The Mena weekly star., 1911-08-24
GOOD CROWDS AT
 18TH ANNUALFA|R
tUE STOCK EXHIBITION FAR AHEAD OF ANY PREVIOUS
 YEAR.
General Display of Products of High Glass but Not of as Wide Range as Gould Have Been Desired
 The Premiums Awards.

The Fifteenth Annual Fair anC celebration of Mena and Polk coun- ty has gone into history.
 The occasion drew a large num- Der of people, probably fully as many as ever before, and might iI general way be considered fairly successful, but it is no secret that t was not wholly satisfactory either to those in charge or those who had hoped with reason for more.
 In the first place, everyone knows that Polk county never i'll it's history has produced finer fruits nor had grander farm crops than this var. In the former department there were good rumber of exhibitors, but some of the very best known growers made no entries, and with one or two exceptions nothing was shown but apples. There had been but few specimens of peaches and other fruits saved.
 In the farm department there were few exhibitors, and nothing like a wide range of products. Some were excellent. There was little real competition. This condition plainly was only result of indiffer- ence on the part of the producers. On the other hand, 1t is fact that the effort made to create interest was not as strop nor timely. The permium lists, for instance, were only issued a few weeks before the date of the fair.
 The same condition found in the farm department applied with even more force Co the garden depart ment. The exhibits were but few, there was only limited competition and narrow range of products shown.
 The WomaD's department, on the other hand, was the best so far, and 1t would be hard to excel, except i'll the culinary branch, where the ex- hibits, while fine, were few III num- Der. The art and needle work, as well as special exhibits, were both of hin class and of wide range. The managers of this feature Of the fair deserve especial praise, both for the efforLs put forth and for the results attained.
 The poultry department fell short of expectations, though i'll this dl- vision the premiums were very iifj- eral. The main cause for this, how ever, is obvious to poultry growers, the fair being too early for surlng birds and i'll the midst of the moult- ing season.
 The live stock shown was ahead of any previous fair, both in num- bers and quality. In this industry Polk county certainly IS coming to the front with rapid strides.
 To Messrs. Hartman, Wear and Townsend and those who gave their aid most freely when called upon, it is only fair to say that at the last minute they found themselves facing mighty hard proposition. President Scoggin had done practl- cally all the preparatory work that had been done up to a few days before the fair, and when he left Mena on short notice it was too late for the others to do more than strive to pick up the ends of af- fa' as they were able to find them and do the best they could, and Hnvone rralizing the situaticr i'll concede that they did we'll
 Aside from the amusements that come under the class of concessions such as side shows. merry-go- rounds etc, the excellent band con- certs and two ball games each day most of which were very good, a few harness and running rsees. and riding and driving contests about covered the program. Admission tC the ball games were charged, anc after paying the expenses of the visiting teams and a very small amount to the home boys. there was