County Fairs

A Kansas Portrait

County fairs, with images of cattle, crops, carnivals, and crowds, have long been a part of life in Kansas. In fact, the first fairs were held shortly after Kansas Territory was opened in 1854. They usually were sponsored by county agricultural and mechanical societies. Organizers believed fairs encouraged use of the latest farming methods, introduced improved breeds of livestock, and promoted local trade and manufacturers. Agricultural publications urged farmers and their families to go to fairs, "For improvement; to see, to question, and to reflect."

Nineteenth century fairs in Kansas, however, did more than promote the improvement of agriculture. They helped create a sense of community in a newly settled land. By the 1870s, most counties sponsored an annual fair. Since county seats usually were centrally located for business, government, and transportation reasons, they were ideal sites for county fairs.

Fairs not only created a sense of community, they also reflected the uncertainties of settling the plains. When times were hard, fairs were either canceled or hampered by poor exhibits. When times were good, exhibits were extensive and local residents publicized the successful harvest.

Fairs consciously promoted Kansas as a prosperous place to live. Fair posters often proclaimed that visitors would see "a grand agricultural display." Other efforts were more specific. Constructed entirely of locally grown corn, the arch at the entrance of the 1886 Finney County fair refuted critic's claims that "Corn Won't Grow in Southwest Kansas."

In one instance, a county fair was the vehicle for favorable national publicity for the state. In 1879 the Woodson County fair board invited President Rutherford B. Hayes to the fair in Neosho Falls, and he accepted. His visit to Kansas was widely reported, and an illustrated article on the fair was published in Leslie's Weekly, a magazine with national circulation. The drawings in the magazine depicted extensive agricultural exhibits at the fair as well as an archway proclaiming "KANSAS-1856, Bleeding; 1860, Drouthy; 1879, Booming."

Not all fairs were successful. Secretaries of fair boards filed reports with the state secretary of agriculture, and each year several wrote that the harvest was too scant to hold a fair, that the fair had lost money, that the exhibits were poor, or that bad weather discouraged attendance. The secretary of the Pawnee County fair board described the difficulties of holding a fair in 1879 in spite of a well-publicized visit by President Hayes.

Times too hard to make our Fair a success. Would have been an entire failure, if it had not been for the kindness of our Governor St. John. Through him we owe our success in his bringing the President of the United States out to our little Fair. We had a good display of vegetables but brought in but few.

Pawnee County did not hold a fair the next year for the secretary reported "too hard times and crops too poor to hold a Fair. (President Hayes was not on exhibit this year.)" The secretary added, however, that the majority of farmers were more prosperous than they were the previous year.

Nineteenth century county fairs, by promoting improved agriculture, helping create a sense of community, and encouraging settlement of the region, reflected major concerns of the people that attended. Fairs, in a sense, were celebrations of another year of progress. Because city and rural residents depended on the agricultural economy, fairs became important annual events whose traditions are still evident in the county fairs of today.