TIP #542 - LET'S GO TO THE FAIR!!! Oh, memories of childhood! Did you live in an area where THE summer entertainment was the county or state fair? Can you remember riding the ferris wheel, tossing balls at wooden bowling pins to win a prize for the love of your life (stuffed oversized bears, a goldfish, a chameleon on a chain), the music, the assorted games of chance, always rigged against you? Do you remember walking through the produce displays, checking out the cattle, sheep and horses? Many of my childhood memories can go back to the fair. Even then parents held tight on children's hands and discouraged the "freeway" where who knows what displays might shock you - the bearded lady, the reptile skinned man, the Egyptian dancers??? Kentuckians, like other Americans, have long cherished the fair. It was a time for families, friends, farmers, businessmen all to get together and just enjoy themselves. Competitions for the best baked cherry pie or the largest pumpkin have always drawn crowds. It was just a time when many of us could let down our hair and just be ourselves with our worries put on hold for a time. Kentucky fairs have always been more geared to the farms in contrast to the larger urban area fairs. The Kentucky State Fair dates back to 1902; but the roots of Kentucky fairs go back much further. In 1853, Louisville hosted the world's fair and what an event it was. But it goes back farther than that. The Southern Exposition, which was a regional fair, was hosted by Louisville from 1833 until 1887. The first recorded fair in Kentucky was held on the Lewis Sander's farm north of Lexington in 1816. Looking more like a cattle show than a fair, there was livestock of every kind and prizes. By the 1830's, the fair had added agricultural products to the menu with produce displayed by the proud farmers and their wives. Fairs reached their peak in 1838 according to the Kentucky Encyclopedia when 21 county fairs were held in the then 88 counties. They saw a decline in interest in the early 1840's and in 1844 and 1845, Bourbon Co was the only county still having a major fair. This was a three-day event and drew huge crowds for the time, estimated to be 10,000. During 1850-1860, 52 agricultural fairs were organized and the Germantown Fair began - in continuous operation since 1854. Then came the Civil War when all celebration stopped. Christian Co had a big fair planned in 1860 but the rumblings of the oncoming war stopped all festivities. It came back with a vengeance in 1869 with additional thrills for people far and wide. There was a parade by the local fire department and something seldom seen - a balloon ascension! By 1947 there were 61 local fairs going on in the summer throughout the state; by 1959 the number had grown to 96. Slowly the fairs expanded to what we are most familiar with. Prizes for the best livestock, junior competitions, 4-H competitions, Grandma's best preserves, quilting displays. And somewhere along the line came the food to be sold to the hungry and foot-weary visitor. Do you remember your first taste of cotton candy and standing there watching the machine spin the sugar with added food color? The lemonade - best you could taste; later the hot dogs, ribs and other delicacies. Did your Mom or Dad ever steer you away from the food stands saying that one could never tell how the food was prepared or who prepared it and you might just get sick and die from poisoned food? Did you ever taste a real peach from the agricultural displays - you used to be given a peach free as you ooohed and aaahed over the quality of the garden crops. Can you remember the smells? Fresh fruit aromas mixed with the livestock stalls? Hotdogs cooking and sweaty bodies? Barbequed ribs on the grill? Well, how about the sounds? The carneys yelling out invitations to see the rubber boy, raucous music from the rides, squeals of delights of the children as they rode the beautifully painted merry-go-round, friends and family chatting back and forth and urging each other to go see a certain display. Blue, white and red ribbons hanging proudly on animal pens while the owners strutted proudly that they had taken a ribbon? Despite the modern inventions of television, video games, rock concerts and other media events - there will never, in the hearts of many of us, being anything like the fair. © Copyright 26 May 2005, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ New books available now! 29 Apr 2005 Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html