The daily sentinel., 1909-07-28
TAFT MAY BE HERE
TWICE THAT WEEK
Ccont.nued from FRS, Page

nv SCI lLAO l'tiNti until
'22.
II is now not certain that President
TAFT Will arrive in Montrose on the
evening of September %, or will Off
ciate at the opening OF the Gunnison
tunnel on September - and leave
Montrose on the evening of Septem-
ber "a
However, it is announced from Salt
Lake City that President Taft will
reach Salt Lake City from Colorado
on the morning of Saturday. Septem-
ber 25. about 10 O'Clock, will remain
there Saturday and Sunday and will
then go 10 the coast.
President Taft will come into Dem
yer over the Rock Island and will be
on the Denver & Rio Grande on his
tour of Colorado.
Last night w. o. Redding. presi-
dent of the Western Slope Fair assoc
iation and chairman of the program
committee of the Gnnnison Tunnel
Opening Celebration, arrived in
Grand junction for the purpose of
'confering with the officials of the
local fair association in an effort to
get the Mesa County Fair association
to change their fair dates from the
week of September 2O- to the week
of September "a
The situation is as follows: The
Montrose fair was to have occurred
on September 2S, 20. 80 and October
/ the Mesa county fair is to occur the
previous week. For weeks il has
been planned to have the celebration
of the tunnel opening on September
2S, 20 and 80, the same week as the
Montrose fair. 1t being expected that
President Taft would be in Montrose
on September 2S.
After all plans had been completed
for both the fair and the celebration
of the tunnel opening along comes
the announcement this week that the
president will visit Colorado earlier
than he expected and that he will be
in Montrose on September 2S and "a.
Very hastily the Montrose people de
cided to hold their fair the week of
September 20 and TO hold the open
ing celebration the same week. thus
have the tunnel opening. the fair and
the president, all the same week.
Now comes Mr.. Redding to Grand
Junction, asking the officials of the
Mesa county fair to hold their fair a
week later than the original dates,
taking the old dates of the Montrose
fair and thus prevent conflict be-
tween the two big western slope
fairs.
Mr. Redding states that the change
Ia the fair and tunnel opening dates
was not voluntary on the part of the
Montrose people but that owing to
the change in the plans of President
Taft II was absolutely necessary to
make the change and have the fair
and opening celebration earlier. The
Montrose people greatly regret that
as result they conflict with the
Mesa county fair dates and are in
hopes that the Mesa county fair can
be postponed until week later than
originally planned.
Mr.. Redding declares that Mon
| trose is planning to entertain thou
sands of visitors from all over the
state. many special trains are to be
run and the greatest crowd that ever
gathered anywhere on the western
slope is expected at the tunnel open
ing, on the day that the president
will be in Montrose. September "a.
| Secretary Chapman of the Mesa
County Fair association, arranged for
a meeting of the board of directors
] for 2:30 this afternoon for the pur-
4 pose of holding conference with
| MI. fleuu1np.
There is no doubt but that Grand
Junction and Mesa county will give
| President Taft royal welcome II he
is our guest once or twice during the
week. Doubtless thousands of people
will flock to this city to See the presi-
dent. 1t will be the first time Grand
junction has ever had an opportunity
to entertain president of the United
States.
| The local Chamber of Commerce
viii take up and complete plans for
the coming of the president as soon
as the dates are definitely fixed.
| After <the executive board of the
| Mesa county fair had convened this
afternoon and discussed the matter
| with Mr.. Redding ii was decided to
\ defer action until Friday when all the
directors will be present.
In View of the fact that the Mesa
county dates have been announced
for nearly year, that tens of thou
] sands of pieces of advertising have
been circulated for these dates, that
all the advertising matter is out, and
for many other reasons. it is not be-
lieved that 1t will be wise to make a
| change in the fair dates although the
conflict in dates is very much re-
GREETED