After a clear night Thursday, Brookhaven Exchange Club fairworkers and officials are hoping for a strong finish followingearlier setbacks due to this week’s rainy weather.

The fair has taken a bit of a hit financially after a rainoutMonday night and smaller crowds Tuesday and Wednesday due to theweather. But officials said they are hoping to recoup some of theirlosses by week’s end.

Bob Morris, exchange club president, said he believes the fairto be at least 25-30 percent down from where they were this timelast year.

“We had almost a complete rainout Monday, and then the rainreally slowed us down Tuesday and Wednesday,” he said.

Naturally, with a thinner crowd, the concessions stands and gamebooths have felt the crunch as well, said Weldon Smith, manager ofthe Midway Kitchen.

“The rain has killed us,” he said. “We’re down several thousanddollars from where we wanted to be.”

Fair officials hoped a strong Thursday night would be thekickoff for a record-setting weekend as people filled the park onthe first night they didn’t need to worry about umbrellas andponchos.

“We just need to be ready for Friday and Saturday nights,” saidSmith. “And hopefully we’ll have a record night tonight.”

Morris said it looked as though Thursday night’s crowd couldpossibly make up some of the ground lost thus far in the week.

“It looks like we’re having a good night tonight, though it willnot entirely help us gain the ground we’ve lost. Last night wasdecent, too,” he said.

Fair officials discounted the idea of opening early on Saturday,but said staying open late is still a distinct possibility. Thefair is currently scheduled for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.

“I don’t think we’ll start up early, but we might extend ourhours to 11 p.m. if the crowd will stay,” said Morris. “It’s justthe weather factor we’ve had to worry about. We can’t control theweather, but we’re hoping to recoup some of the losses.”

Smith said there’s not really a game plan for making up the lostground on the finances, but that fair officials are just gratefulfor the turnout they’ve had so far.

“I think wherever the totals fall is where they fall as of now,”he said. “We don’t have any backup plans at this point.”

Saturday is the last night of the yearly event.