EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART HI 129 



have that under consideration at my place — running a purely agri- 

 cultural fair. I would like to kuovv' if any one else thinks it can be 

 done. 



R. T. Hetwold: I am connected with the Farmers' Institute at Brook- 

 lyn in Powesliiek county. We have no amusement whatever at Brooklyn 

 — a strictly agricultural fair. We have 150 horses and colts, hogs and 

 cattle and poultry; we make no charges to get exhibits, and no charges 

 for stalls or entries. All the charges made is 25 cents admission to the 

 spelling contest held during our institute, and we have a large attendance 

 that is drawn from all over. I would say that the opinion of folks who 

 have attended our institute is that it goes ahead of many county fairs. 

 We have no w^ay of getting expenses, it is all subscribed. We meet some 

 expenses by getting badges and selling them above cost, and we have 

 very great success with our institutue there; it is getting larger every 

 year, and our corn exhibit in particular is getting better every year. 



The Chairman: Is there any more discussion along this line? 



Mr. Bennett: I want to say just one thing along this line. Years 

 ago I belonged to a fair association in Bremer county, and at that time 

 they got the notion that they must have a purely agricultural fair. They 

 did, and it dwindled and dwindled until it had only two exhibitors left. 

 One fellow brought a pumpkin and the other fellow brought a cow, and 

 the cow got loose and ate the pumpkin, and that ended the fair. 



I notice that the more attractions you have, the bigger the crowd, and 

 the only danger is that we are going to drift too far that way. i think 

 each fair should settle that question for itself just how far it ought to 

 go in this matter; but I think vv^e never can get back to the old strictly 

 agricultural fair. 



Seth Wade: I am from Marion county, and we had about the earliest 

 fair in the state. We dwindled along for a while and then started out on 

 the Sunday school basis and ran an agricultural fair until now we have 

 no fair whatever. This year we organized and have a real fair, with 

 horse races and amusements of all kinds, and had good success. I am of 

 the opinion that we cannot run a practical agricultural fair in Iowa. 



The Chairman: Anybody els-? Let's hear from Mr. Stanberry 

 cf Cedar Falls on that subject. 



H. S. stanberry: This question of trying to run a strictly agricultural 

 fair can best be answered by asking any one in the state of Iowa, or any 

 other state for that matter, if they ever conducted a strictly agricultural 

 fair and succeeded. I don't believe any one in the state of Iowa ever tried 

 to run a strictly agricultural fair and succeeded. Some of them have 

 kidded themselves for a year or two that they were getting by, but 

 eventually they died out. 



You cannot- run a fair without making the features act as a balance- 

 wheel one for the other, and the fair as a whole should be a magnet that 

 will draw the people. A strictly agricultural; or a strictly educational 

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