PART III 



Excerpts From the Report of the Tenth Annual 

 Meeting of the Iowa Association of County 

 and District Fair Managers. 



December 11 and 13, 1917. 



*flie Chairman: Now, gentlemen, we will please come to order, 

 I have been coming to this meeting for the last six or seven years 

 and it is a great pleasure to me to see so man}' familiar faces, as 

 well as the new ones. 



We have a topic this afternoon that looks very interesting. Round- 

 table Talks, I think, is the most interesting part of the program, 

 and the first subject v/ill be, "Are Fairs Drifting to Amusements?" 

 by Luther Aasgaard, leader. 



ARE FAIRS DRIFTING TO AMUSEMENTS? 



Luther Aasgaard: Mr. President and Fellow Fair Managers of Iowa: 

 Our president has just said this is a most interesting subject. Our good 

 secretary assigned me this subject a few weeks ago, but on reading the 

 Des Moines Register on Sunday morning I learned for the first time that 

 I was here to talk on the interesting subject of "Are fairies drifting to 

 amusement?" Of course, I am a bachelor and I am supposed to be a 

 good bachelor, consequently not supposed to know anything about 

 "fairies." However, a good fairy told me last night before leaving home 

 that to insure the success of our fairs, it might be well to devote more 

 time and attention to cattle and liogs and thereby stay closer to the pre- 

 amble of our constitution. 



I would like to talk about fairies, but I think it better to speak on a 

 subject more in line with what I consider a great problem. Are we drift- 

 ing to amusements? I think the question is "What is the proper ratio of 

 amusement to the great object?" I don't believe there is one of us here 

 that would pretend he could get by with a pumpkin show as they did 

 years ago. If you want to get a typical fair, you have to go to the old 

 countries; but we are an entirely different people than those in the old 

 countries. We have got to be amused. This would be a good time to 

 appeal to the patriotism of the people, and by responding to the desires 

 of our patrons you greatly enhance your' chances for success. Under 



