PLANS ARE MADE FOR DISTRICT FAIR

The Southeast Missouri District Fair has always been fun. But the 1992 event is bound to be extraordinary. Obtain a catalogue and it will surprise you with the wonderful entertainment the fair committee has planned and the numerous classes in which prizes will be awarded. Catalogues are at the fair office in the Arena Building and are free.

A free peek of the week's entertainment will be given to the public on Sunday, Sept. 13, beginning at 1 p.m. It will stimulate interest and the desire to attend the great entertainment planned for the week.

A horse show will open Sunday's program at 1 p.m., rain or shine. Southeast Missourians have always enjoyed this activity since the early years of the city when the Commandant, Louis Lorimier, held such races on the river bank where in later years the old International Shoe Company was built.

At 1 p.m. on Sunday there also will be a pet parade for children and adults. Start getting your pet ready now for the event, and a costume for you and your pet to wear, if you want to join in the fun. Although costumes are not required, they add to the parade.

There will be musical entertainment every night by nationally known entertainers, and details and prices of tickets are in the fair catalogue.

Arena Park always swarms with people during Fair Week, but plenty of parking space is available, so come join in the fun.

Pete Poe is president of the Southeast Missouri District Fair Board and last year his big surprise for the public was obtaining the world famous Budweiser Clydesdales for the parade and an entire week's stay. The public loved the horses, and visiting them at the fairgrounds was a treat.

This year Mr. Poe's surprise is the newest attraction obtained from the 5-H Ranch - The Dromedary "Hitch" of eight camels with their show wagon and costumed attendants. The camels will make the 1992 Fair something special! Although Grandma isn't too old, she can remember the early fairs, and she said, "We didn't have anything like that in 1922. We did have horse races, and there were automobiles on the streets, and airplanes in the sky." We laughed. The only camels she ever saw were cigarettes named Camels.

It's fun to enter the art class and show something you have painted or crafted. Start something now to display. Perhaps you have written a poem or made a toy. The unusual items always attract the attention of judges.

When the Southeast Missouri District Fair began, 1,855 visitors came in wagons, on horseback and even riverboats. There were no trains or motorized vehicles until much later.

Monday, Sept. 14, the parade begins at 5:30 p.m. starting at Capaha Park and heading west to Arena Park. The Demolition Derby starts at 8 p.m. and may be watched from grandstand seats. Although the cars in the derby are specially prepared for this type of racing, the idea of race cars began with the invention of automobiles.

In 1903, Henry Ford became interested in racing and built the famous 999 racer, which was driven by Barney Oldfield, but he pushed the race car idea aside to build a car with his name on it. With the aid of some friends, the group raised $28,000 and the Ford Motor Company was born. The first cars were not mechanical marvels. Ford decided to design a cheap car so anyone who wanted a car could purchase it. He made the Model T in 1908 and soon this perky little car began bringing visitors to the Southeast Missouri District Fair.

It was called a "Tin Lizzie" by 1910 and the factory turned out 10,000 a year. By 1913, one-third of all autos were Tin Lizzies. Then Ford got the idea of an assembly line and cars were produced faster. Cars could be built in faster time, and cost less, and more people were buying them. The cost was $290 and farmers dug some of their sock money and purchased a car to come to Cape Girardeau where a straw-filled farm wagon had brought some of his prize stock to be judged at the fair.

The Tin Lizzie helped the Southeast Missouri District Fair to grow, and more visitors from a greater distance began to patronize the fair. By the time the Depression began, the car graveyards had many cars with names we no longer hear, but the Ford, General Motors cars, like Chevy, Buick and others, and Chrysler were driving through the fair gate. It will be difficult to imagine how many cars will bring visitors to this year's fair but the lot will be packed with American models plus all the foreign cars.

Perhaps some young American will display his invention of a car one day at the Southeast Missouri District Fair. The fair is a way to display something new and gain publicity.