SPARKLE PLAYS TRICKS ON YOUNG ADULTS AT FAIR

Ten minutes before showtime and Sparkle's feathers were getting ruffled Friday afternoon.

Sparkle makes that honking sound "whenever she looks out and doesn't see an audience," said Tony Drew, owner of Sparkle The Magical Goose booth at the SEMO District Fair.

Five minutes later Sparkle's tactic paid off. Fairgoers began strolling toward the booth, prompting Sparkle to turn her back to the audience.

While Drew explained what the show was about, Sparkle dipped her beak into a bowl of water.

"That's his way of getting ready to perform," Drew said. The show will run today at 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 p.m. The booth is next to the fair's information tent.

The SEMO District Fair will conclude its eight-day run tonight.

One surprise has been the popularity of the Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show. Fair board member Steve Engels said they've already asked them back for next year's fair.

Lumberjack performances continue at today at 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m.

Only a few seats remain for tonight's Aaron Tippin concert at 7:30 in the grandstand.

As to Sparkles, Drew discovered her penchant for show business three years ago when the goose was just 3.

"She just seemed to like doing tricks and understood everything I taught her, so we stayed together and have been doing fairs and carnivals ever since," Drew said.

Sparkle can perform several tricks with Drew. However, the array of tricks Drew will choose depends on the kind of audience Sparkle draws.

Drew, a native of Hartland, Wis., said, "Today we had a lot of children up front, so I decided to go with the coloring book trick."

Drew showed the audience a coloring book with blank pages and told everyone to draw an imaginary circle in the air and throw it toward the book. Then Sparkle used her beak to tap the book several times, presumably to send all of the lines into the book. The next time Drew opened the pages the audience saw pictures.

Drew asked everyone to rub some color from their clothes and throw it toward the book. He flipped through the book once again and revealed color pictures.

"If this had been more of an adult audience, I might have asked Sparkle to go to her dresser and take things out of it. Or she might have shown how she can do math," he said.

Sparkle is able to unzip Drew's jacket and retrieve a cloth from his pocket. The goose is also able to distinguish between a dirty cloth and a clean one.

When Drew isn't working fairs in Wisconsin and other states in the Midwest, he is busy growing his greenhouse.

"There are three months out of the year when Sparkle and I don't work," he said. "When we're ready to start doing shows again, she picks up right where she left off. Geese are very intelligent and have very good memories."

Sometimes Sparkle's memory is sharper than her owner's. Drew said Sparkle will help him remember something they did in a previous show by a sound or mannerism.

Asked how he makes the blank pages in the coloring book turn into pictures before the audience's eyes, Drew smiled and said, "That's the kind of magic only Sparkle knows."