Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Lorain County Fair Ad – August 20, 1973

On Monday I posted a full-page ad from the Journal promoting the 1963 edition of the Lorain County Fair. It was a fun ad, with cartoon illustrations of kooky clowns, a carnival barker, balloons and circus tents, all under some wacky headline type.

Fast forward ten years and we see the 1973 version of the ad, which ran in the Journal on August 20, 1973. 

The ad is pretty informative, with a schedule for each day of the Fair, as well as a listing of all of the ad sponsors. But unfortunately, it's too restrained, graphics-wise, for me. 

The daily, tall Fair ads in the Journal were a little bit better. Below is one of them, which ran in the paper on August 22, 1973. At least there's some animals in the ad, along with some kids that would be right at home in The Brady Bunch (the TV show, not my family).


Interestingly, the ads that year use 1855 as the Fair starting date, which corresponds with the first 'Wellington' fair, which for a time was separate from the actual Lorain County Fair. Current Lorain County Fair advertising uses the 1846 date, which was when the current Lorain County Agricultural Society was formed.

Anyway, I've posted a lot of Lorain County Fair ads over the year on this blog. Here are two of my favorites (below), from 1946 and 1951. Love dem cartoon critters and old-fashioned typography!





14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Country music royalty was in Lorain County on that Saturday,August 25th 1973.I'm talking Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn.These two have to be the most famous entertainers that have ever played the Lorain County Fair.These are legendary artists,up there with Elvis.

Harold Moss, Collierville, TN said...

Anonymous, while I appreciate Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn as great artists, they cannot compare to Elvis. He is the greatest entertainer the world has ever known. Elvis changed the course popular music and set the standard by which all who have followed are measured.

Don Hilton said...

Lynn and Twitty were entertainers and writers who created dozens of hits for themselves and others.

Elvis was an entertainer, a performer of songs, but not a writer. He received co-writing credit on what he recorded because he wouldn't record your song without it, but a writer, he was not.

Elvis was something, alright. A huge influence on the world of music. One of the movers and shakers, so to speak. All that is absolutely, positively true.

But still, I don't think you can sing "an Elvis song" like you can a Twitty or Lynn song.

Anonymous said...

I guess it depends on the era you grew up in. I think there is absolutely no comparison to Michael Jackson as an entertainer or Prince as a songwriter/musician. I mean, in all honesty, they don't even play Elvis on the radio anymore nor do you hear him on any jukeboxes at our local watering holes. You may hear Twitty or Lynn although it's rare.

Anonymous said...

Elvis is The King.No doubt about that.Each generation has their own star,but Elvis is the best.That's one reason why the King of Pop married The Kings daughter.He wanted that Elvis connection.Graceland is a major tourist destination for many families every year.I don't know of any other stars that can do that.But Conway used to have Twitty City and Loretta's estate still has her Loretta Lynn Ranch campground.Micheal had his Neverland Ranch,but that was his own little personal amusement park for all of his little kiddie friends.Not many stars can be famous enough for a business to be built around them like these artists.

Buster said...

In the first ad's "Sechdule of Events" my poor cataract-addled eyes conflated the two lines "Fair Judging-Saddle Horse" and "Horse-Pulling Contest in Front of Grandstand" and came up with "Hair-Pulling Contest in Front of Grandstand." Which might have been more popular.

Personally, I prefer Sinatra.

Don Hilton said...

Buster:
If you're old enough for Medicare, have those eyes fixed!

Personally, I prefer as little sound as possible.

I'd pay to see a hair-pulling contest but couldn't take part. At least not as a "pullee."

Buster said...

Don,

The surgery on my left eye (the worse) takes place Monday. The right one 10 days later. Not sure about the third eye.

Agree about the hair-pulling contest. Nothing to grasp.

Harold Moss, Collierville, TN said...

As for "they don't even play Elvis on the radio anymore...", try channel 75 on SiriusXM satellite radio, they have broadcast only Elvis 24 hours a day, seven days a week since 2004.

Anonymous said...

That's true. Elvis does have a XM station along with the other 150 singers that want extra money from us. I would much rather hear my favorite artists the old school way, on the radio.

Anonymous said...

I like Elvis another old fashioned way.I have a bunch of eight track tapes,cassettes and cds that I still listen to all the time.I have LPs too but I never really got into listening to them as they're too big to carry on the go.

Don Hilton said...

Not to mention that the LPs warp if left in a hot car!

Don Hilton said...

Buster...
I had mine corrected for "middle distance" in May of this year. Took a while for things to settle down, and all the drops were a pain in the neck, but I had no real discomfort, other than trying to sleep with a hard eyepatch for a few days. And I had to wait 5 weeks after the second eye to get specs.

My glasses used to be pretty thick and now are less than a 16th of an inch and everything so freakin' clear. Driving at night, which had grown almost impossible, is now a breeze.

Good luck. Consider it a chance to use your "pirate voice."

And if your third eye has cataracts, it's karma, not pharma, that takes care of that!

Buster said...

Don,

I have some experience with eyepatches. My wife and I were going to go on a Mediterranean cruise 20 years ago. Shortly before, I managed to poke myself in the eye, turning it an unsightly dark red. It was gruesome. My fix was to wear an eyepatch, but come time for the cruise, I decided it might be more glamorous to wear dark sunglasses day and night. So I did. Everyone at dinner was too polite to ask me why.

Your own tale is encouraging. I am hoping for (and expecting) the best!