The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1895-11-14
A Street Fair in Ohio.
Correspondence of The journal.

Niles. OHIO, Oct. 30 1895. How MANY
of the readers of The Journal ever attend
ed street fair? Perhaps a large portion
of them have done SO, but the one recent
ly held in Niles was novelty to me, and
as perhaps there may be others who have
never seer any such .sdoings'' | thought
would lite to The journal about the
s'Niles Flst Annual Free Street Fair A
number OF the villages AMI cities here
abouts have recently taken hold Of the
free street fair idea to promote business,
and boom their respective localities, but
the village of Newton Falls has for years
had the same thing, only under another
name. They term their annual street fair
'Dckel Day. and presume the success
OF these yearly dicker days led to the
adoption Of the idea in other places.
The thriving young city of Niles has to
compete with the larger cities Of Warren
and Youngstown for the trade of its resi-
dents ana that Of its country neighbors,
for three lines Of electric railway make it
very easy to go out of town to do ones
shopping. 50 Niles is always on the look
out fer devices to catch trade. and the
formation this fall of an annual Street
Fair Association was one of the best things
fol that purpose ever thought Of by the
enterYlising merchants of Niles. TO quote
from tieil announcement bills, 1.-The pur-
pose II tie fail is to demonstrate tie in
porEanee Of QUA city as business center,
to furnish a profitable entertainment for
our friends and neighbors. and to show
them dat it is to their interest to do their
trading in Niles
A stieet fair to be a success involves a
large amount of work. which must be
done b few men. To draw the desired
crowds something unique in the way of
competitions and contests must be offer
ed, and to say that Niles succeeded ia all
these particulars will be putting it very
mildly,
Niles merchants believe in printer ink:
therefore, the fair was advertised far and
wide, and as the results showed, was
were exhibits from Nebraska and Indiana,
while some Of the people came from as
far east as Pittsburg.
About $500 was offered in prizes, and
there We're ,, eco entries of exhibits, so it
will easily BE seen that the judges in the
various competitions had no slight task.
Those vi the business men who did not
offer prizes, subscribed money to help
pay the assc citation expenses. Every arti-
Gle exhibited had TO be regularly entered
through the secretary, and have an entry
ticket attached to it, while a redemption
ticket was held by the exhibitor. Some
Of the plies offered We're quite valuable
A leading dry goods firm offered a $50
electric seal cape to the mother of the
prettiest baby under a year old, while the
heaviest one was to get an IS cloak, and
the baby show was to be held in the car
pet department. Another dry goods man
offered a So black silk dress pattern for
the best loaf Of bread, while still another
offered one worth $50 for the best choco-
late cake, and a IS dollar lamp for the
best pumpkin pie. A shoe dealer offered a
pair of s. shoes for the best cocoanut
cake. and hardware man put up 81
nickel teakettle as the prize for the best
apple pie. Another shoe man offered the
best pair Of shoes in his store for the best
lemon pie; wall paper dealer offered IS
worth of wall paper for the best 2-quart
pan of baked beans, while 81 in cash
was offered by restaurant for the best
pan of doughnuts. l believe this was
all in the culinary line
Then there We're valuable prizes offered
for the finest butter and eggs, the best
fruit, both fresh and canned, the largest
vegetables, fine needlework. quilts and
live stock. Other premiums offered were
for diversity Of things. One man offer
ed box of cigars for the largest, and an
other box for the smallest dog exhibited
at his store. A leading hardware dealer
offered a fine steel pillow to the owner Of
the best span of farm horses showing
best care another hardware man offered
a stove with all utensils for cooking to
the couple W no would be married in front
Of his store street fair day, but | was
pleased to note that no one took advan-
tage % of this offer.
The most graceful bicycle rider was to
receive bicycle suit worth SO, while
the lady who could drive into and around
the ring, unharness, reharness, and drive
out again in the shortest time was to get
100 lbs. Of sugar. The girl from six to
ten years Of age having the longest hair
would get lbs. Of fine candy; while the
heaviest hair called for 3 lbs and the
blacklist 2 lbs. The person bringing the
largest number of adults to the fair in one
conveyance, (railroad barred, was to get
a silver coffee set valued at $22, while the
one bringing the finest banner bearing the
words ''Niles Street FAIR would receive
a IS silver fruit dish. The Sunday School
Scholar coming the longest distance to the
fair was to receive Bible, and S. in
cash was offered by one of the BARRIERS