Fair weather is great news for the Central Washington State Fair.

With the sun shining for the past four days, attendance has been booming at State Fair Park.

From the opener on Friday through Sunday, attendance is up nearly 12 percent over last year. That’s according to Greg Stewart, the fair’s longtime president and general manager.

Through Sunday, attendance is 110,827, up 11.6 percent over 2007. Here’s the breakdown:

Friday -- 30,322
Saturday -- 43,779
Sunday -- 36,726

Today the fair honors the military, veterans and seniors. Military officials will be on hand for a noon flag-raising ceremony next to Pioneer Hall.

Special guest at the fair is Army Spc. Evan Mettie of Selah, who was severely injured in Iraq.

On New Year's Day in 2006, Mettie was one of four soldiers in an Army vehicle patrolling a highway in Bayji, outside Mosul, when a man in a suspicious-looking vehicle blew up himself and the car. The blast killed one sergeant and nearly cost another soldier his leg. The driver was not injured.

Mettie, however, sustained massive injuries to one side of his body. Surgeons permanently removed the left side of his skull, replacing it with an acrylic plate. He became one of thousands of troops diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, which has come to be called the "signature" wound of the Iraq war, according to the Army Times.

Tonight, BlackHawk will be appearing at 7 p.m. on the Budweiser Stage. For those of you who might have forgotten, BlackHawk is a country trio that has several hits to their credit including “Every Once In a While” and “I’m Not Strong Enough to Say No.”

-- Posted by Spencer Hatton