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After the 1930s Frankenstein movies took the world by storm, people began creating carnival sideshows devoted to Frankenstein freaks. Film writer Pierre Fournier takes us back to a time when carnies mixed with The Monster.

Step right up!

The place is somewhere in England. The time, perhaps the late Thirties or the early post-war years. A barker [...]

Last September, Tony and Barb Pagel of Rochester, along with several volunteers, settled in at the History Center of Olmsted County with their noses in books and newspapers, hoping to create a history book to commemorate the 150th Olmsted County Fair. After hours of researching, writing, layout and editing, the anniversary committee’s efforts [...]

NEW YORK — Before Disneyland and Six Flags, before steel coasters went 50 mph and rides were named for cartoons, movies and superheroes, and even before Firemen’s Field Days…..there were trolley parks.

The parks were built by trolley companies at the end of the line in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as a way to [...]

Washington County has been an agricultural area from the earliest times. It is only natural that agricultural societies and fairs would have been carried on from a very early time. During the more than 200 years that have passed since that first “Morganza Fair' in 1798, there have been no less then 14 fair associations throughout [...]

HISTORY OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA STATE FAIR

(All photographs on this page and in the slideshow are circa 1930-1960.)

Each October, people of all ages come to Columbia to participate in the South Carolina State Fair, one of the TOP 50 Fairs in the United States. Exhibits as well as livestock competitions and entertainment draw both rural and [...]

The history of fairs is clouded and the record is less than complete. Nonetheless, the story of mankind is replete with references to fairs, not in an institutional context, but as a part of everyday social intercourse.

A casual observer might conclude that American fairs and exhibitions came fresh out of eighteenth century western Europe, delivered to [...]

A Brief History of State Fairs In an enduring summer ritual, Americans turn out for livestock judging, butter sculpture, cheese curds and more

via A Brief History of State Fairs – Photo Essays [...]

July 1941. Girls at the Fourth of July carnival in Vale, Oregon. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm [...]

Saying the Olmsted County Fair’s 150 years sparkles might be stretching it a bit. However, "sparkle" might be in the mind of anyone who simply loved an event. Kids that won Grand Championship ribbons, and awards for their 4-H exhibits probably "sparkled" for a time. And if the judges did not rate them to [...]