What's new at the Fair?
July 16, 2004
This year fairgoers will be treated to a Boone County Fair that has been expanded in almost all areas. New grandstand events, musical entertainment, exhibits and other activities will inhabit the Boone County Fairgrounds from July 19-25.
This year, Side by Side Mud Racing will splash through the Grandstand on Thursday at 7 p.m. Since last year, the Grandstand track has been expanded to two tracks, allowing mud racers to compete head to head. Event organizer Ellen Donoho describes the event as “drag racing in 6-8 inches of mud.” Various levels of truck modifications split the competition into six classes and (for most classes) races are not timed. The first one to the finish line wins. Last year, in the single-track mud race, Donoho entered about 80 racers in a double elimination contest. With mud racing so well established in Mid-Missouri, the mud is likely to keep flying all night.
On Wednesday from 8:30-10:00 p.m. the Val Goodrich Band will bring their folk-rock-blues sound to the fair for the first time. Val Goodrich is a regional, Columbia-based artist who plays solo and with her band all over Missouri. She has opened for Saffire, The Uppity Blues Women, and Grammy nominated artist Iris Dement.
Guitarist and recording studio engineer Pete Szokla will be playing guitar with Val and her band at the fair. Szokla describes Val’s sound as similar to Melissa Ethridge, “but there’s some rock in it, and there’s some blues in it, and there’s some folk in it.”
Fish and fishing enthusiasts will enjoy something they have probably never seen before: a mobile aquarium. The Show-Me Missouri Fish Mobile Aquarium (sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation) will be making a stop at the Boone County Fair for the first time from Monday to Saturday.
The aquarium is a one-of-a-kind 40-foot Plexiglas trailer that tours the state to teach and entertain Missourians with different species of native fish and aquatic life. It can hold up to 70 fish, representing 15-25 different species, such as flathead catfish, white bass and panfish. The Missouri Department of Conservation staff uses the aquarium to hold educational demonstrations on native fish and fishing. In preparation for the Mobile Aquarium's stops, wild fish are collected and stored in hatcheries all over the state before being stocked in the aquarium. Throughout the summer and fall the Mobile Aquarium will be appearing at the Missouri State fair and various other local fairs.
In addition, the carnival will feature six more rides than last year.
