AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES 337 



Eapids fair of 1920 "was a regular fair — the big 

 West Michigan show hekl in Grand Rapids, Sep- 

 tember 20-24, judged by any standards, crowds, 

 noise, midways, hot-dogs, big pumpkins, fine stock, 

 patchwork quilts, commercial exhibits, small boys 

 under foot and daring aviatress overhead." ^ Time 

 has seen the elimination of many village fairs, which 

 a generation or more ago had place in rural com- 

 munities of the State. Even these miniature events 

 had keen interest for the people of the country-side, 

 as some middle-aged folks can still plainly recall. 

 All the family went. The children's shoes must be 

 neatly blackened in a row, the evening before, against 

 the early hour that all must rise and go wagon-wise 

 to the great event in town. There. Taffy, Punch and 

 Judy, and the antics of a clown vied in popular in- 

 terest with the products of domestic skill and the 

 field and pasture. Counties still have their annual 

 autumnal fairs, even those by the Lake Superior 

 shore, and the agricultural displays at the Houghton 

 or Escanaba fairs in the Upper Peninsula show a 

 remarkable variety and quality of the products of 

 the northern farmsteads. 



For the purpose of extending State aid to agri- 

 cultural fairs in Michigan, the legislature of 1915 

 established the Michigan Agricultural Fair Com- 

 mission, on which the State Board of Agriculture, 

 the Michigan State Agricultural Society, the Michi- 

 gan State Grange, the Ancient Order of Gleaners, 

 the Michigan State Association of Farmers Clubs, 



^ Michigan Farmer, Oct. 9, 1920, 440. 



