SEMO FAIR CLOSES WEEK ON WET NOTE

Barbara Kinder stood under an umbrella as she watched her son and daughter spin in the rain on the flying dinosaur ride Saturday afternoon at the SEMO District Fair.

"I had promised all week we would come and I couldn't say no," the Cape Girardeau mother said.

Kinder said she was ready to take Hannah, 6, and Hunter, 3, home.

But neither child seemed to mind the rain.

Kinder said she would have to bribe them with cotton candy to get them to leave.

As of early afternoon, only about 1,500 to 2,000 people had turned out for the last day of the weeklong district fair.

Many in the crowd carried umbrellas or wore rain ponchos as they walked across the rain-soaked, muddy fairgrounds.

The rain shut down some of the children's rides, such as the Dragon Wagon roller coaster.

Rain-drenched carny Sandra Sutter smoked a cigarette as she stood outside the boat ride, shut down by the rain.

"Tearing down is going to be a mess," said Sutter, her shoes caked in mud.

The dreary day contrasted sharply with the excellent weather earlier in the week.

Buoyed by the good weather earlier in the week, total fair attendance was up over last year.

About 95,000 people visited the fair, up about 15,000 from last year.

Through Friday, nearly 79,000 people had visited the fair. About 18,000 visited the fairgrounds Friday.

About 16,000 people visited the fair Saturday. Most arrived in the late afternoon and early evening after the rain stopped, said fair board member Pete Poe.

A crowd of 2,300 attended the Ricky Van Shelton concert.

Fair crews scraped up the mud and covered the entire grandstand area with hundreds of yards of plastic sheeting in preparation for the concert.

"We had the best first half of the week in years," said fair board member Steve Engles.

But Engles and Sam Below, fair board president, said it almost always rains during fair week.

"The weather never cooperates," Engles said.

Below tried to look on the bright side. "The farmers need rain anyway."

The heavy rains came around 9:30 p.m. Friday, just after the Aaron Tippin concert ended.

It rained throughout much of the night and continued Saturday, off and on.

The rainy weather didn't deter contestants in the poultry and rabbit dress-up contest.

Teresia Sinn of Egypt Mills dressed up her chicken as an angel, complete with golden dress, wings and a halo.

Her 4-year-old son Jonathan was speechless after his Silkie white chicken, dressed up as Barney in purple and green, won for Best Dressed Poultry.

Sinn's 11-year-old daughter Jessica Hency had her hands full with a rooster, which was dressed as a farmer in bib overalls, red and white checkered shirt and a straw hat.