County Fair
Beginning in 1884, the Knox County Fair was held in Creighton, Nebraska. Then, in 1917, the location was moved to Bloomfield. In 1918, W.H. Harm and E.H. Mason, early bankers and land developers in the area, agreed to allow the Knox County Better Livestock and Fair Association to use their property for an agricultural display of livestock, produce and art. According to the deed if the group failed to conduct a fair for three consecutive years, the property would revert back to them. This year the Bloomfield location moves another step closer toward its centennial.
For me, the county fair had little to do with agriculture and everything to do with escaping it. For those three or four days the fair was in town, I was allowed to escape pitching hay or straw bales, leave the feeding or sorting of cattle, abandon the forking out of hog pens, and revel instead in the bright lights and community of the carnival. I spent my time (and summer’s allowance) on the midway.
The fair was always over too soon, and for many generations marked (and probably still marks) the end of summer and the beginning of harvest.
on August 13, 2009 at 11:51 am
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I love this history.