Lorain County Fair 1954 – Part 1

Ad for the 1954 Lorain County Fair

It's Lorain County Fair week! One of my favorite weeks of the year (I know, I always say that.) I'll be out there later in the week.

The Fair has some great grandstand shows this year, including Sara Evans tonight and the Marshall Tucker Band on Tuesday. Seventy years ago, the entertainment for the 1954 Lorain County Fair was a lot different, as you can see in the ad above, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on August 18, 1954.

On Tuesday, August 24, 1954 the stage show included Midwestern Hayride, the famous WLW TV show. As noted in the promotional piece below that ran in the Journal on August 11, 1954 it was "one of the most popular radio and television shows on the air today."

"The Hayride Show, which has been on WLW, Cincinnati, for many years features such outstanding hillbilly artists as beautiful Bonnie Lou, Swiss yodeler and ballad singer; Buddy Ross, accordionist; the Geer sisters, Mary and Jo Ann, harmony singers; the Kentucky Boys and the Pine Mountain Boys.

Bonnie Lou had a long, successful career as a recording artist, as well as a television performer and host. Here's the link to Bonnie's Wiki entry, which refers to her as an American music pioneer, "recognized as one of the first female rock and roll singers." She had a wonderful life.

Here's Bonnie Lou performing Just Out of Reach (1953). I'll bet she performed this at the Fair.

The August 11th Journal page also includes some information about the Fair appearance on Friday, August 27, 1954 of the Jimmie Lynch thrill show featuring the Death Dodgers and the Death Dodgettes. Here's a 1955 souvenir program for the automobile stunt team.

(Hey on that same page of the Lorain Journal is a mention of a chalk talk given to the Avon Lake Players by my old boss Franc Powell, who I profiled here).

On Wednesday, August 25 – Lorain Day at the Fair – the entertainment included an appearance by the Four Evans. 

You can read about them on the Journal page below from August 10, 1954.

As noted, the dance act consisted of pretty Maryetta, her brother Les and her parents Helen and Evan.

This Wikipedia page about the Four Evans tells how they toured U. S. military bases in war zones during World War II. It also notes that Maryetta kept right on dancing into her late 80s, even ending up in the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Oldest Professional Show Dancer!