~ The event brought in as many as 1,000 more people than last year.

They came for the fishing, but they stayed for the festival.

When Tom Booker saw a posting on the Internet saying the band Trout Fishing in America would perform at the ArtsCape festival, he and wife Mary Beth, friends Ilene and Mark Hall and the four children the couples have between them made the trip from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau to visit ArtsCape.

They were just a few of the many who could be seen singing along and dancing to Trout songs during the first of two sets the band would play Saturday. One set was for children, the other for adults.

But the Bookers and Halls didn't care who the Trouts were playing to. They just love the music.

"I first saw them on the Loop in 1991 for a $3 cover charge," Tom Booker said. "They blew me away."

The couples are used to paying $30 to see one of their favorite bands. Saturday they got two shows for free.

The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri had hoped bringing in an act like Trout Fishing in America -- a big name among children's music circles -- would bring in people like the Halls and Bookers to its big annual event. It worked.

Claudia Ruediger, chair of the Arts Council, said immediately when the festival began at 10 a.m., throngs of people began to turn out. With expanded entertainment offerings and more vendors than ever before, Ruediger estimated the event brought in possibly 1,000 more people than last year's 2,500.

The crowd started to thin out in the afternoon, when brief periods of light showers accompanied by gray clouds rolled in about 3 p.m. But even at that time Ruediger said she was impressed by the number of people who stayed.

Local blues legend Bruce Zimmerman and his Water Street Band displayed the kind of defiance to the weather that kept hundreds at Capaha Park despite the rain in their afternoon set. As the drops started to pour out of the sky, they jammed on, with Zimmerman playfully vocalizing a few bars of "Singing in the Rain" to mock the skies.

Two boys joined in Zimmerman's defiance, dancing vigorously despite the small droplets.

Throughout the day crowds occupied the lawn in front of the bandshell watching acts like Trout Fishing in America, Brother Henry, Zimmerman and Trout Fishing in America again to close the festival. Some danced, some sang, some enjoyed picnics.

Michelle Greenhill of Cape Girardeau and 5-year-old son Graham ate their picnic on the lawn and proceeded to check out the other offerings at the festival. Last year was their first ArtsCape, and Michelle said Graham had been waiting anxiously the entire year for the next one.

Trout Fishing in America provided music for their lunch. "They were fantastic," Michelle said while Graham made gigantic bubbles -- his favorite activity -- at the children's art tent.

Their next planned stop would be the festival's newest, and one of its most popular, features -- the musical instrument petting zoo sponsored by Shivelbine's Music. The tent allowed children to play instruments from hand drums to electric guitars to trombones.

Seven-year-old Philip Hendrix got his kicks banding away on the bass drum. He liked feeling the vibration of the drum in his chest, he said.

Shivelbine's owner Bill Shivelbine said there's a certain appeal percussion instruments have for children.

"Normally at home if you beat on stuff you get in trouble," Shivelbine said. "Here they have carte blanche to just beat away."

Shivelbine said he expected his new creation to be popular in its first year, but there was no letting up with the children who wanted to play. Shivelbine said with a smile he and his eight volunteers were overwhelmed but having a great time.

At the same time children and adults were decorating the sidewalk around the Capaha Park lake with chalk drawings. Some re-created famous paintings, some did original work.

Scott Johnson of Cape Girardeau used his sidewalk canvas to create an image of Christ on the cross. Several people strolling around the lake stopped and talked to him about his work.

"Sometimes a spiritual drawing is very uplifting to people," Johnson said.

The chalk drawings, like the festival offerings, were diverse. Some were cartoons and children's scribbles, some were pieces painstakingly created by professional artists.

For Greenhill, that kind of diversity is what made the festival a great day out for the family.

"One of the things I love about this is that he can have fun, and so can I," she said.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

Sidewalk art contest winners

Adult group: Dennis and Sophie Wilson

Adult individual: First, Krystal Floyd; second, Amanda Thornberry; third, Michael Bricknell

Student group: Amity Downing and Heather Collin

Student individual: First, Meagan Brock; second, Shaudia Borel; third, Jackie Boos