MINOOKA — What was to be one of the best nights of the two sisters' lives turned into their worst.

"It was so surreal," Sara Fleming recalled today of Saturday's collapse of the Main Grandstand Stage at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis, which left five dead in its wake and many more injured.

"One minute the skies are blue, and everybody is having a good time. The next minute everybody's crying," she said.

Sara and her sister, Kelly Smith of Minooka, went to the fair to see and hear their favorite country band, Sugarland, which was to perform before 12,000 people that evening. Sara had purchased the tickets well in advance, reserved their hotel room for the night, and paid for their dinner and transportation. All this was Sara's gift to Kelly for Kelly's 28th birthday.

The sisters had aisle seats five rows back on the dirt track just in front of the stage. They had looked forward to this evening all summer long. Others in the audience were alive with anticipation, too. Then the announcer walked out onto the stage, picked up the microphone and announced that Sugarland would appear at 8:45 p.m.

"And the stage came down at 8:44 p.m.," Sara said. "A big gust of wind took it down. Because we had seats on the aisle is the only reason we got out of there before the stage fell on them.

"I was standing in the aisle at the time to talk to the security officer. Kelly and I grabbed hands and ran for our lives. The roof started to shake and we knew we had to run to save our lives."

As the two sat waiting for the band to appear, Sara said, she had noticed the sky becoming very dark. They had been told some bad weather might be approaching, and if so, to cross the street and take shelter.

"I stood up to talk to the security officer about it when huge gusts of wind came and there was dust flying everywhere," she said. "We didn't know if it was a tornado or what. We ran to the livestock building on the fairgrounds and took cover there for several hours. They kept us in the building about two hours.

"There was no cell phone service. No one could call their loved ones. I was shaking. People were sobbing. I was so upset because of the children and babies who were in that VIP area, and the crew members on the stage.

"We didn't see anyone die, but we knew that they did," she added. "There was a man on the stage running the spotlight, and I knew there was no way for him to get out of there — to make it."

Sara said their best night turned into the worst night "really fast."

"It was the worst feeling ever," she said. "It was a very shocking, surreal, horror movie. I woke up Monday, wondering if it still happened. We were very fortunate to make it out — very lucky. But I also feel very sick for the people whose lives were taken by the tragedy."

After leaving the livestock building, Sara and her sister drove to their hotel room.

"The drive ... trying to get back ... you're shaking, hysterical ... there's chaos all over everywhere," she said. "We didn't sleep at all that night. The adrenaline was pumping. We couldn't eat, either."

Sara's husband, Pete Fleming, had been texting her throughout Saturday from their home in Minooka.

"That there were bad storms coming, and to take cover," she said. "That is what made me step out of my seat on the aisle that evening and talk to the security officer about the weather. I have a 1 1/2-year-old daughter at home. I was running away (when the stage came down) because I wanted to get home to my baby."

Sara didn't see what her sister witnessed — the stage coming down on the rows where they had been seated, and people caught beneath the falling debris.

"She saw loudspeakers and such land on people," Sara noted. "We thought it was a tornado."

The only reason she and Kelly escaped without injury was because of the aisle seats, Sara believes. Spectators further inside the rows were forced to try to climb over seat after seat toward an aisle to attempt to escape the calamity.

"These poor people, waiting to see their favorite band take the stage, and they lost their lives," she said. "It just doesn't seem right. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims."

Sara spoke of a 17-year-old youth, whose back was broken when the stage and roof came down on him.

"We're lucky to be alive, but we're also very upset," she said. "Many people didn't die, but they were injured or paralyzed. A lot of bad injuries."

No rain or thunder preceded the wind gust that took down the stage and roof. Sara believes the two sisters' lives were saved because her husband kept texting them throughout the day with warnings about the weather.

A published report indicates that AccuWeather issued a warning for 60-mile-per-hour winds at 8:23 a.m. Saturday. The report notes the National Weather Service's issued a similar warning 16 minutes later.