SOUTHEAST MISSOURI DISTRICT FAIR KICKS OFF WITH PARADE MONDAY

A fabulous week has been planned for you to enjoy by the 1991 committee heading the Southeast Missouri District Fair. The fair opens Sunday and continues until midnight Sept. 14, with a variety of entertainment, exhibits, and family events on tap to fill the hours of each day.

When the district fair began in 1855, the two men responsible for organizing it, Col. George Thilenius and Col. Robert Sturdivant, could have no idea that 136 years later, the fair would generate such excitement. Everyone who knows about the fair is counting the passing days waiting to participate in the fun. Fairgoers are looking forward to the parade, slated for 5:30 Monday night.

The parade will be breathtaking. Astronaut Linda Godwin of Oak Ridge will be the grand marshal, and the world famous Budweiser Clydesdales from St. Louis will lead the parade from Capaha Park to Arena Park, the site of the district fair.

The entire area has been thrilled with the opportunity to see and meet Godwin who has recently returned from a journey into space, something that fairgoers in 1855 would have considered a `pipe dream.' Too magnify that expectation by adding the Clydesdales, which most of the public has seen only in pictures until now, is too good to be true.

Since Godwin's return to the area from her recent space journey, news accounts have carried many stories about the experiments she conducted during the flight. The public has read with interest about these and listened to her lectures and appreciated the visits she has made to schools and colleges.

Stories about the "Gentle Giants" as the Clydesdales are often called, are also intriguing but less familiar to many who will be seeing the horses for the first time.

The Clydesdales make more than 300 appearances annually and to obtain them for an event means requesting them more than a year in advance. There are several teams of the "Gentle Giants." One for the western section of the country that is based at Romoland, Calif., one for the east, based at Merrimack, N.H., and one for the Midwest, based in St. Louis, and available for viewing at the Anheuser-Busch brewery there. A fourth hitch used in traveling is based at Fort Collins, Colo.

Each traveling hitch covers more than 90,000 miles a year, attended by seven grooms who travel with the horses and groom them daily spending five hours washing the horses and polishing the harnesses, braiding red and white ribbons into the manes, and inserting red, white, and blue bows into the tails. Harnessing the horses takes another 45 minutes.

After the harnessing is completed, the red, white and gold 1903 Studebaker-built beer wagon is pulled from the trailer and one by one the horses are hitched. The wheel horses, those closest to the wagon (and generally the strongest) are hitched up first.

Then the driver adjusts the reins. The wagon and horses weigh 12 tons in all and the tension on the reins equals 75 pounds so the driver always has an assistant who can relieve him if the parade is long.

Three men and a dog, a Dalmatian, ride on each beer wagon. The Dalmatians have been trained to protect the horses. The horses have names like Duke, Captain, Mark, Pete, etc., and the horses know their names, and the driver can command them individually.

These are only a few facts about the Clydesdales. They will be on view at Arena Park all week, where fair visitors can see them up close and learn more about them. The last time they were featured at the district fair was in 1977. Each harness on a Clydesdale weighs 130 pounds. Notice these when you visit the enclosure.

Seventeen bands will take part in the district parade to Arena Park, along with units of Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, antique cars and more, all organized, assembled and welcomed by the district fair organization headed by Pete Poe. Norman Robert is parade chairman.

There will be so much to see in the parade Monday night. Those wanting to see the parade should select a good viewing place before 5:30 p.m. Bring a noise-maker and a flag to add to the excitement and cheer participants because this year's event will be one of the best parades ever in Cape Girardeau. Bring your camera, you will want pictures of the 1991 district fair parade.