There were crowds everywhere on the Plymouth County Fairgrounds Saturday, including the Pioneer Village during a show by hypnotist Gary Roberts. [Click to enlarge]

Despite a burned extension cord at the Round Barn and a rainy start, the Plymouth County Fair went off without a hitch.

Terry Reuter, fair board president, said there was a minor incident Friday at the Round Barn when an outside extension cord hanging in front of a spotlight lens heated up.

Reuter noticed the heavy smoke at about 9:55 p.m. Friday when he went to close the Round Barn for the day.

He and Le Mars Fire Chief Wayne Schipper, who was at the fair, helped unplug the cord, which had the rubber burnt off it, and fixed the problem with it and the spotlight avoiding a potential disaster, Reuter said.

"It was at the point where I think it would have flashed up and caught on fire," he said. "In a few minutes it would have been pretty bad."

That, along with rain Wednesday afternoon and overnight when about 2 1/2 inches of rain was reported in Le Mars, made the 2008 Plymouth County Fair one for the memory books.

Reuter's been on the fair board 18 years, and the only rain at the fair he remembers is a storm in 1998 on Sunday.

"We've never been rained out on a Wednesday night," Reuter said speaking of his time on the board. "Most events will run in any kind of weather."

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The overall number of fairgoers, estimated at more than 88,000, was down about 2,500 people from last year, Reuter said.

"A little bit of rain on Wednesday is probably the biggest difference," he said.

There were 17,500 visitors to the fair Sunday. As of Monday morning the number of fairgoers for each of the other four days had yet to be calculated.

Reuter estimated the number of fairgoers was down Wednesday during the day, but rebounded that evening.

"It was slow," Reuter said of Wednesday morning and afternoon. "People that had to be here were here and not too many others."

The rainy weather also meant a few changes in event locations that Reuter said ended up being positives rather than negatives.

Wet seating and mud in the grandstand area meant both the king and queen crowning and the Impact Pro Wrestling events had to be moved Wednesday evening.

Royalty was crowned in Century Hall and the wrestlers performed in the covered arena.

Having the wrestlers in that space worked out well, Reuter said.

"I'm pleased with the amount of people that attended," he said, estimating there were between 800 and 900 people in the crowd.

Relocating those events and a couple others like the horse show Thursday, which had to be moved to a grassy ring because of mud, were not advance plans.

"It was nice to have an option to go to right away without even realizing we did," Reuter said.

The fair board had also made preparations like bringing in rocks and wood chips for dirt areas in case of rain prior to the start of the fair based on weather forecasts, Reuter said.

"Everything that's come up hasn't been really major," he said. "I think we were really prepared for the fair."

The Plymouth County Fair, Reuter said, really is "The Five Best Days of Summer."