County fair to keep eye on patrons during extreme temperatures

With the recent trend of higher-than-normal temperatures - even for summer - not looking to let up any time soon, officials with the Kingdom of Callaway County Fair have discussed ways to help make sure their visitors aren't too miserable to enjoy themselves.

"All of our staff will have coolers with water with them to give to people who look like they're having problems, and also will have the carts to get them to the cooling tent or to help," said fair board president Billy Spencer. "All the staff's going to be on the lookout for that this year."

The large white cooling tent will be in its usual place between the fair office and the Red Barn.

In addition to young 4-H and FFA participants who tend to spend long days at the fair, Spencer said the largest group of concern are the older volunteers working at various food booths for local clubs such as the Lions, the Kiwanis and the Jaycee's.

"A lot of them don't realize how exhausted and overheated they are," Spencer said.

He said the fair board will do all it can to help those suffering problems due to the heat, although that mostly consists of "just offering a cool place for them to sit down and rest."

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.