Potato Bowl News

COVID-19 STATEMENT FROM THE POTATO BOWL COMMITTEE: 

The Potato Bowl USA Committee and our sponsors are monitoring  developments surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic closely.  With UND having postponed their entire football season,  along with the continued virus threat, Potato Bowl events will most likely not take place this fall.   Look for an important announcement on August 12th after a Potato Bowl Committee meeting.

The 54th Annual Potato Bowl USA is history…literally!  The 2019 Potato Bowl actually made history when it moved the World’s Largest French Fry Feed indoors for the first time ever.

The decision to move the giant feed into the Hyslop Sports Center on the UND campus was made late Tuesday when the National Weather Service was still predicting a 100% chance of rain on Thursday. By Wednesday morning, Simplot’s Scott Lund began planning with UND’s Erik Martinson on how to pull it off.

On Thursday evening the old fieldhouse was once again filled with people. An estimated 7,500 folks passed through the arena which was once the gold standard for big venues in the region.

The arena was built in 1951 and was originally known as the University of North Dakota Fieldhouse. It hosted UND basketball for 53 years, many a Shrine Circus and numerous concerts like Alice Cooper, The Guess Who and Ozzie Osborne just to name a few. Today it serves as a practice area for UND women’s softball and still hosts a few smaller events.

The Potato Bowl Committee is thankful UND made the building available on such short notice. It prevented the event from being canceled for the second straight year.

The rain did cause the AgCountry Fireworks from taking place on Thursday night, but the weather cleared on Friday and the kid’s races, Rockin’ the Forks, the parade, tailgating and the Potato Bowl football game all went off without a hitch. And what a football game it was! UND held off 25th ranked Sam Houston State 27-23 for a huge win!