ATTRACTION AT DISTRICT FAIR GETS THE DROP ON THRILL SEEKERS

A new attraction at this year's SEMO District Fair lets thrill-seeking patrons plummet from an elevated perch 125 feet off the ground, secured only by a reinforced rubber band.

St. Louis Bungy Jump Inc. entertained dozens of jumpers and hundreds of spectators Monday, the second day of the fair in Cape Girardeau.

Traci Perkins, 16, of Scott City couldn't wait to take the plunge. She had heard about bungy jumping from friends who tried it Sunday. Some of the friends cautioned against it.

"I really didn't care what people said. I just knew I wanted to do it," Perkins said. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I still told the guy on the way up that I can't believe I was going through with it."

After the free fall and -- like a human yo-yo -- the subsequent recoil, Perkins couldn't wait to go again.

"I loved it," she said. "The best part is just spreading out and falling. I liked it the second time a lot better, because I knew what to expect.

"The first time, it's different. When I was standing there and I fell, I thought, `Oh God, I can't go back.'"

Mitchell White, 16, of Chaffee was back Monday after bungy jumping Sunday. On Sunday he fell with the bungy cord attached to his ankles.

But on Monday, White decided to go with a waist harness and fall backward out of the tiny cage suspended by a crane 125 feet above the fairgrounds.

"It's scarier from the ankles, because you just don't think you're ever gonna hit the end of the cord," White said. "Backwards, you don't even think about it."

Either method was agreeable to White.

"I just love the rush of falling," he said. "There's nothing you can compare it to. Nothing is as fun as that."

Gary Ross, owner of St. Louis Bungy, said he expected several hundred jumpers by the end of the week.

"We've had 350 jumpers at fairs half this size," Ross said. "I know that come Thursday night and the weekend, we're going to have a lot of jumpers."

It isn't the first time Ross has brought bungy jumping to Cape Girardeau. In December he set up outside Big Al's nightclub, where the event was popular despite the cold.

Ross said he's done several fairs this year, but the SEMO District Fair is the biggest.

But the high-flying thrill of bungy jumping apparently isn't for everyone. On Monday night, one would-be jumper froze and refused to exit the cage, despite the persistent coaxing of the coach in the cage and from the crowd of 80 gathered below.

The cage finally was lowered, the man obviously relieved, to the ground.

He might have opted for another attraction that's new to the fair this year: Lydia.

Lydia's a plodding, 46-year-old elephant. Weighing in at 9,100 pounds, she's the largest riding elephant in the country, according to her owners, David and Carmen Tesch of Lake Wales, Fla.

For $3, Lydia will take passengers on a lumbering, leisurely ride. Children love to ride and feed the huge pachyderm, said Carmen Tesch.

"She's extremely well behaved," she said. "She also plays the harmonica and is able to turn water spigots on. Unfortunately, she doesn't turn them off."

When Lydia isn't giving rides and eating feed from the hands of onlookers, she primarily spends her time eating. Her daily diet consists of three bales of hay, 25 pounds of sweet feed, a plate of fresh fruit and vegetables, and 50-60 gallons of water.

In her spare time, Tesch said, Lydia paints. Back home in Florida the elephant is "spoiled rotten" with its own pen, pond and barn, she added.

David Tesch, who has owned Lydia for nine of the 15 years he's worked elephants, said Lydia is the only exhibit in the country that allows patrons to interact so closely with an elephant.

Although she'll be there all week, Lydia's won't give rides in the rain. "Unlike most elephants, she hates the rain," David Tesch said.