County Fair unique in its antiquity

Bill Graham
Platte Rambler

The 147th Annual Platte County Fair, now under way with full revelry in Tracy, seems so unique and ancient.

When much of your brainpower is spent daily evaluating virtual realities on computer screens, televisions and handheld digital electronic devices, the smell of krautburgers cooking, kids screaming on the carnival rides and real people standing in front of you to make conversation does seem exotic.

I’d like to think that this is the result of our founding fathers using their superior wisdom to invent the fair, an idea so splendid that it still thrives today.

But alas, fairs are indeed an ancient social tradition, and while our Fair is unique and downright fun, we’re not the only place in the country holding a Platte County Fair.

Biblical scripture written about 500 B.C. in the book of Ezekiel refers to Tyre in the eastern Mediterranean region as an important fair center, according to the International Association of Fairs and Expos, which is based in Springfield, Mo. The word fair appears to stem from the Latin word “feria,” meaning holy day, because religious events and commerce often mixed through the centuries, according to the association.

Commerce was at the center of fairs but entertainment was added and they became festive community gatherings, which probably also helped commerce.

For fairs operating today, ours has a wonderful century and one-half history. But we cannot match the 245th Hants County Exhibition in Windsor, Nova Scotia, the oldest fair in North America.

If you don’t like our Fair, the bright lights and the hubbub, cast your blame upon Elkanah Watson. In 1811, he organized the Berkshire Agricultural Society in Pittsfield, Mass., and he took the fair concept one step farther. Watson organized a competition for oxen, cattle, swine and sheep that offered $70 in prize money for the best animals in each category.

His fair model was well received, and for years he helped other communities organize their own agricultural societies, the governing (and volunteer work) bodies for fairs. Watson earned the title of “Father of U.S. agricultural fairs.”

Historian W.M. Paxton wrote in his “Annals of Platte County” that in October of 1865, an impromptu meeting in the Burge and Hogue Drug Store in Platte City led to the organization of the first Platte County Fair. Money was subsequently raised, officers elected and a site chosen in Tracy. A show ring was set up and The Fair was held that month, with the main excitement being the collapse of bleachers holding the female students from Professor Todd’s academy.