It’s just past county fair week for 2016 in Montgomery County! Animals, competitions, 4-H! But it didn’t always look like it does today. In 1906, horse racing was the big event, and horses and riders came from all over to compete for $300, $600, and $1000 prizes. $1000 translates to over $25,000 in 2016, so to say that our county was becoming known as a pony center was not an understatement! There was competition with livestock and flowers.
Newspaper readers were urged to not miss the octopus in the wild animal
exhibit! And everyone would want to stop to see the pair of three-legged
chickens from Fort Wayne. Every night a daredevil would ascend in his hot
air balloon and fly aloft over the crowds. And talk about crowds!
Buggies and carriages would line the streets, and over 1000 picnic
baskets were checked in on just one day of the fair! The interurban ran
in and out, and on one occasion, crammed 156 people on a car meant for 60. That must have been some fair!
No comments:
Post a Comment