Wednesday, December 03, 2008

By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

STATE FAIR PARK -- A crowd of about 5,000 people rose from their seats as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a bluegrass and country group with roots back to the 1960s, began plunking out its greatest hit.

"Mr. Bojangles'' sounded much as it did back in 1971, when it rose to No. 9 on the Top 10 pop chart.

Out in the audience at the Open-Air Auditorium, Vicki Warren and Kandi Arena were grooving to the music, drinking cranberry wine coolers. They were on a moms' night out, leaving their kids behind in Beatrice, Neb.

"These guys were big when we were in high school,'' said Warren, 33, referring to the Dirt Band's hits in the early '90s. "For $8 (admission), this is a pretty cheap walk down memory lane.''

The sun was down and temperatures were cooling off, but the bright lights had come on at the Nebraska State Fair, which shifts into a different gear at night.

The pie bakers, blue-ribbon seekers, senior citizens and mommies with strollers mostly head out before sundown to be replaced by the music and midway lovers, and those just getting off from the 8-to-5 shift.

"We come for the concerts,'' said 23-year-old factory worker Jeff Tate as he strolled onto the fairgrounds with his girlfriend, Amy Quinn. "Then it's kind of nice to just walk around and see the lights. It puts out a good vibe.''

State Fair officials say that nighttime programming is important in an era when both parents work. It's also a time when the temperatures drop, the music gets louder, the lines at the beer gardens get longer and the midway lights flash brightly.

"It's just a whole nother world at night,'' said Barney Cosner, executive director of the Nebraska State Fair. "Nighttime's the time to come -- it's cooler, more glittery.''

Unlike the weekends, when there's a pretty steady crowd all day and into the evening, most weekday profits at the fair are made at night for the food booths, beer gardens and midway rides.

Many fair exhibitors arrive at night. Just outside the beef barn, Kassie Sukup of Verdigre, Neb., was feeding her Angus bull and heifer Thursday night in preparation for FFA shows this weekend.

Her mother, Kris, said they typically walk the cattle a half mile or more at night to calm them and keep them in shape for showing.

It's also a time for renewing acquaintances. A fair security guard, who turkey hunts on the Sukup place, stopped by the outdoor stall, as did a dozen other friends of the Sukups from back home and from Lincoln.

Dustin Beener of Urbandale, Iowa, whose family concession operation, Hardenbrook Concession, is celebrating its 50th year at the Nebraska State Fair, said that about 70 percent of his weekday sales come at night.

"People get off work and, instead of cooking, it seems like they come out here,'' Beener said as he scooped a load of fried onions onto a sizzling polish dog.