Lorain County Fair – 1975

We'll close out Lorain County Fair Week here on the blog with a look at the 1975 edition. As usual, the promotion started weeks before the fair started.

The Lorain County Fair has always brought in the big names in country music and 1975 would be no exception. Below is the announcement of the grandstand headliners: the Statler Brothers, and Tammy Wynette and Sonny James. The listing appeared in the Journal on July 1, 1975, and the follow-up ad ran on July 30th.

1975 promotional photo of Tammy Wynette

The full-blown ad for the Fair appeared on August 18, 1975, the day before it opened.

That same edition of the Journal contained the schedule and a tall ad highlighting fan favorite Dan Fleenor and the Hurricane Hell Drivers.

The next day, the Journal ran an interesting article designed to reassure fairgoers that the amusement rides were safe.

And as usual, tall ads ran in the Journal daily informing readers what the attractions were for that day. This one ran in the Journal on August 20, 1975.

As expected, the Statler Brothers, and Tammy Wynette and Sonny James were big hits with the Fair crowd.

Lorain County Fair – 1965

Sixty years ago, the 110th Annual Lorain County Fair opened on August 23, 1965. Above is the promotional ad that appeared in the Journal a week before the opening.

Headliners that year included two performers from the Lawrence Welk Show on TV – JoAnn Castle and Myron Floran, as well as Walt "King" Kovaz and His Auto Daredevils.

JoAnn Castle promotional photo of Sept. 1965

A 1967 King Kovaz program

The first day of the Fair on August 23rd was commemorated with a special Gene Patrick cartoon on the front page of the Journal.

The Journal provided excellent coverage of the Fair that year, with lots of reports and full-pages of photos.

August 23, 1965

August 26, 1965

At the conclusion of the Fair, the Journal did an interesting thing: send a reporter to find out whether the Fair helped or hurt local businesses.

August 28, 1965

Lorain County Fair – 1945

Back in the middle of August 1945, World War II was drawing to a close with the recent Japanese surrender. It was also time for the Lorain County Fair. Above is the ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on August 15, 1945.

Earlier in the summer, advance publicity for the Fair appeared in the paper on July 26th. The main entertainment consisted of the national Barn Dance radio entertainers, as well as the Graham western rodeo riders. There was also a 'grand parade' scheduled for Friday.

With the county in a gleeful mood due to the end of the war, and record number of entries, huge crowds were anticipated for the Fair.

Aug. 18, 1945

Aug. 22, 1945

The predictions were correct, as the Fair saw record crowds.

Aug. 23, 1945

And as was (and still is) the custom, competition results appeared in the paper beginning a few days after the Fair ended.

August 27, 1945

Lorain County Fair – 1925 & 1935

Keeping with my Lorain County Fair theme, I thought it would be interesting to see what I could find in the earliest Lorain Journal archives that were available online.

Planning a county fair is a year-long affair (no pun intended), and the 1925 Lorain County Fair was no exception. This item from the January 29, 1925 Lorain Journal notes that "two days of harness racing and one day of running races were decided upon for the fair this year."

The article also points out that the fair was going to be held in September. This was formally announced in the piece below, which ran in the paper on July 14, 1925. Note that the fair was held in Riverview Park in Elyria, and that "for the first time, there will be an exhibit of rabbits."

This item from the July 27, 1925 Lorain Journal reports that "a herd of 22 Holstein cattle will be chosen from the stock farms of Lorain-Co to be exhibited at the Wellington fair 1 September."

But what about the Lorain County Fair? Would the Holsteins miss it?

The article notes, "Every effort will be made to bring this herd back in time for the county fair."

There wouldn't have been such a conflict ten years later. The 1935 Lorain County Fair was pushed all the way to October, as noted in this article from April 15, 1935.

Here's the only promotional ad I could find in the Lorain Journal for the 1935 Lorain County Fair. It appeared on October 2, 1935.

And here's the front page story from the October 4, 1935 edition. 

Hey, how come the 1935 Fair is the 89th, but the 1955 (twenty years later) is the 100th and not the 99th? Oh well. 

So why was it held in October, anyway? This editorial from October 4, 1935 explains.

Lorain County Centennial Fair – 1955

Special Gene Patrick cartoon from August 21, 1967 Journal

Well, it's one of my favorite times of they year – here at last. Yup, it's Lorain County Fair time!

I'll be out there later in the week, sampling all of my once-a-year treats, like a Rutana's Apple Dumpling (hold the ice cream but extra sauce, please). And of course I have to visit the honey booth, the rabbits, the photography exhibit, etc. It always feels about the same – and that's why I love it. The Lorain County Fair is timeless fun.

Seventy years ago, the 1955 edition of Lorain County Fair was being celebrated as taking place during the Centennial Year. As the Lorain County Fair dates back to about 1846, perhaps the Fair was appropriating the year of the first fair held in Wellington (1855)? Remember that for decades, the Lorain County Fair was held in Elyria, while another fair was held in Wellington, until they merged in the early 1940s. But I'm not sure why the 1955 Fair was designated the Centennial Fair.

Anyway, here's the front page of the Lorain Journal of August 22, 1955 with a great photo of the Fair gate. 

As was the custom, an ad ran in the Journal each day weeks before the Fair began, highlighting the grandstand shows and attractions. Dance bands seemed to dominate the stage shows that year, with Ted Weems and His Band featuring Bonnie Ann Shaw, and Ralph Flanagan and His Orchestra as two of the headliners.

But many fair-goers expect and demand excitement – and the Fair didn't disappoint. As one ad notes, "Daredevils from three different Auto Thrill Shows" were to compete against each other in every known. kind of automobile thriller."

Aug. 13, 1955

Aug. 15, 1955

Aug. 16, 1955

Aug. 17, 1955

Aug. 18, 1955

Aug. 19, 1955

During the Fair, the Journal continued with the delicate task of providing light-hearted, front-page coverage of the Fair while at the same time presenting often terrible, tragic headline news.

In early September, the Journal's "Town Talk" column of Sept. 3, 1955 by James Howard provided a great and funny analysis of 'crowd psychology' as witnessed at the Lorain County Fair.

Back to School With O'Neil-Sheffield Shopping Center – 1954

Vintage postcard

Same view today

Back when everybody subscribed to a newspaper, many stores ran special back-to-school promotions that often took up several pages of the Lorain Journal.

The well-remembered O'Neil - Sheffield Shopping Center did exactly that in August 1954. The shopping center had only been open since May 1, 1954, so it was a good time to drum up some fresh publicity.

Here are a few pages of a special section that ran in the Journal on August 25, 1954. In those pages we get a great stock of school kids circa 1954; a nice rendering of the building that was home to the O'Neil store; and a nice photo of the distinctive sign by Rt. 254 in front of the center. That sign was such a familiar sight for so long.

The O'Neil - Sheffield Shopping Center has been a popular topic on this blog since its beginning.

As I've mentioned many times, long after O'Neil's became a May Company store in 1967, I still think of that shopping center in my mind as O'Neil's.

It was such a great location for the Lorain International Festival, drawing visitors from all directions.

I sometimes wonder if this style of shopping center will ever make a comeback. The covered walkway made so much sense; I have a hard time seeing how places like Legacy Village (where you get wet going from store to store when it rains) is an improvement.

V-J Day – August 14, 1945

Eighty years ago today on August 14, 1945, the front page of the Lorain Journal announced that the Japanese had accepted the Allied unconditional surrender terms – but that the official surrender note had not arrived yet.

Nevertheless, as the front page of the paper noted, the celebration of the end of the way was underway locally, with the blowing of horns and shotgun blasts.

So was it officially Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day)? 

According to the defense.gov website, "V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day, marks the end of World War II, one of the deadliest and most destructive wars in history. When President Harry S. Truman announced on Aug. 14, 1945, that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, war-weary citizens around the world erupted in celebration."

However, the Wiki page for V-J Day notes, "Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on which the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made – 15 August 1945, in Japan, and because of time zone differences, 14 August 1945 (when it was announced in the United States and the rest of the Americas and Eastern Pacific Islands) – as well as to 2 September 1945, when the surrender document was signed, officially ending World War II."

Anyway, it is heartwarming reading about the joy and happiness being expressed by Lorain residents.

Here are pages 2, 3 and 4 of the same edition. Besides the end-of-the-war stories, there's several other items of interest, including the 10th anniversary of Social Security, as well as the story of a Lorain boy who finds a message in a bottle.