The Fair gave me a chance to see farm animals, bake-offs, gospel quartets, and a butter cow, all in a few afternoons.
I'll bet everyone has their favorite Fair foods: lemon shakes, foot-long hot dogs, cotton candy, snow cones, or fried chicken dinners served at long tables under tents.
Today I could not take the heat and crowds, but once I could listen for hours to a non-stop talker, selling vegetable peelers, or waste many quarters on rides and games at the Midway.
Do you have State Fair memories? Click on the Comment link and let us know.
7 comments:
My grandfather, a staunch Republican state employee, took me to the fair every year when I was a kid. One year we were forced to the side of the street by a line of office cars, one a convertible where Harry Truman sat waving and smiling at the crowd. To Gramps' eternal embarrassment, he looked like a clone of Truman, and the president noticed. He stopped the car and shook Gramps' hand. Although he would die rather than admit it, Gramps was proud of that moment.
Hi Barbara,
I had one of those grandfathers too, but his wife was a staunch Democrat, so we heard an evenly divided debate over the kitchen table.
President Eisenhower came to the State Fair in '56 and I heard him speak at the grandstand. He also visited Springfield in '52. I got to shake his hand, and Champ Davis kissed Mamie--after he hid his Stevenson button!
Thanks for writing,
Will
When I was a teenager I was a Dairy Maid at the Dairy Bar at the State Fair where the carved Butter Cow was housed. We wore yellow dresses and yellow checked aprons, as I recall, and sold milk and ice cream. That is about all I remember about it, and I think I only worked there one year.
When I was a preteen, my cousin from Decatur and I went to the Fair every single day, every single year, and like you recalled in your State Fair memories, we knew every single freebie to be had, where every single hawker of all the gadgets was and could repeat their spiels verbatim. Back in those days kids were safe at the Fair and it was quite an adventure. Fun to recall those days!
In 1973 I entered an original needle point project in the Fair and won first prize. I still have the project as a matter of fact.
Oh I remember the fair so well. I worked it every year from about the age of 10. As I got older I started delivering Coke to the various stands throughout the grounds. I also filled coke cups for the hawkers in the grandstand each night, so I got to see all of the great grandstand shows.
After the Spfld fair, I would move on to DuQuoin and work that fair for Coca-Cola each year for at least 15 years.
Great great memories. Tom Brosch
Hi Everybody,
I used to work at the Illinois Bldg. at the State Fair for several
years. It was such fun going across the street at "break time" to look at the fresh "prize-winning
produce" which was being "judged".
One could buy a huge grapefruit-sized peach for 10 cents and eatit all afternoon with juices dripping down the face. Those peaches and all produce (like tomatoes and corn) could be purchased for a fraction of the normal cost and were OH SO DELICIOUS!!
Yhe other memory I had was of the Salt Water Taffy. I could stand for a long time watching the "pulling" machine work the candy and get it ready to cut into pieces.
The grandstand shows were the best and remember all the motorcycles that came to town before they stopped motorcycle racing??? Wow,
my Mother and Dad steered really clear of Jefferson Street where those "bad" guys congregated. I laugh now as we had really no clue whether they were bad or not - - - merely a perception!!!
Betsy Yamasaki
Don't forget the French Fries in a cup with malt vinegar!
I also recall working at the Borden Stand in the Exhibition Center making milkshakes. Lucky me--one for the customer and the "leftovers" in the metal shaker for guess who?
Several of us also worked at Boys State. This involved "slopping" the trays after the Boys Staters had finished their meals--much less appealing than the job at Bordens! I have a foggy recollection that other sloppers included Jim Taylor and Ed Freeman and ???
Great fun at the Fair.
Champ Davis
I guess a lot of us worked at the fair. My first real paid job was cleaning up after the Ice Capades or whatever it was, then I sold drinks in the main grandstand. Of course a popular job was as a "pilot". This job was in the barns, where you would shovel up horse manure and "pilot" in the disposal area.
Bob Newell
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