River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1917-09-27
SUCCESSFUL FAIR
IN SPITE OF Rain
(From The Ellsworth Herald)

county's fair and stock show out of
commission last week the thirty-fourth
annual exhibition will go down in his
tory as one of the most successful
fairs in the history Of the association.
All of which goes to prove that the
reputation of the Pierce County Far
association, as an organization that
gives good value for money received,
is in no wise dampened by genuine
oId-fashioned deluge on the opening
day. The people of Pierce, st. Croix
and Goodhue counties know they are
certain of witnessing good fair at
Ellsworth every year, rain or shine,
and if the usual smiling skies failed
to greet the multitudes on Wednesday
and Thursday, this failed to stop them
from coming anyway. 1t was a good
fair and a clean one; probably the
cleanest fair we ever had. The at
fractions were all A No. 1, the dis
plays were the finest ever, the ex-
hibits were large considering the
weather on entry day and the numer-
Gus shows on the merry pike one and
all free and clean from Objectionable
features.
With the weather man smiling
broadly the forepart of the week and
everyone predicting a solid stretch of
good weather, deluge Of rain struck
this section Tuesday night andscon-
tinued nearly all day Wednesday. As
result many exhibitors failed to get
here, and displays in many depart
ments, were not up to the standard
Indeed, it is remarkable that the sew
eral departments were SO well filled.
The gates opened Thursday morn
ing with little better weather in pros
pect than that of the day before. The
roads were a mass of mud, the wealth
eli was cold and damp and the chances
of a big crowd looked slim. The ELS
worth and the Beldenville bands were
on the downtown streets early and
livened things a trife with some rous-
ing music. The special train from
Hudson arrived at $50 with quite a
crowd of fair visitors aboard, but
nothing like the usual jam. The bulk
of the passengers were River Falls
high school students and teachers, the
school having closed for the day in
order to allow the pupils to attend the
fair. AS the morning wore on, with
no signs of more rain, the crowds be-
gan to pour in from all parts of the
county and by noon the crowd had
reached three thousand. Final figures
show the attendance to have been
four thousand for the day.
Both ball ground and race track
were a sea of mud and it was de-
cided to call off the races. The ball
game scheduled for eleven o'clock in
the morning, did not take place until
two o'clock in the afternoon, and then
the game was played on very muddy
field. This was a regularly scheduled
Interstate League game, being post
poned game of August II. New
Richmond and Ellsworth were the OPP
posing teams and they gave the crowd
one of the best exhibitions of base ball
ever seen on the field. The final score
was four to three in favor of New
Richmond. A longer Write-up of this
game and the Hudson-Ellsworth game
on Friday will be found on another
column.
The pike did a record business after
the game. The various shows being
crowded with sight seers. peggy
the Sphinx" an illusion show, raked
in the nickles and dimes and probably
holds the record for single attractions
The Harry Brown shows did a big
business and none of the managers
complained for the lack of patronage
The free acts were pulled off ac-
cording to schedule in front of the
grand stand and pleased the crowd
The Farley's were the headliners, and
these clever artists put on trick
bicycle riding act that was of Or
pheum calibre. Kent & Farnum put
on a passable comedy acrobatic act
and Rubin Ray performed on the
slack wire. Hon. w. l. Nolan, the
we'll known Minneapolis humorist, de-
lighted the crowd with his clever
stories.
The evening attractions were tho
shows at Firemen's Movies and tho
dance in the park pavilion. A bic
crowd saw the film, "Life of the
Younger Brothers" at the opera house
At the pavilion 412 couples enjoyed
the dancing from 8:45 until o'clock
in the morning. 1t was a larger
crowd than that of the same night OF
the fair in 1916. Ibid somebody say
that "dry town hurt the dance bust
ness p
On Friday smiling skies did greet