The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1921-08-18

ASIlCult
'An attractive program has been ar
ranged for each day. Five hundred
dollars will be given in purses for
running and trotting races. Premiums
to the amount Of nearly $500 will be
paid for the farmers produce, house
hold goods, livestock, etc. The fair
is open to competition from Isanti and
Sherburne counties as we'll as from
Mile Laos county. A special train will
leave Elk River at 10 am. and reach
Princeton about II a.m.."
According to the next issue of the
Union, the first fair was wonderful
success, with about 1000 people pres
ent on the third day, the 18th.
During the 20 years that have
elapsed since that first fair there have
been many changes in Princeton and
in Mile Laos county but if the resi-
dents of, the county are today as am
bilious and public spirited as they
were in the days of 1892, the 3Oth an
nual fair will be the biggest and finest
exposition yet produced in our village.
Think of an attendance Of 1000 in
1892 when none Of the roads in the
country had been improved, when ev-
erybody travelled with horses, and
when our county was much more
sparsely settled than it is today.
From 1892 to 1911 the Mile Laos
county Fair association continued to
develop and expand at a decidedly
huctuating rate. Its growth depended
largely on the initiative Of certain in
dividuals and when one of these men
or women moved away from the COM
munity, the fair association suffered
the loss of substantial support. The
first president of the association, R. F.
Mcclellan, Mrs. Mcclellan, Mrs. I. c..
Patterson, Mrs. 0. R. Barker, C. H.
Rines, Mr.. and Mrs. Ne1s Jesmer, Mr..
and Mrs. w. H. Shaw and several
other enthusiastic workers were sadly
missed in the later years when ar
rangements were being made for our
annual fair.
The fair association had erected a
grandstand, the lower portion of which
was used for all the exhibits except
the stock, and one barn. These build
ings had been erected on the present
fair grounds but the land was then
only leased. In 1906 the fair seemed
to be progressing. The grandstand
was becoming somewhat shaky and
all the buildings presented very d.
lapidated appearance. The exhibits
hardly filled the small space allotted
to them and the county as whole
was manifestingly very little inter-
ested in the fair. The association
continued in this rather inactive state
for two or three years, when some of
the more ambitious and aggressive
residents of the county began to agi-
tate the question of improving the fair
grounds. These men believed that as
fertile and as rich county as Mile
Laos county should be able to support
a fair that would be credit to the
county and the state.
On May IA, 1910, the Mile Laos
County Fair association held meet
ing in the Offices of M. S. Rutherford
4 Co. w. H. Terrell was then presi-
dent OF the association. The follow
ing officers were elected for the ensu-
ing year: president, Andrew Bryson:
vice president, Frank Goulding; secre-
tary, Ira G. Stanley; treasurer, Lem
uel S. Briggs. At this meeting a
committee was appointed to. select a
suitable site for the fair grounds and
to learn the cost Of such a site. On
the recommendation of this committee
the 20 acres then being used as the
fair grounds was purchased from Mrs.
Mary Rines at $50 per acre. On June
Is, meeting Of the association was
held for the purpose of organizing a
nermanent agricultural society and in