Hot start, cooler finish for the Gage County Fair this weekend

BEATRICE - Hold a county fair in Nebraska in late July, and you can pretty much bank on very hot weather....at least most of the time.

Gage County Fair officials are looking forward to an expected cool-down of temperatures for fairgoers, going into the weekend lineup of shows and events.
"We're looking for the weekend, greatly...we hope to get through today. Yes, it's been warm....it's been hot."

Gage County Fair board President Don Esau said even with temperatures at or near 100….there were good livestock shows Wednesday and Thursday.
"The numbers were down. We had a good rodeo on Wednesday night...the people loved it. It's just hard for people to come out when it's that hot."

Fair officials moved the horse show up an hour earlier in the morning over two days, to help deal with the heat. Fair board Treasurer Lisa Wiegand says livestock entry contestants have plenty of water to keep their animals cool, and they well know about dealing with tougher conditions.

"Four-H'ers learn husbandry really easy. And, they're quickly reminded that you're in control of you own situation. Water is available... fans....they're doing the best that they can. We'll see how we get through today...and we should be moving forward."

Gate attendance from Tuesday night through Thursday was about 7,200.  Esau says plenty of tickets are still available for Friday night IMCA racing and the Saturday night Eve of Destruction, both at the Beatrice Speedway. Wiegand says tickets can be purchased online or at the Gage County Fair office…you can call the fair office at 223-FAIR…or you can purchase in-person.

"What we're finding this year is that a lot of people are planning an hour before, what their schedule is. Especially yesterday and the day before...they were ordering their tickets on the way here....in transit."

Being at the fair doesn’t mean you have to face the hot sun all of the time.  Esau said, "We have the Four-H building which is air conditioned. There's lots of good exhibits in there, so...and in the livestock barn, just thinking back over the years, how many more fans there are....we have big fans. If you're not in the sun, it's not that bad."

Several agriculture lending agencies are providing bottled water for attendees at the Gage County Fair.  As for ticket sales to the major events, Wiegand said as of early Friday, the Eve of Destruction had about 18-hundred tickets sold so far……with Friday night races are at about 400….with a lot of walk-up ticket buys expected.

On the Fairgrounds, beef, poultry and goat shows were among the featured open class and Four-H events on Friday.