The 106th MontanaFair started Friday afternoon for the first of a nine-day run.
According to MetraPark management, it's a normal atmosphere for the fair, which started as the Midland Empire Fair in 1916.
The Mighty Thomas Carnival is back with the full amount of rides after limiting the numbers last year.
With the demolition of the grandstand and other buildings, there's more at the fair.
"The excitement and as you can hear and see at MontanaFair this year I think everybody was ready to come back and have a good time," said Ray Massie, MetraPark director of marketing and sales.
He said there is lots of enthusiasm after a limited fair in 2020.
"And certainly we have a huge crowd out," he said. "Feels very normal. I'd like to see another, oh, eight, nine, 10,000 people on the grounds and we'll see that we're trying to get to that level of excitement. Part of it is you'd think we've never done this before with all the things we know that we did they weren't where we wanted them to be. But I think as far as the public is concerned, they're feeling the excitement and energy that come with being a MontanaFair."
Massie said with the demolition of the grandstand and other buildings, there's more at the fair.
"A lot of the traditional things are back," he said. "And we have the new DigIt Days event that will take place on the 19th and 20th. They're going to start moving in some of those big vehicles on Monday, so you're going to be able to see a Cat 777 haul truck. That's a truck that's used at the mines that will be coming at DigIt Days along with excavators, bulldozers. You name it. If it can dig in the ground, it's going to be at DigIt Days this year."
And fair workers are also ready.
"We're all fired up," Massie said. "It's like, think about what we were doing a year ago versus what we're doing now. This is what MetraPark and MontanaFair was made for."
Management has employees wearing masks indoors, but it's not a requirement for the customers.
