The sun shone down on the Arkansas State Fair and Livestock Show on Saturday after rainfall the night before threatened to dampen the festivities.

Dough was fried, rides were ridden and animals were shown on the second day of the State Fair, which runs through Oct. 21.

Last year’s first-day attendance, with help from “Lunch at the Fair,” was estimated at 44,000 people, said Ralph Shoptaw, State Fair president and general manager. But with Friday’s inclement weather, he estimated attendance at only 11,000.

The weather didn’t stopthe rides from running, but it kept many people at home who would have shown up Friday, Shoptaw said.

He said the drop in attendance could be made up over the course of the rest of the fair, but it was too much for a single day.

Saturdays are big for the fair, he said, estimating attendance to hit the 80,000 mark that day.

“You don’t ever really truly make that difference up,” Shoptaw said, referring to the drop in opening-day attendance. “But we’ll have a big crowd today [Saturday] because the weather’s better.”

Saturday was the first dayof several animal competitions, including market lambs, beef cattle and rabbits, in addition to the dozens of rides and vendors inside the gates at the fairgrounds off Roosevelt Road in Little Rock.

The smell of powdered sugar, fried foods and cotton candy drifted in the air around the Tilt-a-Whirl, Ferris wheels and dunking tanks.

Inside the barns on the outskirts of the fairgrounds, chickens and rabbits sat in cages adorned with various colored ribbons and cattle lounged in rows atop piles of hay.

Gay Whillock, 61, of Clinton said she attends the State Fair every year and was there Saturday with her daughter, her son-in-law and their children.

“It’s family-oriented and I like that,” Whillock said. “And the weather this year has been better than in past years.”

Standing next to one ofthe Ferris wheels Saturday, Jay Lupo, 31, of Pine Bluff said he was there for the first time with his children and his father.

He said the fair was “nicer than I anticipated” and appreciated how clean the grounds were kept. He said he and his father, David Lupo, had sampled several foods, including funnel cakes and root beer floats, and had no complaints.

David Lupo, 57, also of Pine Bluff, said he liked thatthe fair was still based in the capital city and “not out in the country someplace” - a decision made by the Arkansas Livestock Show Association board in June after proposals from North Little Rock and Jacksonville.

But even though the family didn’t have to travel very far, there were conditions for heading to the State Fair on Saturday, he said, recalling the conversation back home.

“We’ll go,” David Lupo said in the afternoon. “We just have to be back in time for the Razorback game.”State Fair schedule SUNDAY, OCT. 14 Wendy’s Main Stage 8 p.m. Think Floyd (Pink Floyd Tribute Show) Farm Bureau Arts & Crafts Building 3 p.m. Arkansas Amateur Wine contest, Grand champion judging 3 p.m. Arkansas Commercial Wine competition and tasting Livestock competition 8 a.m. Cattle competition 3 p.m. Goat Skill-A-Thon

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/14/2012