Published: July 04, 2009 12:17 am      

Crowd estimates attendance, reacts to festival

CLINTON — The Clinton Riverboat Days was well under way by Friday afternoon, and a variety of people were milling about the fair grounds, stopping by different stands and games.

Trishia Morehead was checking tickets at the gate on Riverview Drive. She said the crowd was rather sparse, most people coming in groups of six or less which were spread out.

Greg Beaman was working his Iowa’s Finest Kettle Korn stand. He has traveled from Long Grove to Riverboat Days for almost 16 years. Beaman said while the festival was not extremely busy Thursday, his stand had seen steady business.

“Typically, the first day’s very slow and yesterday the crowd numbers looked like they were way low, looked like they were way down, but the people who were here, loved to buy kettle corn,” said Beaman. He added the same seemed to be holding true for Friday’s crowd.

Rachel Wiersema from the M&M Porkchop stand agreed that business had been steady. She said the addition of ice cream to their menu seemed to make a difference. Wayne Boenite said he saw a lot of people, especially children, while working the “Bouncer” course. He said he expected more people to attend as the day wore on.

Dianna Iverson, of Clinton, has attended Riverboat Days for years and brought all of her children to the festival when they were young. This year she was attending with her daughter and granddaughter from Cedar Rapids. Iverson said she thought having day passes for the event was great since it allowed people from out of town like her daughter to attend for just a day. She said overall, she thought the fair was good, though she felt more children’s rides should be available.

Merle Lawrence, of Clinton, however, was not impressed with the Riverboat Days events. He said he felt the fair is just not what it used to be. Lawrence added he felt many other fairs have more and he would not have even come if his family had not been given free passes from someone.

Wendy Weig, of Clinton, and Margaret Kuhl, of Clinton, would disagree, though. Both women have attended Riverboat Days for years and still love the event. Weig even attended the event for almost 10 years when she lived out of town. At 1 p.m., they both already had their lawn chairs set up for the main stage music event. Weig said they love to see the various musical groups. They were especially excited to see the Bones, who were opening for Loverboy.

“We love to see the local talent featured on the stage to warm up the band,” said Kuhl.

Weig and Kuhl said they were looking forward to the festival’s events. They felt the fair offered a wide variety for families.

“I’ve always enjoyed forever and ever, coming to Riverboat Days. It’s a great thing that Clinton does. It’s wonderful all the volunteer efforts I know that go in to it. It’s a super celebration to celebrate our country’s independence,” said Kuhl, adding, “Twenty-five dollars is still a great value to see three or four nights of entertainment.”