New safety enhancements and parking rules for SEMO District Fair

CAPE GIRARDEAU Mo. (KBSI) – Fun, food, and fair preparations are well underway in Arena Park.

Managers want you to know the SEMO District Fair is doing things a little different this year to keep the crowd safe.

Darrell Aufdenberg is one of the Directors of the fair board and he has been out here for hours making sure safety tents are put up and security can do their job all week long.

“With everything going on in our country we just felt like we needed to advance our security for everyone’s safety, so they felt comfortable coming to the fair.”

Aufdenberg is networking with officers from Cape Police Department to spread out on the fairgrounds to ensure help to those who need it at every corner.

“The Cape Girardeau Police Department, some people from the Cape County Sheriff’s Department, we will have several different ones here helping with our parking and our security,” he said.

It is the 169th Anniversary for the SEMO District Fair and Steve Birk has been a board member for years, but this is his first year as president. 

He’s excited for the fair this year with the new parking regulations and safety enhancements such as a six-foot fence.

“We have added a six-foot barrier fence around the whole fairgrounds to keep people from just jumping fences and coming in,” said Birk. “We’ve added scanners for people to walk through metal detectors.”

The six-foot fence and metal detectors are new add ons this year.

Birk believes that both of these things will be beneficial for more years to come.

After all, Birk says the whole purpose of the fair is for families to come and unwind and have fun.

“We want everyone to feel safe, we don’t want anyone to feel like they can’t come here and have a good time because like I said the fair is for kids and families and we want everyone to feel safe.”

This weekend will kick off a fun filled week with safety on every corner. The fair starts this Saturday with the parade kicking off at 9:30am and will run until next Saturday September 14.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department will be here all week conducting traffic and to make sure everyone is safe.

Related Sites: Family Fun – SEMO FAIR