Broadview Daze

Broadview Daze starts at nine in the morning on the Broadview School ball field, with softball games and a breakfast of burritos and iced coffee. That was the opening of the 2026 edition on Saturday, June 6. The fair itself ran from 1 to 6 that afternoon at the Homestead Inn, 16551 Iowa Avenue, and the Broadview Community Center. Organizers call it a community fair and a fundraiser for the Broadview Volunteer Fire District. The firefighters sold raffle tickets through the day, and the forecast the organizers posted that week called for the upper 80s.

Booths by the community center

Vendors and the Kids Corner open at one o’clock. Bethel Evangelical Church runs the Kids Corner outside and to the left of the community center, with free games, free crafts, free popcorn and free cotton candy. The fire district brings a bounce house. Angie Eastman of Creative Creations sets up outside the community center for face painting and balloon art.

Most booths have a hometown cause behind them. In 2026 The Carrot Patch sold crafts made by local children from three families, the Adamses, the Snows and the McJunkins. Gwen sold Italian sodas to pay for a trip to Washington, D.C., and the Close Up students sold snow cones for the same destination. Another group of students sold ice cream from an outdoor booth. Nancy, who heads the local chapter of the American Cancer Society Relay For Life, sold luminaries in honor of loved ones and ran a 50/50 drawing and a raffle for prize baskets. Her fundraising runs all year and ends at the annual relay in Billings. Sip & Squeeze made its first appearance with a summer menu, and the organizers told fairgoers to look for Lil Red Wagon at five o’clock.

The parade from the old red bar

The parade starts at two. Entrants gather at 1:45 in front of the old red bar, and the call for entries in 2026 asked for “a fun vehicle,” “a decorated flat bed,” “an old tractor,” “a riding lawn mower,” “a Razor,” or “a horse or donkey ready to step into the spotlight.” Rory and Jen Adams take the entries. The organizers put animals toward the front and the noisier vehicles at the back, and they added: “We never know how things will go and that is part of the fun!”

After the parade, families meet in the field near the bounce house for games led by Rory Adams. The 2026 program included hay bale throwing, Hammerschlagen, a roping contest and other country fair games, with prize ribbons for the winners. It was the first year for the games. “This is our first year attempting this,” the organizers wrote. “We are going to do our best to pull this off!” A cornhole tournament sponsored by the Homestead Inn runs through the afternoon, and players can sign up the day of the fair.

Music on the stage and Perrella’s in the sky

The posted hours end at six, but the stage keeps going into the evening, and the music is free. In 2026 the Tanglewood Band played at three. Banditti, whom the organizers described as a “talented couple,” began at seven. The headliners were Tris Munsick and the Innocents. When the music ended, Perrella’s Fireworks put on the closing show. Perrella’s is also listed first among the 2026 sponsors.

Two Junes and a dry summer

The year before, Broadview Daze fell on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at the Homestead Inn. That fair had the same 2 p.m. parade and the same fireworks after dark, along with local vendors, children’s carnival games, cornhole and food. The fire district held a silent auction that year. Tanglewood played then too, starting at three, and the band co-hosted the event listing. In it the band wrote: “If you have been following our musical journey over the years, you DO NOT want to miss a show this year.” One 2026 listing posted by the Homestead Inn spells the name “Broadview Days.”

The fire district spent the summer after the 2026 fair posting warnings. On July 4 it reported that the whole area was in D2 to D3 drought. It asked residents to be careful with fireworks and with driving through tall grass, and it said “the fire risk despite recent small rains remains very high!” On July 8 it reported smoke visible from Broadview while agencies from Musselshell County responded to a fire. All burning was shut down from July 10 through July 13 ahead of a forecast heat dome. In August the county entered Stage 1 fire restrictions.