1927 Titus County Fair - Our first fair
The 1927 Titus County Fair was held September 22, 23, and 24. The fair program mentions the 1927 fair as being the first Titus County Fair, and a 1929 newspaper article confirms this by mentioning that the 1929 fair was the third exposition.
Unfortunately, as was often the case of advertising and news articles during that time, no location was given. Apparently the town was small enough that everyone, including visitors, knew where the fair was held.
1928 Titus County Fair
To promote Titus County and the Fair, the 1928 Good Will and Fair Advertising Tour was held August 15th and 22nd with thirty seven merchants giving away souvenirs and advertising materials.
On August 15th, a 55-mile tour was conducted through eastern Titus, Morris and Camp Counties stopping in Cookville, Omaha, Naples, Daingerfield, Cason and Pittsburg. At each stop speakers talked about the things to be seen at the fair, and the Mt. Pleasant municipal band played.
A similar trip was made on August 22 through western Titus County and Franklin County.
The 1928 Titus County Fair was held September 20-22 at the Gregory warehouse, with Cudney Shows carnival attractions set up at the old baseball park.
There were a number of community and individual farm product exhibits, tasty foods, and fine live stock exhibits and poultry displays. The carnival began operation the evening of September 19th, with the exhibits opening to the public on the morning of the 20th.
1929 Titus County Fair
The 1929 Titus County Fair ran from Thursday, October 3 through Saturday, October 5, and only operated from 2 to 5 p.m. (probably due to lack of electric lighting for night operation). As has happened in other years, rain caused the fair to get off to a slow start and all judging had to be postponed until the next day.
There was still no permanent fair ground, and as with the 1927 fair, we were unable to determine where the 1929 fair was held. The entire fair was housed in two 50 x 100 foot tents due to not having any permanent buildings. One tent held agricultural exhibits, the second held livestock. The Roy Gray Show provided the carnival rides and novelty attractions for the fair.
The Texas Department of Health provided a nurse who conducted daily examinations for infants, as well as providing general health information and arranging for special examinations by doctors and dentists.
A cast of 350 Titus County people presented the pageant "A Night In Old Japan," directed by Hal C. Worth, on Friday night. It was one of the entire week's chief attractions. The production included a stage and costumes with lighting effects, and special pyrotechnics were interspersed throughout the pageant. A 30-piece band furnished music for the event.
Eddie Bell Jones, who received the most votes in a prior contest held at the Titus Theatre, was crowned Queen of Titus County as part of fair. She was assisted in the coronation by princesses and maids of honor from neighboring cities.
1930 Titus County Fair
1930 was a very active year for the Titus County Fair that brought about many changes. On June 2, 1930, the Chamber of Commerce appointed Sam Williams, Dennis Crews, J. A. Petty, and D. M. Witt as a committee to begin raising funds to establish a permanent fair in Mt. Pleasant and to secure a permanent fair ground. They began soliciting financial pledges toward purchasing a fair ground on Wednesday morning, June 4, and within the first day received pledges of nearly $1,000 toward the $4,000 estimated cost. By Monday, July 28 the committee had raised $3,000.
On August 19, 1930 Sam Williams and others (A. J. Coppellar, C. L. Duncan, E. S. Lilienstern, George Lilienstern, J.A. Petty, P. O. Wilhite, Sam Williams, Dr. J.E. Witt, Dr. D.M. Witt, and R. F. Lindsay) bought 25 acres from S. F. Nelson and his wife, Daisy Nelson of Winnsboro for use as a permanent fair grounds.
The land was located a quarter of a mile north of the city limits and was easily accessible, facing North Jefferson Avenue on the west and Highway 49 (the Talco highway, now Washington Street) on the east. The land was practically level.
To pay the $4,000 purchase cost (about $45,000 in 2006 dollars), they made a $1,000 cash down payment and signed six notes of $500 each bearing 8% interest and maturing on October 15 of 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, and 1936.
Plans were made to enlarge the facilities each year until the Titus County Fair became one of the biggest expositions in this part of the state.
Once a permanent fair ground was purchased, things moved swiftly. Plans for the new fair ground included facilities for both the fair and athletic events. The Chamber of Commerce began fencing the west half of the grounds on September 10, 1930. The fence was constructed of oak posts set in concrete with fifteen strands of barbed wire, with wire nailed to arms protruding over the fence to prevent anyone from climbing over it.
The Chamber awarded Harold Vaughan a $1,457 contract (about $16,600 in 2006 dollars) to erect an 80 x 100 foot building to accommodate the fair. In the future, they would add 21 foot wide sheds down each side and use the building exclusively for live stock. Mr. Vaughn started the foundation on September 15, and completed construction on September 25 in time for the Fair opening. The new building was prepared to receive exhibits, and almost all displays were placed in it until the Association could erect other buildings to separate the various departments.
To increase sales and revenues, the Fair Association sold season tickets to the four day Fair for $1.00 each (about $12 in 2006 dollars).
Since its inception the Titus County Fair and Dairy Show had been a Chamber of Commerce committee, but they decided to incorporate the Titus County Fair and Dairy Show as a non-profit corporation to limit liability. Any profits that accrued from the fair were to be applied to fair ground improvements. The Titus County Fair and Dairy Show received its charter from the Texas State Department on September 27, 1930. Stock sales in the non-profit Fair Association were somewhat lacking, but it was nevertheless off to a good start with a new fair grounds and building.
The first fair at the new grounds was held October 1-4, 1930. In spite of adverse crop conditions and the general depression, the best display of agricultural products and livestock ever shown in Titus County went on exhibit.
Seven community agricultural exhibits were displayed in the main building by Argo, Chapel Hill, Farmers Academy, Forest Grove, Green Hill, Midway, and Stonewall. Special departments were given to curios, canned fruits and vegetables in glass, embroidery and fancy work.
Some 57 head of fine cattle were shown in the livestock shed, which attracted considerable interest due to the Mt. Pleasant's new Texas Milk Products plant. Poultry was exhibited in a tent secured for the purpose.
Argo, Cookville, Green Hill, Midway, Mt. Pleasant, and Stonewall school vocational agriculture departments had a large exhibit of products grown by the students and an educational display illustrating correct and incorrect methods of various phases of farming.
The county's 4-H Girls Clubs displayed an arrangement of their work, which stressed sewing.
The Home Demonstration Clubs exhibited the handiwork of members who were taking courses under Mrs. Alba Tidwell, Home Demonstration Agent.
C. A. Dalton, O. C. Mason and W. E. Willson provided individual farm exhibits of excellent products of the same quality and arrangement as the community exhibits. Several single individual exhibits were displayed in a special booth.
The Atkins Greater Shows provided a carnival in the grounds.
The 1930 Fair had a good attendance and when the tickets were counted, the Fair Association was pleased with the results. Six hundred sixty-four season tickets were sold, and single admission tickets and carnival commissions brought total receipts to around $1,500 (about $17,000 in 2006 dollars). Enough was collected to defray all prize and labor expenses and leave a small surplus to start the next year's Fair. It was considered excellent under the circumstances, considering it was a bad crop year, money was scarce, and the Fair started very late with little time for proper advertising.
Some of the prizes awarded were:
Curios
Oldest Book-Mrs. J. K. Warren, first; Mrs. Jeff Wallace, second.
Oldest Daguerreotype-Mrs. J. V. Moore, first; Mrs. J. H. Witt second.
Oldest War Relic-Mrs. J. V. Moore, first; Mrs. W. A. Ford, second.
Oldest Household Relic-Mrs. A. P. Smart, first; W. M. Hardin, second.
Oldest Woven Bed Spread-Jim Smith, first; R. S. Cress, second.
Oldest Article of Dress-Fred Mercer, first; O. H. Justiss, second.
Oldest Quilt-Mrs. J. H. Witt and Mrs. J. V. Moore tied for first.
Oldest foreign curio-Dr. J. Schuitze, first and second.
Best curio collection-G. W. Gross, coins, first; Mrs. T. V. Bell, assorted, second.
Individual Exhibits
Best complete exhibit-C. A. Dalton, first; O. C. Mason, second; W. E. Wilson, third.
Best 10 ears white dent corn-J. A. Page, first, second and third.
Best 10 ears yellow dent corn-W. E. Hobbs, first; J. A. Page, second; C. T. Neugent, third.
Best prolific corn-Bessie Wharton, first; T. B. Caldwell Jr., second; J. A. Page, third.
Best single stalk cotton-W. L. Chambless, first; Ed Finnigan, second; J. M. Sikes, third.
Best 20 open bolls-Ed Finnigan, first; W. E. Willson, second; J. A. Page, third.
Best maize-T. B. Caldwell Jr., first and second.
Best hegari-T. B. Andersen, first; W. E. Hobbs, second; Alvin Lain, third.
Best legume hay-W. E. Blackstone, first; C. P. Lindsey, second; R. T. Blalock, third.
