Weather fails to dampen fair fun

Rainy conditions put a damper on many of the activities at the 2009 Clay County Fair, but the precipitation wasn't enough to completely spoil the event. Dodging rain showers and sometimes thunderstorms, most of the annual events were held at the fairgrounds. And although the wet weather did affect attendance this year, many of the offerings were well attended.

"We had to call off the team roping events, but otherwise we were able to get in all of our activities and had some pretty good crowds," noted fair manager Marty Conley.

The annual fair parade Tuesday evening made its way through the streets of Piggott to the fairgrounds, led by this year's Grand Marshal, Bob Featherston. He was honored by the fair board for his work with the 309 prisoners from the Clay County Jail. Featherston and his work crew have been instrumental in helping to keep up the fairgrounds and other county facilities.

Following the parade the lawnmower races were held at the fairgrounds with a good crowd in attendance despite the threat of showers.

Team penning was scheduled Wednesday and Thursday evenings in the rodeo arena, but that was called off due to wet conditions. Friday night "hot" tractors from across the region gathered for their annual pull. Although a few showers moved through during the course of the evening, the event drew a good crowd and pullers from across Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri.

"Just about the time the last puller finished, it started to rain," Conley added.

Despite a rainy forecast Saturday, the annual demolition derby was held to wrap up fair week.

"It looked like we might have to cancel, but we got together at the last minute and put together a plan," Conley said. "We had a good bunch of entries and a quite a few people came out to watch."

Conley added that many of participants commented they preferred the somewhat wet conditions and that he was thankful the rain held off until just after the final heat of the night.

"The crowds were down some this year, but we were happy to be able to get in almost all of our events," he said.