STATE FAIR BEGINS 11 DAYS IN SEDALIA

SEDALIA -- Exhibitors were busy Wednesday leading their prized animals into the barns and workers were hurrying to assemble the last of the midway rides on the eve of the Missouri State Fair.

On Thursday, the gates swing open for thousands of visitors coming to see the sights and sounds of the colorful, clattering fairgrounds.

In previous years, the opening ceremony was at noon, but this year the official start will be at 4 p.m. with Gov. Mel Carnahan on hand to help kick off the 11-day run.

"It will be a little cooler and will give people more time to attend," said Bill Arthaud, who took over as fair director in February. In past years, the noon hour has left people scampering for shade as the sun beat down on the 396-acre fairgrounds.

As for his new role, Arthaud said, "I love challenges and meeting new people, and I've been doing both in the last few months."

Last year, Carnahan had to cut short his opening day visit to the fair as he dealt with Missouri flooding. This year, the governor plans to stay around to tour the exhibits and attend The Beach Boys concert Thursday night at the Grandstands.

Part of the opening ceremony will be the serving of a 30-foot submarine sandwich, which includes 30 pounds of meat, eight pounds of cheese, seven heads of shredded lettuce and five pounds each of tomatoes and onions.

On Wednesday, the final touches were being put in place as fair officials geared up to handle at least as many visitors as the nearly 370,000 who attended the entire run last year.

One change this year will be making sidewalks and the Grandstands more accessible to the handicapped, as required by federal law.

Fair officials say about 800 campers are registered to stay on the grounds; here's room for about 2,000. Using campers is one way fairgoers staying overnight can be assure of a place to sleep, since most of the city's hotel and motel rooms have been booked months in advance.

Livestock exhibits dominate the fair. There will be more than 1,100 horse show entries; nearly 1,600 beef cattle entries; 1,400 head of swine and more than 3,100 sheep vying for ribbons.

There will be plenty of free entertainment, including as a fiddling championship on Sunday, a life-sized cow sculpted from 1,200 pounds of butter and an auctioneer's contest next Thursday.

There is also entertainment at a cost every night in the Grandstands. The shows start each night at 8 p.m., except on Sunday and the final night, Aug. 28, when shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Scheduled to appear are singer George Strait on Friday; late-model stock car racing at noon Saturday, and country artists Brooks and Dunn and Faith Hill that evening; jazz artist Kenny G on Sunday; the Championship Missouri Truck and Tractor Pull Shoot-Out at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Monday; country performers Aaron Tippin and Tracey Byrd on Tuesday; the sprint car spectacular at 7 p.m. Wednesday;

Country stars Lorrie Morgan and Clay Walker on Thursday, Aug. 25; oldies artists The New Rascals, The Drifters, Bobby Vee and Lou Christie on Friday, Aug. 26; country's Alan Jackson on Saturday, Aug. 27 and on the final day, the monster truck challenge at 2 p.m. and country singers Travis Tritt and Lee Roy Parnell in the evening.