, because they’ll love it,” Flesher said.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette A scarecrow, a first-place horticulture entry by Susan Mattila, keeps watch over the agriculture and horticulture section of the Houghton County Fair exhibition building Saturday.

A packed crowd got what they came for.

After an hour-and-a-half, the cell light display spurred Dirt Crew driver Jerry Beck to a winning performance, including big jumps and a “stoppie,” where he braked and balanced the car on its front for several seconds.

Applause determined the winner. It wasn’t close.

A “pumped up” Beck addressed the crowd at the end.

“For you guys that follow me, I don’t do stoppies, so that was a pretty big deal for me,” he said.

Afterwards, the crowd filed out, some to get autographs from the monster truck drivers.

Jeffrey Laitila was at his first fair since moving back to the area in June. His family enjoyed the monster trucks.

What did he like most about being back at the fair?

“The atmosphere,” he said. “It’s amazing.”

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette John Westerinen of Mass City, a vintage Ford owner himself, inspects a 1930 Ford owned by Walter Kallianen of Chassell. The vehicle won best of show in the antiques division.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Some of Exhibitor of the Year Pamela Hecht’s entries are seen in the Houghton County Fair exhibition building.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette James Storck of Magical Bubbles uses his hand-made bubble fishing net to prepare a slew of bubbles for children at the Houghton County Fair Saturday.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette James Storck of Magical Bubbles uses his hand-made bubble fishing net to prepare a slew of bubbles for children at the Houghton County Fair Saturday.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette James Storck of Magical Bubbles uses his hand-made bubble fishing net to prepare a slew of bubbles for children at the Houghton County Fair Saturday.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Neil Whitman and Kristin Flesher of Houghton watch as Nathan and Dale Whinter play at the Magical Bubbles station at the Houghton County Fair Saturday.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Claire Zimmer arranges flowers during her performance at the Houghton County Fair’s youth talent show Saturday.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Roger Orozco walks the tightrope during a Victoria Circus performance at the Houghton County Fair Saturday.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Victoria Circus aerialist Alexa Portugal maneuvers on a steel ring during a performance at the Houghton County Fair Saturday.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Virginia Giant catches air during Saturday’s Monster Truck Throwdown at the Houghton County Fair.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Dirt Crew driver Jerry Beck waves to the crowd after Saturday’s Monster Truck Throwdown win at the Houghton County Fair.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Motorcyclists speed around the “Globe of Death” at the end of the Victoria Circus performance at the Houghton County Fair Saturday.