150 Years of State Fairs
The Fair in llieir dreams is a lot different
from those held in Colonial Times.
By RALPH LITTLE
Future Fair — building and dreaming. — Watson Photo.
Visitors to the 195 1 State Fair will be
witnesses to what Fair supporters call
the Fra of Transition. A lot of the old
Fair will be gone — done away with
by wrecking crews. And most of the
Fair of the Future is still in the hands
of architects and contractors. A great
deal more of it is on blue prints and
the fantasy part of it is in the dream-
ing-it-up stage.
Assured, prospective and dream
add up to something like this:
A year around operation, with in¬
ternational expositions featuring to¬
bacco, textiles, furniture, livestock, etc.
Permanent exhibits will show tobacco,
from seed to cigarette. Dairying from
grass to class, and many other ani¬
mated displays showing production of
finished products from native raw ma¬
terials.
It is hoped to have an intcr-dcnomi-
nalional church, facilities for demon¬
strations. band contests, folk festivals,
historical pageants, rodeos, sympho¬
nies. operas.
The First Fairs
But the fair has had to come a long
way to involve such planning. The first
recognized state fair was held in 1835.
an enterprise of the "State Agricultur¬
al Society." Before that, in 1777, the
Legislature provided for two fairs a
year to be held at Halifax. Edcnton
was also designated as "fairgrounds"
convenient to the largest portion of
the population.
For 75 years these and other fairs
were held.
Indians exhibited their best corn,
tanned deer hides, native melons and
other produce, and settlers came to
learn from the Indians and from other
settlers.
The fairs then as now devised
crowd-catchers — wrestling matches,
foot races, canoe races, log rollings.
Prizes were features of these gather¬
ings.
The State Fair continued until the
Civil War. and was resumed in 1869,
but for several decades was more of
a state reunion than an exposition.
12
Fair Week was the time for parties,
dances and other social functions at
the old Yarborough Hotel and the
Capitol Club, and there were dances
for the non-society folks at Stronach's
warehouse. Parades and competitive
drills by militia companies and by ca¬
dets from Bingham’s and Horners —
two famous old military academics —
were on the programs.
In 1892. Pawnee Bill (Gordon W.
Lillie) and his Wild West Show ap¬
peared and attracted large crowds. In
the 1914-16 era the sensation was
airplane flights, and in 1915-16
Captain Worden made a "ihrillingly
realistic presentation of an aeroplane
attack on the Forts of Liege."
There was a period of "Better Ba-
The Intruder
He knew not lhai I watched him
As he tiptoed thru the door,
He knew not that I traced his
Cautious steps across the floor.
I stood there simply frozen.
Afraid lest
/
betray
My hidden, lone identity
With help so far away.
I stood there breathless, watching
As he went on and on.
And oh I sighed with such relief
When that big mouse was gone.
Bf.tty W. Stoffel.
hies Contests," and sensational new
inventions were exhibited, including a
machine for gathering, stemming and
shelling peanuts, cotton presses, and a
sewing machine reel.
The Fairs rarely were financially suc¬
cessful. and none were held in 1926
and 1927. Largely through the elo¬
quence of the late J. M. Broughton,
then Wake State Senator, and funds
from the City of Raleigh and the N. C.
Agriculture Society, the modern fair
was born. In 1937 the fair was turned
over to J. S. Dorton, a fair operator,
and it became a division of the De¬
partment of Agriculture. Intense pro¬
motional efforts and expansion of in¬
terest-attracting features have turned
the fair into a profitable enterprise,
with net revenue reported each year
beginning in 1938.
THREE GOVERNORS
PI ED liV OFFICE
North Carolina has had only three
of its chief executives die in office.
Governor John W. Ellis of Rowan
died in 1861 while just beginning his
second term.
Governor T. R. Caldwell of Burke
was near the close of his second term
when death removed him from office
in 1874.
Governor Daniel G. Fowle of Wake
died in office April 8. 1891, while
serving a four-year term which began
January 17, 1889.
THE STATE. October 6. 1951
