SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 119 



THE UP-TO-DATE COUNTY FAIR, AND HOW IT CAN BE MADE 

 USEFUL TO THE COMMUNITY. 



E. A. LARSON, SECKETAKY MOXTGOMEKY COUNTY FAIE ASSOCIATION, KED OAK, lA. 



In order that the county fair may be maintained, and that it may best 

 serve the purpose for which it is held, and the community may be inter- 

 ested sufficiently to insure its success, it should be conducted, not by a 

 society composed of a few enterprising and public-spirited men, but by 

 an agricultural society of which every taxpayer and every citizen would 

 be a stockholder. The county should own the grounds and conduct the 

 fair. The interest of the community in the county fair would then be 

 identical with our common interest in our great State Fair. 



Laws should be enacted which would give to the board of supervisors 

 of the county power to levy a tax upon all the taxable property in the 

 ccunty, or to appropriate out of the county funds an amount of money 

 with which to purchase grounds, erect the necessary buildings and other- 

 wise support the fair. 



The affairs and the management of the fair should be in the hands of 

 a board of directors made up of representative men, men of energy, ability 

 and iudgment. The directors should be appointed by the supervisors of 

 the county, and the appointment should be made irrespective of any 

 political affiliations, and their duties should be prescribed by statute. 



Something must be done to revolutionize the county fair business if 

 the county fair is to be maintained or conducted with such success that its 

 usefulness and its influence will be manifest in the community. The 

 Interest in the success of these annual county fairs in many counties of 

 the State has almost entirely disappeared, and may never be sufficiently 

 aroused unless something is done along the line which has been men- 

 tioned whereby the interest of a few will be the interest of all. 



There are many reasons why the interest of a community in the 

 county fair has, so to speak, disappeared. Perhaps the fair is not held 

 at the most advantageous time of the year; perhaps the variety of exhibits 

 is not sufficient to all purposes and intents; perhaps the premiums offered 

 are not interesting; perhaps more attention is given towards securing 

 entries for the speed ring than in securing exhibits of agricultural prod- 

 ucts, horses, cattle, hogs or display of farm machinery, etc., and for various 

 other reasons. 



That the county fair may be of value to its patrons, and that it may 

 accomplish results that will be beneficial to the community, the exhibits 



