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Meet Me at the Fair
Let's all go to the county fair,
There's blossoms and ribbons.....and hope in the air.

-- Author Unknown
The Herkimer County Fair

Get your bees a buzzin, get up out of that chair,
Come on down and have a ball at the Herkimer County Fair.

Eat a sausage and pepper sandwich for a taste that can't be beat,
A snow cone or cotton candy, come and give yourself a treat.

Come into the tent, stamp your feet and clap your hands,
And listen to the music of the country and western bands.

You say you want to have some fun, well, let me tell you straight,
Come on down to the fairgrounds and walk right through that gate!

-- Clark Mosher
Did you know?

Elkanah Watson, known as the father of agricultural fairs, gave state fairs their start.  A New England farmer and businessman, he first show-cased his sheep under the great elm tree in the public square in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1807!

The nation's first official state fair was held in Syracuse, New York in 1841.

It was during the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904 that fair-goers first ate hot dogs and ice cream cones as they walked.....the introduction of the world's first "fast food."

There are dozens of varieties of food-on-a-stick featured at fairs.  They include alligator and deep fried candy bars, as well as traditional favorites, corn dogs and candied apples.

When Cotton Candy was first invented, it was known as "Spun Sugar." 
Meet Me in St. Louis
(
Introduced at the World's Fair in St. Louis, 1904)

When Louis came home to the flat, he hung up his coat and his hat.
He looked all around, but no one could he find.
O, where can she be at? 
A note on the table he spied, he read it just once, then he cried.
It read, Louie, dear, it's too lonesome here, so I took myself a ride.

Meet me in St. Lou, O, Lou, meet me at the Fair,
Don't tell me the lights are shining anyplace but there.
We will dance the hoochie-koochie, I'll be your tootsie-wootsie.
If you meet me in St. Lou, O, Lou.....meet me at the fair.

-- Lyrics by Andrew B. Sterling
Summer

Let me remember as the days grow long,
How brief a time is summer, how sweet her song;
How children delight in the barefoot days,
How the gardens grow in the hot sun's rays;
How excitement fills the air
On opening day of the county fair.
From early freshness through the heat of noon,
To lingering twilight......summer goes too soon.

-- Mabel Gabbott
LINKS:

State Fair Directory; Links to Official Sites

Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee

State Fair Recipes

History of Fairs

Orange County Fair Recipes


Hear "Meet Me at the Fair"  in the Max Hunter Folk Song Collection

Meet Me in St. Louis, The Movie


Dorothy Coyle's 10,000 Ribbon
s

Here's the Scoop: History of Ice Cream

County Fair Desktop Wallpaper
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