By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“The County’s First Farm Fair Was In 1875” Part 1
On July 18-22, 2021 the Geary County Free Fair will be held on the Fair Grounds at 1025 South Spring Valley Road in Junction City. Gaylynn Childs, retired Director of the Geary County Historical Society, wrote an article for the local newspaper in 1996 about some of the early fairs held in Geary County. This is some of what she wrote.
In 1875, the first annual fair of the Davis (Geary) County Agriculture Society was held in Junction City. This first exposition was held in the City Park with several empty buildings near by providing additional exhibit space. All kinds of contests from baby shows to band concerts kept citizens entertained for the two-day event.
The next year, the location was moved to a three-acre site bounded by present day Fourth, Fifth and Adams Streets and featured exhibits in the Old Centennial Hall. Three years later, the fair grounds had added a one-quarter mile racetrack called the “Speed Ring”. The event was called the “Great Exposition of the Central Kansas Agricultural Society”.
Throughout the ten years of existence, during the 1870s and 1880s, the fair was the highlight of the fall season in Junction City. Exhibits and activities ranged from floral and horticultural displays to school children reciting essays and orations. Horse races, slow mule races and even a Comanche chief riding a buffalo at full galop down Washington Street were some of the livelier attractions of these annual gatherings. However, before the turn-of-the-century the Agricultural Society Fair came upon hard times and folded.
It was not until 1907, that another fair-type fall event, the Corn Carnival, again gathered the produce of Geary County farms for exhibition and awards. Prizes were awarded for the tallest stalk, the largest ear, the most kernels per ear and so forth. The judges came from the Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan and the program of events included lectures from experts in horticulture and farming. There was also a parade on Washington Street.
“The County’s First Farm Fair Was In 1875” Part 2
The fair was held in October of each year. It was not until the Farm Bureau Extension programs in Geary County were established under the leadership of Paul H. Gwin in the late 1920s, that a fair surfaced again. Mr. Gwin organized the first 4-H clubs in the county in 1925. In the fall of 1926, various projects were exhibited and judged in what was called “The 4-H Club Show”. Sewing and cooking entries were exhibited at the Community House (now the Eagles Lodge), on East 10th Street and the livestock was judged at the old “sale barn” on East 6th Street.
In 1937, the “4-H Club Fair” exhibits had moved into the newly completed Municipal Auditorium. The livestock judging was still done at the sale pavilion on East 6th Street. Two hundred and sixty-eight boys and girls from Geary County participated in the fair that year and the competition had expanded to include a style show in which the girls modeled their clothing projects and boys competed for the “Best Groomed Boy” award. The program for the style show that year included music by the Junction City Band and a variety of talent numbers by various 4-H club boys and girls.
By 1955, the style show had expanded to include a 4-H talent competition. The participants modeled their creations and performed on the auditorium stage, which was elaborately decorated to resemble a Paris sidewalk café, complete with the Eiffel Tower in the background. This major production was the climax of the whole week of fair activities and drew a capacity crowd.
In the 1980s the 4-H Senior Citizens building on Spring Valley Road was constructed and the fair events were consolidated in one location. Even now there are third and fourth generation Geary County youth who participate in the 4-H fair activities.
This year the fair will be held July 18-22 and will include livestock shows and sale, entertainment, pedal pull, baking contest, chili contest, face painting, food and more. For more information contact the Geary County Extension office at 785-238-6141.