Hello Forest County Residents!
The Forest County Fair is this weekend September 5th-7th, and there is nothing more historic than an old fashioned county fair. I encourage everyone to visit the fairgrounds located in Crandon to check out the Forest County Historical Society booth which is filled with photographs of early Forest County events and people. There is also a booth featuring the history of the fair surrounded by objects that would have been used by residents to prepare for the festivities. There is also a lot of other fun activities such as the talent show, rides and games, and the Healthy Harvest Day on Saturday beginning at 9 am.
The fair has always been a momentous event in our county’s history. According to several of oral history interviews, this was one event that bought all the families that lived in the country into town. Steve Conway remembers the fair this way:
” The fairgrounds used to have cart races or trotters. They had a solid clay quarter mile track and a grand stand. Across from the grand stand they had a stage where they put on performances. They also had big round barn and that was where the horses were. They had another place where they kept the horses that they used for racing. They had two wheel carts and the horses would pull them and it was a lot of fun. At the end of the pens is where they kept the races horses that they brought in. The race horses were not local. They trotted, they could not run. It was the prettiest thing. The horses were so graceful. So county fair was a big thing. There was a wooden fence all around it so you had to pay to get in unless you removed some boards and snuck in”.
