Good times at the fair

From left, Cody Scurlock and Cody Ryder, both of Eldon, pick up Ryder's car and clean up some of the debris on Sunday that was left from Saturday night's Figure 8 competition at the Jefferson City Jaycees Cole County Fair. "I didn't win, but I had fun," Ryder said. He plans to compete at a similar event in California this weekend.
From left, Cody Scurlock and Cody Ryder, both of Eldon, pick up Ryder's car and clean up some of the debris on Sunday that was left from Saturday night's Figure 8 competition at the Jefferson City Jaycees Cole County Fair. "I didn't win, but I had fun," Ryder said. He plans to compete at a similar event in California this weekend.

Authorities and organizers both say the Jefferson City Jaycees Cole County Fair was a success, with good attendance and few problems.

"It was a good fair, it really was," said Capt. John Wheeler with the Cole County Sheriff's Department. "We really didn't have that many arrests. I would say they were down from previous years. People came out and had a good time and behaved themselves."

He said seven people were arrested and 14 ejected from the fair during the week. The majority, he said, were due to intoxication and/or fighting.

Wheeler said deputies located three children who were separated from their parents. Also, 17 people were treated at the scene for medical conditions, and four were taken elsewhere for treatment. Two of those taken for treatment were competitors in arena events and two were carnival workers, one of whom had seizures. None of the injuries were life-threatening, he said.

The first missing child took about 18 minutes to find, he said, because the father initially gave authorities the wrong color shirt in a description of the child. They found the boy shortly after getting the right shirt color, he said. In another instance, a wandering child approached law enforcement, who waited with the child briefly until hearing calls from the mother.

An AT&T cellular signal outage on Monday night affected organizers with the Jaycees more than Cole County deputies, who had handheld radios for communication, Wheeler said.

"Just like any other event, there wasn't anything outstanding that we couldn't handle," said Erin Wiseman, administrative assistant to the fair chairman. "As with any other event, there were a few snags here and there."

Wiseman didn't have attendance figures, but said the fair was well-attended.

"We were so lucky with the weather, it really was a great year," she said. "The stands were packed during the arena events, the carnival was packed. It was a lot of fun, and next year will be even better hopefully."