Fair gets almost perfect weather

Big Four Fair Secretary Nancy Hillesheim looked out at the fairgrounds Sunday and the smile was a proverbial mile wide.“If you can’t have a good fair with weather like this, then you just can’t have a good fair,” she said. “The weatherman has been very, very nice to us this year.”As she talked, the Gophers State Midway was busy and just beyond the rides and carnival games, the grandstands were packed for the chuckwagon races.“I’ve had a few people tell me that this is the first time they’ve been here,” Hillesheim said, “and they’ve loved it and are planning to come back next year.”Waverly resident Mark Dudley was one of those first-timers, and he was, in a word, impressed.“It’s such a nice day, and the girls wanted to go on some rides,” he said, “and I have to tell you, it’s been a really nice day. It’s clean, it’s affordable, and the people are really nice. I’m kind of kicking myself that we haven’t come here before, but we’ll be back, that’s for sure.”Hillesheim said crowds were good for most of the grandstand events — including the figure eight races on Saturday night, the chuckwagon races on Sunday afternoons and the “Tough Trucks” program that was held on Sunday.Meanwhile, the fair shows had a solid number of entries, especially for the Cattle Show that was held on Sunday afternoon.“All in all, we couldn’t have asked for more,” Hillesheim said. “The weather helps, but so, too, does people just coming out to support the fair. We think we got a nice, little fair here, but we don’t want it to be a secret. And this year it wasn’t.”Sunday, though, was the best, and vendors, who pitched everything from stuffed animals to insurance to politics, were impressed with the turnout.The only downside was the rain early Monday morning that dampened attendance on the fair’s final day.And while the fair — which brings together the people of Chickasaw, Floyd, Bremer and Butler counties and is always held on Labor Day weekend — ended on Sunday, Hillesheim and the Fair Board are already looking forward to 2017.“The fair may only last four or five days,” she said with a laugh, “but it’s really kind of a year-long thing for a lot of us.”