TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 183 



The President : The next topic for discussion is Amusement and 

 Entertainment, led by J. C. Beckner of Clarinda, Iowa. 

 Mr, President, and Gentlemen of the Fair Managers* Association: 



It is a pretty hard proposition to tackle the subject of Amusements 

 when you have so many good county fairs as we have in the state of 

 Iowa. I was talking to the president of Parsons College at Fairfield the 

 other day when he was in my place of business, and our conversation 

 drifted about to how he felt when he got up to talk, as much as he ad- 

 dressed people. He said he always felt as though he needed a forked 

 stick to keep his legs from knocking together, and I would like to have 

 that forked stick right now myself. 



Amusements and Attractions, that is one of the big features in the fair 

 game. Now, down at Clarinda we have had for the last few years what 

 is known as spectacular stuff, with fireworks and acts, and we have 

 made considerable money out of that kind of attractions, and it seems 

 to me that is one of the greatest things that any county fair can put on. 



Now, we have two county fairs in our county — one at Shenandoah and 

 one at Clarinda. Of course, we in Clarinda think we have the best fair! 

 (Laughter.) And I believe Mr. Woodford will concede that any cow 

 that won't lick her own calf isn't much of a cow. 



Now, we have had baseball with acts several years ago, and we had 

 Cap Anson, whom you all know is one of the greatest captains that the 

 Chicago White Stockings ever had. We paid him $100 to come out and 

 umpire these games. It was a drawing card, and we played that for a 

 long time until we got on our feet, and then the fireworks bobbed up and 

 we took that stuff on, and that is the best stuff we have ever gotten hold 

 of. The night attractions, gentlemen, I believe is the double-play at the 

 game. You cannot figure how many people come in at the gate and 

 figure to stay for the night attractions, and they are going to stay, that's 

 all there is to it, but in the first place you have got to entertain them and 

 bring them back. 



And that all means, what are you going to have next year? That is 

 the big game — what are you going to have? The same old thing? Some 

 of you fellows in your home town say, "I wouldn't have advised that," 

 but you don't know how hard it is to get something new and novel every 

 year. Now, we have played Lincoln Beachy. He got killed out on the 

 coast several years ago, and Clarinda had him contracted. He was a 

 stockholder in the Clarinda Fair Association at that time. We made one 

 year $5,000 out of Lincoln Beachy, which you will admit is paying a 

 pretty good revenue. Then came along Art Smith, whom a great many 

 of you know. He was as good a dare-devil in his day as any man that 

 we have ever had, and we made money out of Art Smith, and we had Art 

 contracted for the next year and he went some place and got two or three 

 legs broken; and then we got one by the name of Grertson, who is 

 about as big a dare-devil as we have ever had. And that is where we 

 quit the flying game, although that is one of the biggest things you can 

 put on to draw the crowd both day and night. You have got to have 

 the acts along with that to work in with the horse racing, and we must 



