Like most days, 11-year-old Katherine Throne's morning began with the hourlong ritual of feeding the pigs. But Sunday, Katherine also loaded 10 of her hogs in a trailer and transported them from her home in Troup County to the Georgia State Fair, where she'll compete Wednesday in the statewide 4-H Swine Show. Katherine, a sixth-grader in La Grange, her 6-year-old sister Haley and her 10-year-old friend Ava Hersey all will be competing in the 4-H livestock competition, just one of the events that will draw children from across the state to Macon this week for the 147th edition of the fair. If livestock isn't your thing, there also are barbecue cook-offs and country music concerts to choose from at Central City Park, where the fair begins today. Other activities include clowns, hypnotists, nightly laser-light shows, an Elvis impersonation contest Sunday, and for the first time in several years, the fair will have a roller coaster on the midway, said Harold Carlisle, executive director of the fair. Late Sunday afternoon, only a few amusement rides had been constructed on the midway. Rollin Middlebrooks instructed his Macon Exchange Club volunteers on security procedures. A goat and a pony walked around a patch of dirt at the petting zoo. And a couple of "food joints" sold hot dogs and lemonade. Most of the visible work, that is putting up the rides, will take place while most Maconites are in bed. Amusements of America, which operates the fair's rides, had a late show in Gwinnett County on Sunday and wasn't expected to arrive in Macon until after midnight. The rides, however, should be up and running by the time the fair opens the midway today at 3 p.m., Carlisle said. The fair is starting about a month early this year to avoid overlap with Perry's Georgia National Fair in October and to coincide with a scheduled vacation day in Bibb County schools. About half of the fair's profits go to the Macon Exchange Club's charitable fund, which distributes money to groups in Middle Georgia throughout the year. Inside the fair's swine barn Sunday, children and their parents groomed, bathed and fed hogs, getting ready for the week's first competition Wednesday. Almost 300 hogs, transported here from all parts of Middle and south Georgia, are housed in the barn, said Lucy Dermo, an Exchange Club volunteer. The Throne family was building up a good sweat Sunday, getting ready for its first exhibition this year. Haley, already a four-year veteran of livestock shows at the tender age of six, was busy spraying her pigs with a conditioner that loosens dirt and makes their pink skin shiny, said her mother, Julie. "This is the first time they've been washed in a while," Julie Throne said. "They've been living in mud for the past three months." Throne and the three girls said they love bringing their animals to the fair, especially the competition. Even though raising hogs is hard work, Katherine said she thinks she has a chance to win a prize. "If she can smile the right way and catch the eye of one of the judges, I think she can win," Julie Throne said of her daughter.