State Fair arrives Friday for 10 days

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Even when the weather fails to embrace change, there's no surer sign of autumn than the arrival of the Arkansas State Fair, as Jack W. Hill reports in Friday's Arkansas Weekend section. Whether summer temperatures are still hanging around, or an early frost threatens, or rains come along, fair fans will turn out starting Friday.

And while there are murmurs of moving the fair, it has yet to happen, if it ever does, so look for it where it has been for decades, on West Roosevelt Road.

Expect food, country music, classic rock sounds, rides, games, prize-winning animals and arts and crafts. And there's always something to see in the good ol' Hall of Industry, especially in an election year, when one can count on political parties and candidates with booths and displays and maybe even bumper stickers, pencils or plastic bags to carry the stuff that you pick up elsewhere in the hall, like a new road map, the latest kitchen gadget that will rock your world and anti-drug coloring books for the kids. There will be fudge for sale, along with those restful vibrating chairs.

The prominent names this year who will perform on the Wendy's Main Stage are: Rodney Atkins at 7:30 p.m. Friday; Bo Bice, a former American Idol finalist, at 8 p.m. Saturday; James Otto, a country music newcomer, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday; The LoCash Cowboys at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; and classic rockers Three Dog Night at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.