142 IOWA DEPARTIMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



of work and I don't believe that any of the state fairs have entrances that 

 surpass them. 



It cost the association $1,000 to police the grounds. Policing was 

 handled by a company of twenty-one soldiers from Mason City. It cost 

 real money but proved to be a good feature to start a new fair with. The 

 military police were on the job all the time and while on duty they had 

 their bayonets on their rifles. It is the general opinion that the hiring 

 of such an organization is the only successful way to handle a fair crowd. 

 The soldiers showed no favors. The huge crowds were handled so well 

 that there were no accidents of any kind. Not an automobile • was 

 smashed up, nor a person injured. No one was allowed on the race track 

 or In the centerfield. At this time I will tell you of a number of inci- 

 dents that happened during the week. E. S. Perry, secretary of the fair, 

 was absolutely refused admittance through the auto gate on Tuesday 

 morning and no amount of argument availed him. He was forced to go 

 back to his office and get his offlcial badge before he could get into the 

 grounds. One member of one of the troops of performers on the free 

 attraction program undertook to cross the race track for the purpose of 

 getting a pail of water. He was ordered to halt and refusing to obey the 

 command, the soldier in charge stuck him in the leg with his bayonet. 

 One afternoon while Avaiting for his horse to be brought out to him on the 

 race track, William Taylor, one of the drivers, who, by the way, was 

 dressed in his race colors with his arm numbers on, stepped out on the 

 race track to pick up some pieces of paper that were blowing around. 

 He was ordered off the track by one of the military police but did not 

 pay any attention to the command and was finally forced off the track 

 at the point of a bayonet. 



The carpenters worked on the grand stand and feed barn up to the very 

 minute of the opening of the fair on Tuesday morning. When the gates 

 were thrown open and the people started into the grounds most of the 

 members of the fair board together with the laborers were busy picking 

 up lumber and debris, especially in the grand stand, so the people could 

 sit down. 



The opening of the first Clay County fair was celebrated by a parade 

 of decorated floats and automobiles from the business section of Spencer 

 to the fair grounds on Tuesday morning at ten a. m. This parade was 

 led by the T. Fred Henry band of Des Moines. 



Governor W. L. Harding delivered the principal address at the formal 

 opening of the first Cla^ County fair on Tuesday morning. This was 

 followed by an address by R. G. Webb, president of the fair association. 



The fair was a success from every stand point The weather was per- 

 fect and the crowds were large. The fair program was carried out ac- 

 cording to schedule. 



The race track is a half mile track with a one hundred feet home 

 stretch and sixty feet wide on the back stretch. Eight horses can score 

 abreast. During the Vinton, Iowa, fair which was held just two weeks 

 prior to the Clay County fair, I talked to a number of horsemen regarding 

 the new fair to be held at Spencer this fall. One horseman said that they 

 were building a wonderful plant at Spencer but they had made a serious 



