Dozens of 10-day fair employees turn into last minute no-shows

Danette Mohr-Harbison sat at her desk in the grandstand office during the Foreigner show shuffling a stack of fair staff ID badges representing the "no shows" of the 2014 fair.

That means that somewhere on the grounds trash wasn't picked up, a parking checkpoint wasn't fully staffed or someone may not have easily found their seat in the grandstand.

It's certainly not the fair's fault and Harbison is quick to get all the bases covered.

But, it is a sad end-of-summer commentary on missed opportunities and people who say they want work--but don't want it bad enough.

Du Quoin State Fair manager Shannon Woodworth and Mohr-Harbison say that, all told, the fair provides between 400 and 500 jobs. Some are for the whole summer. Most are for between 10 days and two weeks. But, those jobs could mean an extra $550, $700 or even $1,000 in part-time income during the critical back-to-school time.

The jobs are groundskeeping, security, parking, grandstand ushers, food services--you name it and there's probably a job at the fair.

How many are no-shows. 20? "Probably more than that," she says. 40? "Yes, probably."

That's a room full of people who the fair went out of their way to make jobs for--who didn't show up for work.

There are a lot of reasons: The heat. School and scheduling conflicts. Another job. Getting a ride out to the fairgrounds. They decided they weren't cut out for the work. Or, they needed to be able to tell the Illinois unemployment office (as is required) they were out trying to find gainful employment, with no real intent to work.

"It's not an eyebrow raiser," says Woodworth. "This happens every year," and the fair counts on it and plans for it. "It's not any worse than it has ever been," he said.

At last count, the unemployment rate in Perry County was over 12 percent.

So, why wouldn't you show up for work!