The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-17
''7he FriendIiest Fair"
That's the Spirit Behind Topeka's Booming Free Show
MACDONALD Country Gentleman for August TO-

One Of the best tributes ever paid the
Topeka Free Fair appears this week
in the current Country Gentleman with
the title noted above. 1t is a two
page illustrated article by A. B. Mac
donald and is full of the real spirit
famous in the exposition world. The
article is based on visit to Topeka
by Mr.. Macdonald and an interview
with Phil Eastman, secretary of the
fair and the man who has made it the
great success it is. The article in part
follows:
The Kansas Free Fair is advertised
as the biggest and best fair between
the Mississippi and Pixies Peak. I
went to Topeka last month and asked
Phil Eastman, secretary and manager
of the fair, why $4,000 persons visited
the fair in one week, many of them
from distant parts of Kansas and from
beyond the borders of the state. I
said that while his fair was having
such big crowds, many others were
in a. bad way, their managers worry
ing about the small attendance and
how to make both ends meet.
"Yes, know that he said. 'I get
stacks of letters from farmers who are
stockholders in fairs, from officials OF
fairs, from progressive farmers all
over this country who want better fairs
in their counties, asking me how we
manage to make such a success of a
free fair here, with the gates standing
L.,
to enter. There seems to be great in
terest in the free fair idea. And 1 have
had hundreds of letters this year from
folks interested in fairs in every part
of the country, and even from Canada,
asking what features of our fair have
the most drawing power, what attrac-
tions they can put in to bring more
people to their fairs, how they can
make the fair pay'if they throw out
the girl shows and gambling and run
a clean fair. How to bring the crowds
and so please them that they will re-
turn next year seems to be the greatest
concern of people interested in fairs" :"
Not Because It's Free.
''Is it because the fair is free that
you get such crowds?" asked.
Not altogether" he answered. "A
great many spend fifty or seventy five
cents to see the horse racing, anyhow.
We sometimes have 10000 paid ad-
missions to the races on an afternoon,
and nearly all visitors to the fair spend
money freely
rs it because you have such fine
line of amusement? ?"
Not altogether that, either. Farm
ers come to our fair from all parts of
the state and from beyond. but the
majority come from the eastern half
of the state. Thousands come in mo-
tor cars from as far as a hundred
miles away, starting from home by
early lamplight5 staying on the fair
grounds until ten o'clock at night, then
making the long drive back home
again. Farmers don't go to all that
trouble these days for amusement
alone, just to see the clowns, the circus
acts and shows. Farmers don't have
to go that far for amusement They
don't come so far merely to see fair,
because the sixteen counties from
which we draw most of our visitors
each has a fair of it's own. In our ad-
vertising we don't emphasize the
amusement end of it so much as we
do the educational features"
He showed me the posters, books OF
premium lists and circulars that the
fair broa adcasted over Kansas this year.
There was little in those advertise
ments about amusements, but there