By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

STATE FAIR PARK -- Working the entrance gates at the Nebraska State Fair "is like the Navy. It's not just a job, it's an adventure,'' according to one ticket taker.

If that's true, then Rose Hitz of Lincoln would be the captain of the adventurers.

Hitz, who says she's close to 70, is working her 50th year at the State Fair, the last 35 or so as a ticket taker and, most recently, a gate supervisor.

She oversees about 20 ticket takers and cashiers during the day shift who stand out in the hot sun and dust, dispensing tickets as well as directions and advice.

Their jobs pay minimum wage, and many of them take a week of vacation from other jobs for the sweaty and dirty task of taking tickets.

"I tell everybody, either you like it or you don't,'' Hitz said. "It's like family. We look out after each other. . . . You certainly don't do it for the money.''

Ticket takers -- despite the often nice but sometimes grumbling motorists entering the gates -- tend to gravitate back to the fair every year. Several have worked the fair for 15 to 20 years, and Hitz, a native of Wilber, Neb., who brings snacks for her underpaid legions, is like the queen mother.

Anyone who has a problem gets directed to Hitz, who scoots around in her golf cart addressing problems. Her prized stuffed animal, Pooh Bear, is strapped in the back basket.

One second, she's calling a cab for an elderly couple and setting up folding chairs so they can sit down while waiting. The next she's running down a TV reporter to offer any assistance. Then, she's dashing off to quiz the driver of a Jeep Cherokee who, it turns out, really had a reason to drive through the entrance gate without paying.

"She's a nice person. She treats everyone nice,'' said Andy Finnell of Denver, a former Lincoln resident who returns to work the gates.

Hitz retired from the Nebraska Educational Television Network three years ago.

She had planned to retire this year, but when the decision was made to move the fair, she decided to come back for the last two fairs in Lincoln.

"You just fall in love with it,'' she said.