92 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



The attendance showed an increase of nearly one hundred thousand 

 over last year, and the receipts exceeded those of 1918 by nearly that many 

 dollars. The net profits of the fair will probably be close to fifty thousand 

 dollars. 



The increase in receipts was in a measure expected, but the tremendous 

 rush of fair visitors was beyond any but the most sanguine expectations. 

 A week before the fair, a street car strike in Des Moines threatened to 

 keep many away from the fair; railroad troubles were discouraging ex- 

 hibitors and sight-seers, and fair ofl[icials were legitimately anxious as to 

 the outcome. 



When the fair got under way, however, matters seemed to clear up. The 

 street car question was settled; railroad service, for the moment at least, 

 was less disturbed, and the weather, often the bane of the Iowa fair, for- 

 got its customary behavior and permitted ten days of cool, clear weather 

 that suggested October rather than August. 



The crowds began to gather earlier than usual this year. The first days 

 had a larger attendance than is customary, and on Friday and Saturday 

 the fair hit its gait and ran the attendance up to the 40,000 mark. Tuesday 

 set the record for attendance at 76,406, but Wednesday failed of that mark 

 only by a few thousand, and crowds continued to pour through the turn- 

 stiles up until the late afternoon of the last day. 



State fair ofl[icials constantly made optimistic estimates during the 

 progress of the fair, only to have their hopes overtaken by the reality. 

 President Cameron, of the state fair board, looked over Saturday's crowd, 

 and in a moment of enthusiasm prophesied that Monday would see fifty 

 thousand pass thru the gates. Considering that Monday in 1918 yielded 

 less than forty thousand admissions, this guess was sufficiently sanguine. 

 As a matter of fact, the attendance on Monday of this year was 60,680, 

 twenty thousand better than last year, and ten thousand better than the 

 fair's most hopeful supporter had looked for. 



Transportation for this flood of visitors was provided in large part by 

 the farmers themselves. The forty-acre parking space provided by the 

 state was crowded daily, and the grounds were surrounded by lines of ma- 

 chines at all hours. Estimates were made that twenty million dollars' 

 worth of automobiles were on or about the grounds. 



Even with this assistance, the trains into the city were packed and 

 transportation to the fair grounds was at a premium at all hours. Street 

 cars at five cents, bus lines at ten cents, and automobiles at twenty-five 

 cents a ride all were filled to the limit, and kept the streets to the grounds 

 filled with a continuous stream of traffic. 



Many of the visitors were not content with seeing the fair alone. 

 Parties went to various spots of interest in Des Moines, surveyed the busi- 

 ness district, looked over the parks, walked thru the city buildings on the 

 river front, and in great numbers thronged the halls of the capitol and the 

 state historical building. 



The receipts from concessions, attendance and other sources went large- 

 ly this year to pay for the improvements that have been made and for the 

 increasing cost of upkeep of the grounds and for running expenses. There 



