Animals remain a big draw at East Perry fair

ALTENBURG, Mo. — Hundreds attended the annual East Perry Community Fair to enjoy the fair, the rides and the mule-jumping.

But most of the myriad other animal events took place before the mules were jumped. Dan Jokisch, 72, of Illinois and his team of Haflinger horses took second place in their cart-and-buggy show.

“I’ve been doing this since 1989,” he said.

While he put up the ponies, his wife, Sharon, explained they got into the show-pony business when Dan’s first horses ran away.

“So now he’s got Haflingers,” she said. “Haflinger is a town in Austria where they come from. Everyone always wants to know, ‘Half what?’”

Sonny Seyer pulls the lead to encourage his mule Pickle to clear the 49-inch barrier during the mule-jump competition Saturday at the East Perry Community Fair in Altenburg, Missouri.Aaron Eisenhauer

Their family, she said, which includes children and grandchildren, travels around the Midwest to show the horses. A week ago, they were in Cape Girardeau.

“The people we meet and the places we go for the most part are just awesome,” she said.

And she said the East Perry Community Fair sticks out.

“I remember how people used to cheer for Dan’s uniform,” she said.

And especially since the Jokisches were specially invited several times.

“The Mangels convinced us to come down here,” she said, referring to another family with a long history at the community fair. “You can only say ‘no’ so many times to someone who wants you to come down so badly.”

In the food section, the fair offered its ever-popular cheese sandwiches, and children enjoyed the carnival rides across the fairgrounds.

In addition to the livestock showings, there also were small-animal competitions, as well as produce and confectionery competitions.

“Numbers are down a bit today because of the heat,” said the fair’s publicity co-chairman, Fred Eggers, on Saturday. “Yesterday, the crowd was huge, and we’re hoping that as the sun goes down here, a lot of those people will come back.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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