OAK RIDGE BOYS, KEITH, WILLIAMS AT SEMO FAIR

The Oak Ridge Boys, Toby Keith and Don Williams will provide the entertainment at the 2000 SEMO District Fair.

"It's something for everyone," Pete Poe, president of the fair board, said of the lineup.

The fair will be held Sept. 10 through 16 at Arena Park. Tickets for the grandstand entertainment will go on sale at the fair office at 8 a.m. July 19.

The Oak Ridge Boys will kick off the grandstand music on Thursday, Sept. 14, providing sounds for the whole family. The Oaks' long career in country music has garnered them 10 gold albums and three platinum albums and a string of hit singles, including "Bobbie Sue" and "Elvira." They are winners of numerous Grammy, Country Music Association and Dove awards.

The group consists of bass Richard Sterban, tenor, Joe Bonsall, baritone William Lee Golden and lead singer Duane Allen.

Keith is hot and current with the recent hit "How Do You Like Me Now," a song sung to a girl who once wouldn't look at him twice. He will perform on Friday, Sept. 15.

Other Keith his include "Should've Been a Cowboy," "Who's That Man," "Me, Too," and "Getcha Some."

Don Williams, performing Saturday, Sept. 16, will appeal to hardcore country music lovers. After starting out with the Pozo Seco Singers, a folk-pop group that had a Top 10 single with "Time," Williams in the past 30 years has become a country music legend known for the sincerity of both his singing and his musical choices.

His hits include the songs "Good Ole Boys Like Me," "I Believe in You," "Love is on a Roll," "Amanda" and "Tulsa Time."

New at the 145th annual fair is the Mini-Car Figure 8 Derby, a race run by compact cars. Entries are limited to cars with a 104-inch wheelbase. Locals can enter the lively race. "They run into each other, they crash and bang," Poe said. Entry blanks are available at the fair office.

Astro Amusements will return with carnival rides for the seventh year. Phillips Exotic Animals again will provide a petting zoo, and the Flores Family Circus will perform.

Though most longtime fairgoers associate Fair Week with rain, the fair enjoyed good weather again in 1999, going over 100,000 in attendance for the second straight year. "People like to say we'll get rain," Poe said. "But we haven't been rained out in seven years."

For information, visit the fair Website at www.semofair.com.