1956 Lorain County Fair

Seventy years ago, the 1956 Lorain County Fair was underway, and it probably looked much like the Fair did Monday night when I was there this week. The Fair is seemingly frozen in time and that's what I like about it. 

Headliners in 1956 were the Buddy Morrow Band, The Four Freshmen and Kochman's Hell Drivers. (An article on this post about the 1969 Lorain County Fair explains the relationship between the various 'Hell Driver" thrill shows.)

Here's an ample sample of photos, articles and ads to give you a taste of what the Fair was like back then. This first batch is all from the August 18, 1956 Lorain Journal.

The Fair continued to show up in the Journal during the week, including as the subject of a well-written editorial.

August 20, 1956

August 21, 1956

August 24, 1956

August 24, 1956

From that last article, it sounds like it was a wet County Fair that year. I've been to a few over the years when it rained hard. I remember one year it rained so hard we were trapped in the building with the roosters. They were all nightmarishly cock-a-doodle-do'ing at the top of the lungs right in the early afternoon. I can still hear their screeching.