PONTIAC, Illinois USA — The rocket launch at the Livingston County 4-H Fair produces no red glare. Unlike in the national anthem, the rockets launched in the grandstand area at noon the Wednesday of the fair produce no glare in the midday sky. It's more like white smoke and a "swish" as they are propelled skyward.

Last year's launch was a casualty of the wet weather that dominated the fair, but for a Flanagan family on Wednesday, everything was cleared for liftoff.

Randy Schoener holds the model rocket he is about to launch at the 4-H Fair at noon Wednesday. With him are his father, Scotty, and friends Devin Battice, left, and Matthew Perkins, right.

More like a touch cloudy, actually, but the wispy clouds high in the sky did little to shield the eyes of the observers of the launch from a bright sun shining down on the midday launching.

Among the participants was Randy Schoener. He'll be in the sixth grade next month, and is a member of the Flanagan Town & Country 4-H Club. He's also showing rabbits and has an electricity project at this year's fair.

But as he awaited Wednesday's rocket launch — gathered with mom Patty, dad Scotty, sister Rachel, and friends Matthew Perkins and Devin Battice near their pickup truck parked in the dappled shade near the sunny grandstand area — his focus was on the engine that would propel the rocket he got as a kit for Christmas.

One of the victims of last year's rained out launch, Schoener and dad and friends joined other rocketeers in the grass near the grandstand, setting the launching holders for their rockets, which use engines shaped like a roll of nickels and set off by a two-pronged silverish igniter.

Watching the launch is one of the things that he enjoys about the rocket project, Schoener told a reporter before the launch, and making sure the fins are straight is one key to a good liftoff.

"We'll find out," his mom commented to a reporter just before he and they set off into the sun.

Presiding at the launch was Howard Zimmerman. Dressed in jeans and a cowboy hat and a veteran of the fair's Aerospace category, he went to each launcher, asking them if they were ready and making sure no spectators were within the launch area, as fair rules specify that model rockets "will be launched from a vertical position and in such a way as to present no hazard to spectators and property."

They didn't. As the rockets were launched, one at a time and with some unanticipated intervals when ignition problems developed for some, mom Patty and sister Rachel watched from the shade, admiring the scene and trying with the reporter to determine the precise word for the sound the rockets made on takeoff.

That takeoff sound and the white smoke that trailed from each rocket were consistent, but consistency wasn't the case with where they came down.

The first-launched, helped by a light breeze from the southwest, came down maybe a dozen rows into already tall corn to the northeast of the grandstand. Rocket recoverers for those vessels that parachuted into a soybean field more to the west had an easier relocation assignment.

The height the model rockets reach before their parachute-softened landing depends on the engine used and how it's adjusted. Zimmerman said 300 to 400 feet is a typical maximum height, although some rockets reach 600 to 800 feet.

Zimmerman was superintendent of the Miscellaneous category at the 4-H Fair when rockets burst onto that scene, at least 20 years ago.

"I said, 'We're going to launch them, aren't we?'" he recalled about the addition of model rocketry to the fair's varied list of projects.

"They put us on the schedule," he said, and it's been on the fair list ever since — providing not only another project option to 4-Hers but midday entertainment to their parents and grandparents, he indicated.

"The kids have fun, and they look forward to it," he said. "I always feel good when the parents come and help," he said after helping the Schoeners and other participants enjoy this year's event.

Copyright © 2008, Pontiac Daily Leader.