The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-03-22
BIC STREET FAIR.
Topeka viii Have One During
Last Week in May.
Commercial Club Makes a Deal
With C. d. Gray.
WORK ON PER CENT.
Proposition Is to Pay Him One
third of Receipts.
He Discusses the Plan in Detail
at Meeting.
WORK ON PER CENT.


moth street fair the last week in May.
This action was taken at the called
meeting of the club last evening, at
which c. D. Gray, of the international
Exhibition company" explained his
ideas on the street fair question and
made a proposition to the club to. get
up street fair along the lines which
he proposed.
The meeting of the club last evening
was not largely attended for the rea-
son that many of the members did not
| take much interest in the enterprise.
! Those who were present were Mayor
Drew. Secretary Anderson, Edward
Wilder, P. L. Wise, R. S. Brigham, P. I.
Bonebrake. E. H. Crosby. D. ]. Green
valid, Abe Steinberg. Charles L Wood,
| T. E. Sheard, D. P. Paxton, w. F.
/ Weber, and three or four. others.
| President Holman could not be pres
ent on account of his illness, and as
John z. Frost, the vice president, is
out of the city, Mayor Drew was select
! ed to preside.
/ Secretary Anderson explained that
DR.. Gray had called on several members
Of the club and his proposition seemed
/ to have so much merit in it that it had
been deemed advisable to call a special
meeting of the club to lay the PROPOSE
ton before it.
The street fair which DR.. Gray pro-
poses is not of the kind that has been
| given by the smaller cities of the west
| in the past two or three years, but is
/ Of a class that will be given this sum-
! mer- by Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit,
/ Cleveland, Minneapolis. Brooklyn, and
| even Boston. 1t is not designed to take
| the place of a fall festival, but is de-
signed especially for the merchants
1 The street fair idea, was first promu1-
4 gated at Muncie. Ind. four years ago,
/ by the merchants of that town who
I wished to get away from the annual
! county fair idea From that beginning
/ the idea has grown until there are
/ number of amusement companies who
/ make a business of getting up street
/ fairs of various kinds and furnishing
/ attractions for them. They have been
held in nearly every town in Kansas.
| 7 have been in Topeka a number of
1 times, DIR. Gray told the members of
| the Commercial club last night, ito
see how you business men work to-
| gether. I spent two or three days here
last November at the time of your mil
itary reception, and I discovered then
that you were enthusiastic, that you
pulled together, that there were no
| petty jealousies to divide you, and that
you make things go That is the rea-
son my company wishes to do business
with you this summer.
.sOur proposition is this: We will do
eSSary, put up the booths. get all the
attractions here, and take all the worry
| off the shoulders Of the business men.
We do not ask the business men to
leave their desks. What we want you
to do is to supply the knowledge of
local conditions and we will do the
work
THE street fair need not necessa-
rily interfere with your fall festivities.
The street fair is an institution to get
people to your city to spend money in
the sDringtime. They will come any
way in the fall, after good crops, and
your fall festivities are designed to en-
terrain them. The street fair is for the
benefit primarily of the local merchants
and is designed to make trade for them.
1.-THE fall festival idea has been
worked here in the west and is now
being taken up by the large cities of
the east. Topeka, Los Angeles, Colo
I ado Springs and Kansas City were the
promoters of the fall festival idea, and
now it has been taken up all over the
cast and as a consequence it will be
extremely difficult to get good attrac-
lions during the fall months.
THE street fair ought to put a good
sum in your treasury which you could
devote to the seating of your audito-
rum. Allegheny, Pa, cleared up ST.
500 last year; Louisville cleared $21, 700;
Detroit, s12, 600; Moline, ILL.,, 5000; Gov
ington. Ky, $4,000; Belleville, Ill, $1S,-
coo. Some of these cities had larger
in Illinois where this plan was tried
cleared from $1,000 upwards. I believe
it would be possible to get good crowds
up here from Kansas City if it was
properly advertised"
What is your proposition in detail?"
asked P. I. Bonebrake.
T would favor holding the street fair
on Quincy street." said DR.. Gray. II
would make the entrance at Sixth ave-
nue. and extend the fair north to Fourth
street. 1t is necessary to have vacant
lots at one end on which TO locate the
Midway and these can be secured just
south of Fourth street. On Fifth street
] would extend the fair to the alley on
either side of Quincy. At the corner
of Fifth and Quincy there is vacant
lot on which a temporary hospital Ia
dies lavatory and fire department
headquarters can be located Mr..
George NJ. Noble will give the club the
use of these lots free of rent.
If you decide that You want to do
business with US, We VIII go before
your city council and get the privilege
of using these streets from curb to
curb during the week that you want
your fair 1t is customary for the city
TO also turn over all license privileges
to the club during that week Then we
will canvass your merchants and bust
ness enterprises for space for booths.
The booths viii be built facing towards
the center of the street beginning at the
curb leaving the sidewalks free They
are built one against the other, forming
a continuous string, so that nothing is
seen on the outside. We will make the
roofs of the booths waterproof and do
the outside decorating, but the mer-
chant deeorates the interior Of mis-
booth as he wishes
There should be only one entrance to
the fair, at which 10 cents admission is
charged. The booths are ranged along
the street, and the shows and midway
are located at the further end, so that
to reach them people are compelled to
run the gauntlet of the booths
I'VE have options on several different
midways. with a varying number of
shows in each These midways play on
a percentage. charging ten cents ad-
mission to each show"
What do you expect for your work.
asked Mr.. Bonebrake.