NO CROWD FOR COMMUNITY PICNIC

Other than a few people having family picnics, Arena Park was quiet for the second day of the first annual 4th of July Community Picnic.

The picnic, sponsored by VFW Post 3838, was advertised to have concessions and kiddie rides all day on Saturday.

The concession stand was seen packing up and leaving at a 11:30 p.m. on Friday. Saturday mornings's antique car show was over by 10 a.m. and the kiddie rides were dismantled by early afternoon.

Owen Sloan, owner of Sloan Kiddie Rides of Bonne Terre, said he was upset at the lack of organization in planning the event.

"We were told to set up on Friday morning and stay through Saturday," said Sloan. "But the park billboard and the advertisements said the rides would start on Thursday."

Sloan said his company lost money from the poor community participation. He said he charges a dollar per ride and only had 600 rides counted for the three-day event.

"I still have to pay six employees and I only made around $700." Sloan said he only had 20 riders on Saturday morning.

Although he was upset with the turnout, Sloan said he would come back again next year if asked.

"This is the first time for this event," he said. "With time, I hope it will work into something. This community has the great people it takes to do it."

Rodger Brown, coordinator for the picnic, said he was surprised to find out that the food vendors left early.

"I really didn't expect that," he said.

Brown said he was pleased with Friday's turnout.

"I believe everything went very well on Friday," he said. "Next year we may condense the activities to a shorter period, such as two days and not three."

The picnic committee will meet later in the month to plan next years event.

"We make errors in judgment and will correct them for next year," said Brown.

Floyd Smith, organizer of the car show, said only six antique car owners participated in the event.

"We intended to run the show all day long," he said, "but we had to compete with other area events."

Although Smith said he was happy with the community participation in Friday's parade he felt more community participation for the 4th of July event is needed.

The three-day holiday event ended Saturday evening with a street dance sponsored by Zimmer Broadcasting. As of 7:30 p.m. the street remained empty.