River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-09-28
From the Pierce County Heraldl
PIERCE COUNTY FAIR.
Pleasant Wee her, Large Attendance
Fine Exhibits, and a Good
Time Generally.

| Like all It's dnteCeu6nls lue lOti
annual Pierce County Fair was Z
great success. This is peculiarly
gratifying because never before per-
haps have the conditions, natural
and otherwise been so unfavorable
To begin with the agricultural out
put of this section was supposed to
be much short of the standard. The
almost unprecedented drouth that
continued up to within two or three
DAYS of the fair had robbed Nature
other brightest and best adornments,
besides dwarfing much of the pro-
duct of the garden and farm. Indeed,
had it not been for the generous
showers that fell early last week
anything like a representative as
semblying ofPierce County farmers
would have been impracticable on
account of the clouds of dust, but,
with our usual good luck the drouth
was broken in the nick of time.
Then again the general hard times
was expected to be an adverse factor,
and yet when the gates opened last
Thursday morning, and people in
equipped conveyances began to pour
in from every part of the County no
one would have suspected that hard
times had effected a Judgement in
Pierce County, (as indeed it has mott
and when our citizens bore their
garden and farm products and piled
them up in the spacious halls, and
placed their fat kline and swine and
sheep and horses and poultry in their
allotted places, rosy-faced Plenty
laughed aloud and made merry with
the SHELTON of old Hard Times.
The speech of Hon Allied p. Weld
on Thursday was just what an agri-
cultural address should be-plain
and practical. The average farmer
has no time for fine spun theories.
He wants the milk in the cocoanut,
and he wants it condensed. While
Mr.. Weld is not a practical farmer
he is a practical observer, and the
great industry upon which all other
industries are based has evidently
had fair share of his attention.
Mr.. Weld has the happy faculty of
being entertainingly instructive.
Owing to the drouth the hall was
not decorated with the usual "glories
of the woods" but the liberal use of
bunting made an excellent general
effect in preparing the hall for the
occasion. The display in the
LADIES' DEPARTMENT
was not as large as usual but the
articles on exhibition made up for
the deficit with quality. The
FLORAL EXHIBIT
was exceptionally good. The artis-
tically arranged pyramid of flowers
in the center of the hall, with base
thirty-six feet in circumference and
converging to an apex ten feet
above the floor was restful to the eye.
What musical sounds are to the ear
so flowers are to the eye. They are
natures visible harmonies. We are
glad the ladies of Pierce County
can bestow so much care on flowers.
1t speaks well for them. The
DISPLAY OF VEGETABLES
was fine and in some respects sur
passed that of any preceding fair
| The potato exhibit was the best ever
seen in the hall, and the cereals
were fully up to our high standard
Several of our business men made
attractive displays of their goods
In the
| ART DEPARTMENT
there was conspicuous absence Of
entries. This is the more lament.
able because there is an abundance
of worthy material in this line in the
county. We hope that next year i
will be brought out from the dust o.
dark closets and the semi-gloom o
unfrequented parlors, and arranged
on the walls of the Art hall to glad
den all. Let us at least once a yea
mutually share in these treasures
If we were to Judge
PIERCE COUNTY FRUITS
by the exhibits this year we should
be badly deluded. We are not
strictly speaking, in the very core o
genealogical Development. w,
occupy position pretty well out to
wards the rind, and yet the display
of fruits would have been fairly
creditable to sections far more favor
ed than ours, which shows wha
care and well directed effort will d,
to neutralize natural disadvantages
The department of
DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES
comes in for a fair share of credit
A glimpse of the long rows of jar
of preserved fruits, the heaps o
bread and pastry, the rolls of colder
butter, and the like, evinced tn
thriftiness and housewifely qualitie
of our matrons. There is art an,
art. We missed only the pie. Tn
modern pie is distinctively Amer
can,and a good pie builder is deserv
ing of a premium at any fair wher
our starry flag is held in the heavens
Among the attractions was dis
play made by Prof. Beemar
principal of Beeman's Actual Busi
ness College, of Red Wing, an,