30,000 At 



Sports Festival 



[See Pictures, Pages 18-19} 



ATL last M.irtli a release an- 

 noiiiuini; the annual meetini: 

 ot llline)is larm Bureau base- 

 hall Icauuc proposei.1 the ori^amzation ot 

 a sol thai 1 division it the counties wanted 

 It. A state playott or tournament at the 

 close of the season was su^yested as part 

 ol the proposal. 



"Why not have a lield Day tor Ilh 

 nois tanners, " su^cesteil ( . V. Ciret;orv, 

 Prairie Farmers nimhle-wittcd editor. 

 "We are start my a sports pape to en- 

 tourage play and fun for farm folks 

 We II help boost it " 



A sprinklmi; of soft hall enthusiasts 

 attendeil the baseball meeting April 1(1 

 in I\oria s Fere Marcjuette Hotel. We're 

 lor the rield Day. unanimously voted 

 deleizates from .some 20 counties spurred 

 on by the enthusiasm of St. (lair lountv's 

 AKm (). Ixkert, Lake's I:bh Harris, Hen 

 derson s Otto Stetfev and others. 



Presiiient Harris appointed a commit- 

 tee composed of I. A. A. direitors F.ekert, 

 Stetfey. and Albert Hayes. Their job 

 was to outhne a proi^ram to be presented 

 to the I. A. A board for approval or 

 disapproval. 



lo a meetini.; a teu wee-ks later in the 



1 A. A. otTiies came members of the 



Timiiiittee. I. A. A. President liarl Smith, 



dent Fbb Harris and Secretary 



leort'e I hiein ot the Baseball League. 



.\lr. (ire^ory. assistant editor .Merrill 

 Circi;ory. WLSs Cieor^^e Bi^^ar. and 

 larm Adviser, (Jias. I: '^'ale. 



Lets make it a two day atlair. an 

 eiyht riny lirciis with somethini; tor 

 e\ervone. it was suj:i;ested. We miiiht 

 uet from three to five thousand the tirst 

 year, said a lonservative soul. 



' ^'ou'll i;et nearer thirty to forty thou- 

 sand,' said Mr. Circuorv as ivieas flew 

 thiik aiui fast. 



It was decided to outline a detailed 

 plan, draw up a buduet and present it to 

 the I. A. A. board 



With some niisi;ivmt;s, directors ap 

 pro\ed the plan and a bu».ii;et of Sl.'iOO, 

 ordered publicity liirector Cieorce 'Lhiem 

 to organize the program with the coun- 

 sel ol .Set retaries Paul P. iNLithias and 

 (ieortie L. .Metz^er. 



Koy Johnson, athletic, loach and .ii; 

 teaiher of NLihomet hi^h school was em- 

 j-'loyed June 20 for the summer to con- 

 tact counties and assist in ortiani/ini; 

 county soft ball leagues, secure entries 

 for the tr.ick meet, tui; of war, horseshoe 

 tournament, and other events. 



Lhe state fair grounds at Springtield 

 were considered as the pkice for the 

 SjMJrts Festival. C'loser inspection proved 

 this unilesirable if not impossible. Soto 

 the l'ni\ersity of Illinois campus with its 

 extensi\e athletic facilities went the de- 

 cision ( hanip,ii!.'n county s ]. L. Harris, 



k:^ 



HALF MILE RELAY WINNERS, (vtacoupln Outran 'em All. Time 1:41.9. 



A KISS HIS REWARD 

 Winning pitcher Kenne+ti Stephens and 

 sweetheart after Henry county took state base- 

 ball title from Carroll. 



Fuijene Curtis. Harry Reifstcck. Arthur 

 Btirwash. and a host of others whole- 

 heartedlv laid into the collar. A general 

 tommittee ot farm advisers and I. A. A. 

 stall members met at Champaign July '■>. 

 ( ommittees were set up and held director 

 lolinson brought in eneouraging rcjiorts. 



On September -4 and "i Illinois' first 

 Farm Sports Festival surpassed the ex- 

 pectations of most of its sponsors when 

 some 30,000 people gathered from near- 

 ly every county in Illinois Came 70 

 County Farm Bureau soft ball teams, live 

 baseball teams, 12 tug of war teams, eight 

 county relay teams, a total of more than 

 JOOO contestants in these and the horse- 

 shoe tournament, track meet, prize draw- 

 ings, hog calling, chicken calling, hus- • 

 band calhng, darning, rolling pin throw- 

 ing, horse pulling, square dance, folk 

 dance, novelty banil, and checkers con- 

 tests. Tliree Farm Bureau Kinds from 

 Boone, Sangamon, and Logan, each with 

 ^0 or more pieces took part. The estimate 

 of 2000 contestants does not include 1 'iO 

 to 200 who played in the three bands, 

 some 300 committee workers, judges, 

 umpires, .score keepers, and starters. 



High points of the two day festival 

 were the (1) inspiring irowd of 23,000 

 meeting uniler the stars in Memorial 

 Stailium I'rid.iy night when blue ribbon 

 folk dancers, stjuare dancers, and no\eltv 

 bands climaxed by WLS entertainers and 

 a concert hv Boone eounty s hand put on 

 a snappy three hour show ; (2) the hard 

 fotight state championship baseball game 

 between Henry and (Carroll counties, the 

 former winning s to 2 ; (3) Peoria coun- 

 ty s last adult soft ball team sponsoreil by 

 the Producers ( reamery which deteated 

 St. (lair county; (-t) the state champion- 

 ship i-H ( lub, and girls soft ball tourna- 

 ments won by McLean and Monroe coun- 

 ties; (*>) Vermilion county's successtul 

 tug of war team which outpulled Kendall 

 for the state championship; (6) the 

 farm team horse-pulling contest directed 

 by Prof. F. T, Robhins, witnesseil by 

 more tli.m I^dO spectators; (7) the 



16 



I. A. A. RECORD 



