Grandstand Archives - Bob on Books

Canfield Fair Historic Marker with Grandstand in background. Photo courtesy of Jenn Wintermantel, via HMdb.org. Used with permission of owner.

It’s fair time again! I have so many memories of visits to the fair, and the fairgrounds and many of them revolve around the grandstand. During fairs past, I watched harness races, pig iron competitions, and tractor pulls (not being able to hear a thing afterwards and smelling of diesel exhaust!). Then there were shows. I can remember going to see the Beachboys and Kenny Loggins at different shows over the years. This year, the big act is Pentatonix, a group I happen to love. But you probably would have had to buy the tickets the day they came out. Some past acts were Toby Keith, John Mellencamp, Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, Martina McBride, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

The first encounter some of us had with the grandstand were those ominous announcements: “Susie and Michael are at the sound tower by the grandstand and have lost their parents and they’d like to find you” (or something like that). The other experience we had was going underneath the grandstand for all the vendors who were selling everything from trinkets to pots and pans, and miracle cleaning solutions. There was one of these, a powder that came in a can that could be used for cleaning carpet stains and other stains. The stuff really worked and one of our missions at the fair was to buy a can every year.

The grandstand was built in 1936. Over the entrance, where grandstand events are posted and the trademark rooster stands, you can see engraved in the cement “WPA 1936.” WPA stands for Works Progress Administration, a Depression-era program designed to put thousands of out-of-work men to work on public infrastructure projects. This one has lasted 83 years and counting! The grandstand can seat 6200 people.

There is an interesting story behind this. Because it was a WPA project, the ownership of the ground and the grandstand, originally owned by the fairgrounds, was transferred to the county in 1935 so they could apply for the construction. It remained in county hands until 2001. The transfer might have happened in 1996, but the fair board borrowed $300,000 at that time for grandstand improvements from the county, and the county did not want to complete the transfer until the loan was paid. In 2001, the grandstand transferred back to fair ownership for the price of $1.

Over the years I visited the grandstand for other things. There used to be stock car races and demolition derbies on the track and I went to some of those. The demolition derbies were fun, because people were intentionally trying to hit each other, doing as much damage as possible while still keeping going in a kind of “last man standing” contest. Apparently these still happen, with one scheduled on Friday night of this year’s fair.

Twice during my growing up years there were “crusades” with associates of Billy Graham, once when I was young with a preacher by the name of Lane Adams, and when I was in college with Leighton Ford. My big memory of the latter event was that one night my father and I were the “night watchmen” over all the sound equipment. All we could do if there was a problem was to call the real police, but fortunately, all we saw that night were the stars as we camped out on the stage.

Often, the grandstand represented a place where you could get out of the sun on a hot day at the fair. You could watch pig iron pulling contests and cheerleader competitions and marching bands. It was part of the “fair experience” and stands as a monument to the workers who built it, the fair board who have maintained it, and all who have performed there.

Congratulations, Canfield Fair on your 173rd year! You are “something to crow about!”

Canfield Fair logo accessed at http://canfieldfair.com/

The 168th Canfield Fair is taking place even as I write. Since 1846, fairs have been held on the Canfield Fairgrounds. Last week I wrote about food at the Fair. This week, I thought I would share some of my own memories of the fair and thoughts about what the fair means to the Youngstown area.

I first remember going with my dad to the fair one evening when I was in elementary school. It was eye-opening in so many ways. The crowds, the lights on the midway, all the rides were almost overwhelming. I think this was also my first exposure to farm animals, a big part of the fair. I discovered that cows also went to the bathroom as I watched one do so right before my eyes–you can tell that I was a city kid! We did a few of the animal barns, then got some food and went on some of the rides. I most remember being on the ferris wheel at night and being able to see all the neon lights from way up high and thinking what an amazing thing this was. My other memory from that night was that we got rear-ended by a drunk as we were turning left into the street where we lived. Needless to say, that was one night to remember!

Canfield Fair Ferris Wheel

One of the fun things as we got older was to be able to go off on our own and ride the rides, and eventually to be able to go to the fair with our friends. It was fun to sit atop the ferris wheel with a girl and sneak a few kisses. Finally, we went into the “freak” shows only to be disappointed that they didn’t live up to their billings. In those years, the fair was mostly rides, food, and some of the midway games, particularly trying to win a stuffed animal for your girl. We’d often go over to the WHOT and other radio and TV station tents to be part of their live broadcast and meet the radio and TV personalities.

I really don’t think we discovered the fair in all its richness until we were adults. By then, we were living away from Youngstown but the fair was our annual pilgrimage and a time to visit good friends who lived in Canfield just a short distance away. We’d do the fair and then come back to their home and drink coffee until late in the evenings and catch up with each others’ lives. When our kids were young, we’d break out the strollers and take them around to see the rabbits and ducks and chickens and roosters and other animals and to ride the kiddie rides. Later our son and their daughter would go on rides together. He was always big for his age, and I suspect more than once crushed her on the tilt-a-whirl! Over the years, and particularly as the kids grew older and did their own thing, we developed routines of visiting the various animal barns, the antique steam engines for the guys, the arts and crafts barns for the women, the pumpkin barn so that everyone could marvel at how big you could grow a pumpkin. Every year we’d go to the international building and watch the different ethnic dancers and would usually run into one of my wife’s high school classmates.

Some years we would go to see the performers in the grandstand. I remember catching the Beach Boys the year before our son was born, and Kenny Loggins among others. I think we caught the tractor pulls once or twice–kind of like a drag race in reverse, starting out fast and grinding to a stop, with lots of noise, smoke and spinning wheels. Underneath the grandstand there were always the vendors selling everything from jewelry and kitchen ware to all-purpose cleaners, a can of which we bought nearly every year. The stuff really worked. Sometimes we would wander over to the 4-H pony rings watching young teens lead ponies and horses through their paces to compete for ribbons. Or we would go to the sheep barns and see how fast a sheep could be sheared.

The fair was where city met country. Many of the immigrant families of Youngstown had rural and farm roots and this was a way to re-connect. We learned where food, wool clothing, leather, and milk came from. We saw that farmers also worked around machinery that could be dangerous and worked long hard hours. The work was just different. In some ways, the fair was where steel and food came together and we celebrated in a movable, walking feast for eyes, ears, and mouths.

I mentioned the friends we went to the fair with every year. The wife passed in 2009, dying too young of cancer, and we haven’t done the fair since. So many of our memories were filled with the times we all shared. I do want to go to the fair again some year. I know there will be many wonderful things to see but we won’t recapture those years. But we can remember.

What are your best memories of the Canfield Fair or other county fairs?