Summerfest kicks off season of fairs, festivals

The season of summer fairs and festivals is here, when the outdoors are again hospitable and the sights, sounds and scents of music, cooking, wagon rides, swimming, diving and skyrockets are in the air.

Most of the fairs fall in June, July, August and September, but the 37th annual Scott City Summerfest is right around the corner -- May 29 to 31 -- featuring a talent show, a beauty pageant, a fireworks display, food, entertainment and the carnival each night in Scott City Park.

Here is a heaping helping of some other summer events in Southeast Missouri:

June

* Scott City will stay in the forefront June 21 with the third annual Scott City Wine Festival, as 10 wineries offer tastings to raise money for an outdoor amphitheater.

* The Ste. Genevieve French Heritage Festival is the second weekend of June, celebrating Ste. Genevieve's colonial heritage with food, music and tours of the town and architecture dating back 250 years.

* The East Prairie Tour de Corn is June 28 through Mississippi County's rich farmland, where bicycle routes of 15, 30, 65 and 100 miles are available along with samples of fresh sweet corn. Proceeds benefit local and national charities. Food also will be served during a street dance with live music the night before the tour.

July

* Designed to focus attention on and build support for the Harmon Field Swimming Pool in Chaffee, Missouri, the Friends of Harmon Field Fourth of July Festival will stage diving and hotdog-eating contests, a pageant, a carnival and a fireworks show in the six-acre park donated by the Harmon Family of New York in 1924. "The pool was built in 1940 as a WPA project and is possibly the last of its kind still in operation in the U.S.," said a spokeswoman, noting the park also has tennis and basketball courts, a playground and a baseball diamond.

* Oran's Fourth of July celebration, sponsored by the Oran Knights of Columbus on the grounds of Guardian Angel Catholic School, began with a church picnic in 1963 and has grown -- now a crowd in the thousands is expected. "It's one of the oldest ones around," said spokesman Kirby Hahn. "We'll have music, bingo at night, games for the children and wagon rides." Hahn said ham and dressing, fried chicken, roast beef, green beans and other dishes will be served.

* The Ste. Genevieve County Fair runs July 10 to 14 with livestock shows, a demolition derby, truck and tractor pulls, a queen contest, 4-H Club and FFA exhibits and a Friday night band. Admission is free.

* The Southeast Missourian and the Cape Girardeau parks department's annual Parks and Rec Day will be July 11 at the Osage Centre with activities for children of all ages.

* The century-old New Hamburg Picnic in New Hamburg, Missouri, on July 18 and 19 at St. Lawrence Catholic Church will have games, home-cooked food, ice cream, horseshoe-pitching and washer-tossing tournaments, raffles and other attractions.

* Live entertainment, a beauty pageant, carnival rides and beaucoup food will be part of the Uptown Jackson Homecomers festival July 22 through 26.

* Since 1890, the Leopold Picnic draws thousands to the small Bollinger County town. "It is a true family affair for Leopold natives," said a spokesman for the event, set for the last Saturday in July. "Most families have worked the same booths for generations."

August

* Calf roping, barrel racing, bull riding and other events, along with popular country music stars, will keep the Sikeston Jaycees Bootheel Rodeo jumping during the second week of August in Sikeston, Missouri.

* One of the Midwest's biggest arts and crafts fairs will highlight the two-day Jour de Fete at Ste. Genevieve the second weekend in August, when food and drink concessions will be plentiful in the historic downtown.

* German Days in Chaffee, Missouri, sponsored by the Elks Lodge on the second weekend in August, will feature the city's "famous Southeast Missouri chicken," carnival rides, games, homemade ice cream, a beauty pageant and a talent show in Frisco Park.

* The Cape Girardeau Jaycees BBQ Fest, which raises money for the local Toybox program and features live music, will be Aug. 22 and 23 in Arena Park, The event is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society.

* Rumbling into downtown Cape Girardeau, about 400 Chevrolet Corvettes will signal the arrival of the National Corvette Caravan on Aug. 26. Occurring every five years, the tour is sponsored by the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. A spokesman said it will be the first time the tour has stopped in Cape Girardeau.

September

* Hundreds of yard sales will be in progress during Labor Day weekend in the Southeast Missouri towns of Jackson, Fruitland, Perryville, Scott City, Bloomsdale and a lot of places in between during the annual Highway 61 Yard Sale.

* Benton Neighbor Days will be Aug. 29 and 30, featuring a parade, queen pageants, a carnival and other attractions.

* The SEMO District Fair will go up the second week of September in Arena Park with agricultural exhibitions, a carnival, nightly entertainment and a variety of food, including its characteristic saltwater taffy.

* Riders on 100 motorcycles dating to 1936 and earlier will stop in downtown Cape Girardeau on Sept. 9 for the biennial Motorcycle Cannonball cross-country endurance ride. Motorcyclists will be greeted by live music and a welcome party.

* The East Perry Community Fair in Altenburg, Missouri, held on the third Friday and Saturday after Labor Day, will start with a midday Friday parade and continue with homestyle food, tractor and truck pulls, livestock judging, carnival rides, its famous mule-jumping contest and more.

* Raising funds for various charities, the River Tales Classic Car Show will be sponsored Sept. 14 in downtown Cape Girardeau by the River City Rodders Car Club and Old Town Cape.

* Sikeston will have its annual Cotton Carnival during the last week of September with a parade, carnival rides, food and games at the rodeo grounds.

* The Stoddard County Fair is slated for Sept. 16 to 20 with tractor pulls, four-wheeler races, livestock judging, a beauty pageant, a parade, a midway and nightly entertainment.