CORNDOGS, CARNIVAL RIDES READY IN PULASKI CO.

Alyce Rogan of Pulaski, Ill., expressed the gospel in song Sunday night at the Pulaski County Fairgrounds.

PULASKI -- Crews from the Little Egypt Carnival were setting up the rides, only one farm family had brought in its cattle and somewhat more than 100 people sat in the grandstand listening to gospel music Sunday evening.

Even though the Pulaski County Fair hadn't officially started, you could still smell the corndogs.

The fair opens at 6 p.m. today. But Sunday night, a few booths sold corndogs, soft ice cream and lemonade to the people setting up the fair, attending the gospel singing show and to children from the town of Pulaski who rode their bicycles through the fairgrounds because it's the biggest excitement of the year in this town of 500.

Unlike many county fairs, no country music recording stars come to Pulaski County. A few years ago, the directors of the Pulaski County Fair decided to bring in Lee Greenwood for a concert, said Randy Jones, a second-generation member of the board. "They'll go to Cape or Paducah or Carbondale to see him, but not here," Jones said.

What brings people out are demolition derbies, tractor pulls, four-by-four mud races, rodeos and horse shows.

Tonight at 7 will be the local demolition derby with only residents of Pulaski and Alexander counties allowed to crash their cars.

Thursday night's horse show starts at 6:30 p.m., but no one knows when it will end.

"I've seen it run until 1 o'clock," Jones said. Horsemen and horsewomen show up to enter such events as the catalogue race.

In a catalogue race, a Sears catalogue rests on a barrel on one end of the arena and entrants ride their horses, one at a time, across the arena toward the catalogue. The announcer calls out a page number. The rider dismounts, tears our that page, remounts and races back to the starting line. The fastest time wins.

In another event, the entrants ride their horses at a particular gait while balancing an egg on a spoon. The last one holding an egg wins.

"As long as they show up, we keep going," said Randy Starling, the member of the fair board in charge of the horse show.

Johntae Macklin, 13, lives in town near the fairgrounds. A local farmer paid him and his friend, Jonathan Schoffner, a few dollars to watch his cattle.

Macklin said his favorite part of the fair is the tractor pull.

"When they have the souped-up tractor, when it goes vooooom, and all that black smoke comes out and they idle them up. Vroom, vroom, vroom," he said.