Good memories of fair days

The SEMO District Fair stirs up memories for longtime fairgoers who can remember horse and stock car races around an oval track at the Arena Park grandstand.

At one time, the fair even held a mule race, said retired farmer Claude Estes of Jackson. He and his wife, Arvella, have been coming to the fair for 64 years.

But Estes said the mules didn't like to go around the dirt track more than once.

"That was fun," Estes said.

The Esteses were among many elderly residents who took advantage of free admission on Senior Citizen Day to enjoy the fall celebration.

For senior citizens, the fair is a social occasion. "We just like to come and see our friends," said Arvella Estes, who spent part of the day chatting with friends in the blue-and-white striped activities tent.

She said the fair has grown. There are more livestock exhibits.

"I've never seen so many rabbits and chickens," she said.

Families often brought picnic lunches to the fair rather than shelling out money for fair food, she said.

Quentin Felty, 86, of Millersville doesn't turn down the fair food. "I always like to eat," he said.

Felty remembers when the fair was held at what is now Cape Girardeau's Capaha Park. Back then it was known as Fairground Park and featured a harness racing track around a pond.

The fair dates back 148 years to 1855 when it was held in the woods in an area that is now South Frederick Street.

It was held in Fairground Park from 1900 to 1929 when Great Depression economic woes closed it.

It reopened in 1940 at Arena Park. The fair's been held there ever since, except for a brief break during World War II.

Dorothy and Guy Seabaugh of Jackson have visited the fair for as long as they've been married -- 53 years.

"We come every year," she said as they viewed exhibits in the Arena Building.

Dorothy Seabaugh said there are more commercial exhibits now.

It costs more to go to the fair, said the Seabaughs, who remember when parking was free. Now it costs $3.

Hubert Taylor, 87, of Perryville, Mo., has been going to the fair for 15 years. Taylor said he didn't have time to go to the fair when he was younger. He said he was too busy farming, working at a shoe factory and raising a family.

Now a widower, Taylor loves to kick up his heels at the fair's senior citizen dance. Dressed in blue jeans and a cowboy hat, he danced to the strains of "Sentimental Journey" with one of the women who helped organize the event.

"I like to dance every once in a while," he said, sporting a broad smile beneath his cowboy hat.

Lory Stahly, 82, of Cape Girardeau has been coming to the fair every year since 1949.

The fair used to conclude with stock car races, he recalled as he rested on a metal bleacher under a shade tree in Arena Park.

Stahly, a member of the Cape Girardeau American Legion, said his organization used to have the only beer stand at the fair. Beer, at one time, sold for 30 cents. Now a cup of beer costs $2 at the stand, he said.

But one thing hasn't changed.

Farm children still exhibit their animals.

"Those kids are all excited," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123