Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1909 — RISE OF STATE FAIR [ARTICLE]

RISE OF STATE FAIR

Was Once a Homeless Wanderer Over Indiana But Now One of Greatest in the Union. PRIZES FOR NEXT FAIR $75,350 Horseback and Long Wagon Trips to Indiana Exposition Have Given Way to Pleasure Rides by Trolley—Eminent Judges Who Will Tie Ribbons on Prize Winners. The Indiana State Fair will be held at Indianapolis the week of Sept. 6, and as the season of preparation for it advances, interest in it is widespread over the state, not only among livestock and other exhibitors, but among the tens of thousands of people who attend from year to year. The Indiana Fair is one of the oldest in the Unlte-i States, and in the last ten years has grown to be one of the largest. From its earliest years, when the fair wandered over the state, using borrowed county fair grounds for Its displays, to the possession at present of a fair ground tract of 214 acres, with land and Improvements worth about $700,000, is one way in which the growth of the Indiana exposition may be measured. The first State Falr,-b§ld in October, 1852, was three days in length and was attended by about 30,000 people. The fair now continues days and evenings for five days, and the attendance approaches 200,000.

At the first Indiana Fair the prizes consisted of silver cups, worth only a few hundred dollars. At the coming fair prizes amounting to $75,350 and a dozen or more expensive silver cups and gold medals will be awarded. People who attended the first fair made the trip to Indianapolis in wagons or on horseback, camping by the roadside at night and taking two or three days for the journey. Now the farm people of the state who live most distant from the fair can reach the grounds in a few hours. Most of them can hail a trolley car near home and make a pleasure ride of the trip. Two trolley lines from northern Indiana land passengers at the fair gates. The Lake Erie & Western railroad will run numerous special trains to and from the coming fair. All of the trolley lines out of Indianapolis will have special service during the week. The* transportation question does not give the fair officials the concern it did a few years ago, for steam and interurban facilities for bringing the people to Indianapolis and getting them home promptly and in comfort, have been highly developed in recent years. It is doubtful if any state fair in the. Union has the streetcar facilities to" equal those from Indianapolis to the Indiana grounds. There are three double-track lines from the city to the fair gates, where cars arrive fifteen seconds apart, and handling 75,000 or more people a day is no longer a bothersome undertaking to the Indianapolis lines.

Another way in which the Indiana exposition has grown is in its patronage. The receipts of the first Fair were $8,833,16 and the total income for the Fair of last year was SIIO,OOO. During its career the Indiana Fair has distributed perhaps $600,000 in premiums, by far the larger portion going to the farmers and live stock owners of the state. The exposition has come up to Its present magnitude very largely from Its own energy, backed by the faith of the farming element of Indiana. For some years the Fair has received SIO,OOO a year from the legislature, all of it going toward paying premiums. The first appropriation by the legislature for a permanent Fair improvement was SIOO,OOO for the coliseum, three summers ago. The State Board of Agriculture added $30.000 to this amount from its treasury that the coliseum might be made more complete. All of the real estate and other buildings which now comprise the Fair property have come from the profits of the exposition, and these profits have come from the town and country people from over the state who have bought admission tickets. As usual, thq prizes offered at the next Fair are richest in the speed department, where the amount, reaches $37,600. an increase of several thousand dollars over any former year, and a corresponding increase in the number of trotters and pacers and in the quality of the events is expected On beef and dairy cattle the total prizes reach $12,566; on show horses, $13,000; sheep, $2,931; swine, $2,078: poultry $1,980; fine arts, $1,417; agricultural products, $1,423; fruit, $848; flowers, $836; bees and honey, $248; dairy products, $214; table luxuries, $209. The State Fair will not only mean the assembling on the grounds at Indianapolis of the best products of the agricultural and livestock farms of the state, with many thousand people to see the richness of these resources, but an unusually brilliant array of judges will be present to decide how the $75,350 in prize money will be distributed. In making up the list of judges, the State Board of Agriculture has sought the highest authorities available for the different departments, and has chosen men who are past-masters in passing on the merits of livestock and the products of field, and orchard. Three new judges will tie the ribbons on the prize-winning horses, and some noted authorities will tie the cattle ribbons.