100 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 



While this slightly retarded the fair-going public during the op- 

 ening days, a heavy downpour over southern and western Iowa on 

 Tuesday night and Wednesday forenoon brought the greatest dam- 

 age to the attendance record. Six inches of rain fell at Atlantic 

 and over five inches at Creston, with a precipitation of .79 inches 

 in the Des Moines vicinity. This made many roads impassable. 

 From reports received from western and southern Iowa, the Tues- 

 day-Wednesday rain cut attendance for Wednesday-Thursday at 

 least 40,000 or 50,000. 



Amusement features of the fair, as usual, drew large crowds. 

 The grand stand performances headlining the entertainment pro- 

 gram for both afternoon and evening played to large audiences 

 throughout the period of the exposition. In the afternoon grand 

 stand attendance there was an increase of 25 per cent over the pre- 

 vious year, registering a total of 82,132 admissions for the seven 

 afternoons. An increase was also made in the evening grand stand 

 attendance. In 1921 it was 55,525 for seven nights, while in 1922 

 it reached 56,969 for six night shows. 



Society horse shows have been growing in popularity from year 

 to year. The 1921 fair scheduled five nights of these events. The 

 1922 fair condensed them to four nights and packed the live stock 

 pavilion with spectators every evening. The total attendance (8,819) 

 for four nights in 1922 was approximately the same as for five 

 nights in 1921. 



The society horse shows, however, were only part of an array of 

 pure bred animals which crowded the State Fair exhibit barns until 

 temporary shelters had to be provided in some classes to make room 

 for all of them. The live stock show was heralded by judges and 

 farming authorities as the supreme feature of the great exposition. 

 No fair in America had ever witnessed anything like it and many 

 made the forecast that it would be some time before another such 

 show could be assembled anywhere, either in quality or numbers. 



By actual count there were 588 head of horses, ponies and mules 

 on exhibition, 1,536 head of cattle, 3,137 head of swine and 835 

 head of sheep. All of these surpassed the highest expectations of 

 fair officials. The poultry department scored the greatest triumph 

 in point of increased entries. While entries in 1921 were approx- 

 imately 2,000, there were 2,826 birds shown in 1922. 



The Iowa breeder held the center of the stage in practically all 

 classes of live stock shows. Iowans won a majority of the ribbons. 

 Not content with honors in their own territory, many of these same 



