The fairgrounds are silent today. The chatter and whirl and squeal and thunk and roar and click of the games, rides, animals, food and people have been packed up in yesterday, with Sunday's close of the 147th installment of the Georgia State Fair. The announcers - "Welcome to the last day of the Georgia State Fair!" - and the peddlers - "What am I going to guess: your weight, your age or your birthday?" - and the police "We've got to stand around and listen to this all day. ..." - have gone or are boxing and loading up. Three days of rain during the fair week in Macon have left blotches of mud covered with straw. They also have softened the profits vendors and fair officials said they had hoped to grow this year, with the carnival held before the Georgia National Fair, which begins Friday in Perry. Even so, close to 20,000 packed the grounds Friday night and another 30,000 wandered the rows of games and crafts and rides Saturday, estimate fair leaders. Another 4,215 Future Business Leaders of America swarmed the festival Wednesday. In 2001, 68,000 people visited during fair week. The staccato popping of stroller wheels over sand and dirt, the click of a disposable camera capturing the requisite smile riding by, the uh-hu and hunka-hunka of the Elvis impersonators cavorting on stage and the thunk, thunk from jams at the Music Video Funhouse have evaporated from where stalled metal structures wait at Central City Park to be carted away. The trucks and cars lined in rows have toted away the anxious girl, pointing for her friend, "There it is. I see it," the tilted head asking, "Can I get some candy?" and the leader of the pack deciding, "Nu-huh. I'm not getting on no helicopter." The roaring Avalanche roller coaster, the clicking and grating Ferris wheel, the rolling bumper cars and the squealing-kid-spinning green dinosaurs have been pacified. By this evening, most of them will have vacated the park and cruised on to the next stop in Statesboro, leaving a lulled park and twirting birds.