DOWNTOWN RETURNS TO NORMAL AFTER RIVERFEST

Eight o'clock came pretty early for Cape Girardeau Riverfest board member Melinda Dodd. That is the time she arrived downtown Sunday morning to complete the cleanup detail for the weekend Riverfest celebration.

Dodd along with other Riverfest board members had been on hand until almost 3 a.m. Sunday helping escort vendors out, getting stages torn down and hauling trash.

"People did a good job of using the trash containers, and things didn't look that bad," said Phyllis Lipscomb, board president.

The cleanup crew received a big boost Sunday morning from 15 Cape Girardeau Junior Optimists and their adult supervisors. The boys, ages 13 to 15, volunteered their time to help put the downtown area back in order.

"The boys are doing a great job," said Dodd. "We just assign them a task and they go right to it."

By 10 a.m. the city street sweeper was out putting the final touches on the downtown area.

Attendance was even better at this year's Riverfest than Lipscomb had anticipated. Things got off to a slow start Friday evening because of the weather forecast, but both Dodd and Lipscomb felt Saturday was a great success.

Riverfest board members "were all walking around with big smiles on our faces," said Lipscomb.

Making this year's event possible proved to be a challenge as organizers weren't sure there would be sufficient funds in the Riverfest budget. On behalf of the board, Dodd expressed her thanks to the many businesses that made contributions and sent volunteers to help.

Both Dodd and Lipscomb said they wanted all the volunteers to know just how much they were appreciated.

A surprise anonymous contribution in a significant amount made the board members realize how important the continuation of Riverfest really is, said organizers.

Financial support by corporate sponsors DANA Corporation, Downtown Merchants Association and Zimmer Broadcasting Inc. played a vital part in making Riverfest a success. On behalf of herself and the board, Dodd extended a thank-you to these sponsors.

Even though this year's event is hardly more than over, plans are already under way for next year's Riverfest. "I've been talking to some people and am trying to set up some type of river activity for next year," said Lipscomb.

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