FAIR OPENS DAY EARLIER WITH HORSE SHOW

The 137th SEMO District Fair will be extended one day, with one event scheduled on the Saturday prior to fair week Sept. 13-19.

The 4-H Horse Show, an annual event of the fair, will be held Saturday, Sept. 12, this year, said Pete Poe, president of the District Fair Board.

The carnival midway will also be open for business that Saturday. No admission and no parking fees will be charged.

"The 4-H horse show always got lost in the middle of the fair," said Poe. "I think it will be a little better opportunity for youngsters to demonstrate their skills. Very few of the concessions or exhibits will be open (on Saturday)," said Poe.

"The big horse show will again be held on Sunday," Poe said.

Gates open at 11 a.m. on Sunday for Sneak-a-Peek day. Gate admission is free. The midway opens at 1 p.m. with a bracelet day.

This year the fair will be selling T-shirts featuring "Seymour Fair," a cartoon mule. "Seymour is new with us this year," Poe said. "But I think he will be with us for a while.

"T-shirts, hats and caps are a viable form of not only merchandising but also advertising," he said. "We've had a lot of suggestions for things that Seymour can do. We already have next year's T-shirt designed."

Grandstand tickets are selling well, Poe said. "For our first week, our sales were almost double what they were last year. Billy Dean is doing very well, but part of that has to do with the fact that he has a Top 10 record and a Top 5 video. Neal McCoy is coming out with a new record on the 17th. We expect sales for his show to really pick up after that.

"We are real interested about the Big Bull Chuteout Wednesday," Poe said. "Bull riding is the crowd favorite at rodeos, so we elected to do just that. We will have an hour and 45 minutes of rodeo clowns and bull fighters."

Boy Scouts from the Presbyterian church helped upgrade the grandstand seating. "We could have done this professionally," Poe said. "But we got a real clean job and then made a donation back to their troop. We think that's what the fair is about, giving something to the community."

One of the long-range projects the fair has in the plans is a pedestrian bridge along East Rodney.

"Pedestrian traffic on East Rodney is a problem. With the amount of traffic during the fair, foot traffic on the bridge is unsafe," Poe said.

"The bridge project is in the development stage," Poe said. "We are working with the city of Cape and they have given us the go-ahead."

Poe said fair officials have been in contact with the National Guard about the possibility of constructing a temporary foot bridge for use during the fair. Plans are being drawn for a permanent foot bridge.

Poe added that he expects livestock and crop entries to be good this year also, especially as some other fairs have cut back their livestock exhibits.

"I expect the drawing area for exhibitors may be larger this year," he said. "We are getting several phone calls a day. It's too early to have any numbers, because the books aren't closed yet, but it looks real good."