SHOW ME CENTER TAKES ON NEW APPEARANCE FOR SHOW

The Show Me Center is taking on another new look, the third one this week.

The big arena is beginning to look like a construction site for a miniature village as more than 100 businesses go about their way of building gallery-type rooms for displaying merchandise.

The main-floor lobby of the center contains trees and shrubbery, while one portion of the upstairs mezzanine is taking on the look of a restaurant kitchen in preparations for a state beef cook-off.

A giant swimming pool can also be found on the grounds.

"The building looks a lot different now than it did Wednesday night," the center's director, David Ross, said. "Our support service crew started at midnight Wednesday and worked until 5 a.m. Thursday, when the first home show exhibitor entered the building."

The Show Me Center had been transformed into a colorful banquet setting Wednesday night as Southeast Missouri Hospital workers spent Tuesday and Wednesday preparing for the annual Southeast Missouri Hospital Association dinner that attracted almost 900 people.

The center had to undergo another big transition Monday in preparation for the hospital and home show events.

An eight-day crusade, featuring evangelist Lowell Lundstrom, ended Sunday sending the Show Me Center cleanup crew into action late Sunday night.

"We haven't had many breaks since the University High Christmas Tournament in late December," Ross said.

During the 125 days from the final week of December through April, 75 arena events were scheduled.

"We do have three days off following the home show," Ross said, "but, then we go into another busy schedule."

A big Teen Challenge banquet is on schedule April 7. The basketball floor goes down for two days April 8 and 9 for recruiting purposes. The annual Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Business Conference will be held April 12, postal examinations will take up the area April 13, before the Brooks & Dunn concert April 14 and the NIT Gymnastics meet April 15.

After a brief respite during Easter, activity picks up again with the April 19 through 23 KFVS Motorama, an April 26 children's show, the April 27 Sawyer Brown concert, and on into Sesame Street April 28 through 30.

"That gets us into May," Ross said. "We have a few light days there, so we'll put the basketball court down again and refinish it in preparations for the 1995-96 basketball season."