Jubilee Days nearly gone with the wind

     WARSAW (MO.) - It was a two-balloon day.
     "Usually I put up 50 to 100 balloons," said Paul Yeisley, California. "It really looks nice and attractive."
     Looking at the modest display dancing in the wind above his puppet booth, he paused to sigh. "I've got two lousy balloons up." 
     When six of his silver helium balloons broke free from their tethers to float in the gusty wind high above the Warsaw Jubilee Days Thursday, he learned his lesson.
     "It's crazy to stay out here and do this. What are you going to make? $10? $20?" Yeisley queried. "I think we're going to pack it up."
     Gusty, storm-threatening winds wreaked havoc on many of the arts-and-crafts displays on the Benton County Courthouse lawn. Vendors snatched their wares from the clutches of the stingy wind only to have their booths threaten to blow over on top of them.
     Rumors of tornadoes to the northeast made fairgoers, carnival workers and vendors uneasy. Displays were condensed to easily retrievable size, lest they blow away. By early evening, nearly all the crafts booths were gone. 

     But Yeisley's balloons weren't the only things sailing high Thursday. The jubilee spirit swept up young fairgoers as they swirled about on carnival rides, tested their skill at contest booths and bounced in a huge, inflated castle.
     Backstage at the Community Building, hair dresser Mary Farr hurried to put the finishing touches on the eight Warsaw queen candidates before their stage debut.
     Annette Smith won the contest, getting a $50 savings bond and a $300 college scholarship.
     In addition to the carnival and crafts exhibits, more fun contests and events are slated for today and Saturday. From 4 to 7 p.m. today, an ice cream social will be held at the museum. At 7:30 p.m. an Old Fiddlers' Contest will be featured in the Community Building.
     Saturday features kiddie contests at 9 a.m. on Main Street; an old-fashioned dress and bearded-man contest at 9:30 a.m. at the courthouse; a talk on Missouri mules at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. at the visitor's center; a parade at 11 a.m. on Main Street, followed by a mud marathon; street dancing from 1 to 5 p.m. at the fire station; and country and western shows featuring Joe Stampley at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.


                                              The Sedalia (Mo.) Democrat, June 8, 1984