The week of the Warren County Fair opened with blazing heat that had a downward pull on attendance, but the Fair finished strong with a break in the temperature.Daytime temperatures were in the 90s Sunday through Thursday, with added humidity. It might have been good weather for selling ice cream or cold drinks, but not necessarily for outdoor rides and shows. The heat dropped into the 80s Friday and Saturday, and was even cooler after sundown.Fortunately, the heat didn’t have any significant health issues. Warren County Ambulance CEO Ralph Hellebusch said there was only one heat-related illness at the fairgrounds.“But she was back out in the rodeo arena the next evening!” Hellebusch added.Fair Association President Paul Owenby said if he had to have extreme heat, he was glad it happened earlier in the week so people could come out to big events Friday and Saturday.“It’s Missouri. You can’t change much. July is always going to be warm,” Owenby said. “But Friday and Saturday, you couldn’t have asked for better weather.”By far, Owenby said the biggest events of Fair week were Saturday night at the pig scramble, demolition derby and rodeo, all annual favorites.He estimated that attendance throughout the whole week was down to about 12,000 because of the heat. Last year’s turnout was closer to 15,000, he said. However, the financial aspect of the Fair wasn’t as far off target because of increased season pass sales, Owenby added.“All in all, we didn’t have any major issues. Everything went off fairly well.”Now Fair organizers are regrouping, and will meet soon to determine exact numbers on attendance and other sales, as well as discussing what can be improved for next year’s Fair.Part of that discussion will be reviewing some things that had been changed for this year. A new event in the horse arena, team penning, was added to the entertainment lineup for 2018. Despite being low on teams for the calf-wrangling competition, there was a good crowd of spectators and Owenby expects the event to return next year.The annual fireworks show at the Fair was moved to Saturday this year. Although the change was originally because of a setback in planning, there were benefits to having the fireworks show on the last day of the Fair.Because the show had previously been done on the Fourth of July, no matter what day of the week that happened to be, Fair organizers had to be very careful about how they planned other events that involved animals, Owenby said. Fireworks bangs can spook large animals that aren’t used to them.But with the display on the last day, all the animal shows were over, making fireworks easier to coordinate as a grand finale to Fair week.It’s yet to be determined whether that change will become permanent.Anyone interested in becoming involved in planning or helping with the Fair for 2019 is invited to talk with members of the Warren County Fair Association. The group meets the second Tuesday of each month, 7 p.m. at the county fairgrounds.“We’re always looking for volunteer help. This is a 100 percent volunteer organization,” Owenby said. “It can’t be done without the help of the people who volunteer . . . It is a community project.”

Barrel racing was one of many events that brought people to the Warren County Fair July 3-7. This racer completed runs Saturday, July 7, at the fairgrounds' horse arena.

Record photo/Derrick Forsythe