Wapsie Valley Fair

When the Wapsie Valley Fair in Central City opened Sept. 10, 1889, for a three-day run, an Evening Gazette reporter hailed it as the "best fair in the state outside of that unwieldy affair which is held in Des Moines. Perhaps it is better even than the state fair. It is certainly in more orderly arrangement."

The building of the Chicago & Cedar Rapids Railroad through Central City was credited for the growth of Central City and the subsequent decision to host a county fair.

For about a year before the fair's opening date, area residents had gathered to discuss farming. At one of those meetings, I.P. Bowdish suggested holding a fair in the fall. The idea was popular and soon a meeting was arranged with local creamery owner P.G. Henderson and Central City's hardware store owner H.G. Porter. The plan originally included just Maine Township, but grew to include all the surrounding townships, too.

The next meeting, held in the Grand Army of the Republic Post Hall in Central City, elected officers for the fair. Charles Jordan was named president; P.G. Henderson, vice president; J.M. Huston, treasurer; and H.G. Porter, secretary. The fair committee rented a tract of land with option to purchase close to the railroad depot. The railroad tracks ran through it for optimal access by visitors.

The site was a natural amphitheater, ideal for a half-mile track, with plenty of shade, suitable for camping and picnicking. A fundraising campaign was initiated to pay for buildings and fencing. Enough money was raised to pay for materials but not enough to pay for labor, so a call went out for volunteers to help erect the buildings. On the August day construction began, more than a dozen men started work, while young boys carried water for them on the hot summer days.

A 30-by-60-foot fine arts hall took two days to erect. The ticket office and gates took a day. The workers dug a well and constructed cattle sheds and stalls for horses before the opening day.

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Wapsie Valley Fair timeline

Marion Mills Post No. 284 G.A.R. provided meals for fairgoers in a large dining hall.

The second day of the fair was designated "Marion Day" in honor of the Linn County seat and featured a baby show and a ballgame.

The Gazette sponsored an excursion to Central City on the fair's closing day.

As early as 1921, local 4-H clubs were displaying their projects at the fair. The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette ran a front-page article extolling the virtues of being a member of a boys or girls 4-H Club, one of them being: "Tenacity of purpose, that stumbling place for so many of us, is developed almost unconsciously when one's heart is set on winning a prize at a state or county fair, or in perfecting something for an Achievement Day exhibit, or in demonstrating a practice over and over again until the entire community accepts it."

In 1925, there were seven clubs in Linn County and in 1931, 20 clubs completed clothing projects for the fair.

The fast half-mile track at the fair attracted famed Midwest stock car driver and Newhall native Gus Schrader in 1928. Schrader, who died in a race at the Louisiana State Fair in 1941, was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1990.

Attractions at the fair in the early 1930s included baseball games, horse races, balloon ascensions and a parachute drop.

Despite the appearance of "Mine," the state fair elephant and consecutive night shows by the Boyd B. Trousdale Players in 1933, the Wapsie Valley Fair Association hit dire straits and the bank foreclosed on the property. It was the height of the Great Depression and the bank itself failed. Its trustees, in liquidating the bank's assets, agreed to sell the fairgrounds to George O. Filloon for $4,000. Filloon, a former member of the Wapsie Valley Fair Association, headed a group forming a new association, the Linn County Fair Inc. A group of former Wapsie Fair trustees objected to the sale, feeling that the property was worth a lot more. But the final analysis was that the grounds were only worth more if the Linn County Fair group had enough money to get the new fair off the ground and running. The Linn County Fair opened in 1937.

In the ensuing years the fair held its own, although county funds were appropriated to the All Iowa Fair in Cedar Rapids at more than double the rate of the Linn County Fair. However, in 1939, the fair was allotted additional county funds when its grandstand burned to the ground.

Since then, the faithful little 4-H and FFA fair has continued and will celebrate its 125th year from June 26 through July 1 this year. In contrast, a Marion fair, several Cedar Rapids fairs, including the All Iowa Fair, and some other area fairs have ceased to exist.