{"id":900,"date":"2009-08-06T11:06:24","date_gmt":"2009-08-06T16:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=900"},"modified":"2009-08-06T11:06:24","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T16:06:24","slug":"well-be-there-at-the-mississippi-valley-fair-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2009\/08\/06\/well-be-there-at-the-mississippi-valley-fair-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"We’ll Be There at the Mississippi Valley Fair – Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here! We are here! We are here!
\nThere\u2019s a bright spot in the Mississippi valley
\nWhere health, wealth and beauty wins.
\nWe invite you one and all to rally
\nIn our city where the west begins,
\nWe will give you the best there is in us,
\nAnd take the greatest care,
\nTo furnish you snappy entertainment,
\nAt the Mississippi valley fair.
\nYou\u2019ll be there! We\u2019ll be there!
\nAt the Mississippi valley fair,
\nWhere is the fair?
\nIn the place of glee and fun and sport
\nIn dear old Davenport!\u201d*<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Something exciting is happening in \u201cdear old Davenport<\/em>\u201d this week!\u00a0 From August 4th<\/sup> \u2013 9th<\/sup> the Mississippi Valley Fair will be held.\u00a0 In fact, this tradition of \u201cglee, fun and sport<\/em>\u201d is marking its 90th<\/sup> year at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in western Davenport.\u00a0 Anyone\u00a0interested in going?<\/p>\n

This modern fair dates back to late 1919 when eighty-five acres of land was purchased for $91,000 according to an August 16, 1920 front page\u00a0story in the Daily Times<\/em>.\u00a0 The fair association needed space for their grand vision: The Mississippi Valley Fair and Exposition.\u00a0 The concept was simple:\u00a0create an event not only for entertainment, but also\u00a0as a way to share ideas and inventions between professionals and the general public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Des Moines had (and still has) the state fair, but few local residents had the ability to attend the grand event on the other side of the state.\u00a0 The Mississippi Valley fair board not only wanted intellectual concepts \u00a0such as those on display in Des Moines to be shown here in Davenport, but they even encouraged other towns to hold their own modern fairs.\u00a0 The board felt knowledge should be shared to make progress possible in a changing\u00a0world.<\/p>\n

The first\u00a0Davenport fair reportedly occurred in 1854.\u00a0 Held on one acre of land and hosted by the Scott County Agricultural Society, the fair focused on produce and animal displays and sales.\u00a0 Over the years, the location of the fair was moved from site to site in search of a permanent home.\u00a0 Locations included what is now Oakdale Cemetery (before it was a cemetery of course), the area around present day 16th<\/sup> and Main Streets, and on thirty-three acres of land including what is now Vander Veer Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the purchase of land in western Davenport in 1919, the Mississippi Valley fair association quickly began to build structures on the new fair grounds.\u00a0 A new half-mile racing track was installed, an auto park created (that would be our present day parking lot), a 6,000 seat grandstand, comfort stations, grand entrance, exposition building,\u00a0barns, and more.\u00a0 All of these additions\u00a0cost the fair association around $200,000 in 1920s currency.\u00a0 The fairgrounds\u00a0were a showcase when completed with modern day ammenities for all to experience.<\/p>\n

The first Mississippi Valley Fair and Exposition opened on August 16, 1920 and ran through August 21st<\/sup>.\u00a0\u00a0The fair was so exciting\u00a0that Davenport Mayor Barewald declared Thursday August 19th<\/sup>\u00a0a half work day for city and local businesses so everyone\u00a0could attend the event.\u00a0\u00a0Even the local retail merchant board held a special meeting and approved the mayor’s\u00a0proclamation.<\/p>\n

An estimated 115,262 persons attended the modern Mississippi Valley Fair and Exposition that first year.\u00a0 The fair was a success and has been a crowd favorite for\u00a090 years.\u00a0 Anyone else feeling like eating cotton candy right now?<\/p>\n

If you are wondering about\u00a0the booster song at the top of this article, you will need to come back on Monday August 10th<\/sup> to find out the interesting history of the fair song and about the\u00a0entertainment\u00a0showcased at the first Mississippi Valley Fair and Exposition!<\/em><\/p>\n

*\u201dMississippi Valley Fair Booster S<\/em>ong\u201d written by Albert Petersen, copyright 1924.
\n(Amy D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u201cWe are here! We are here! We are here! There\u2019s a bright spot in the Mississippi valley Where health, wealth and beauty wins. We invite you one and all to rally In our city where the west begins, We … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[147,145,148,146],"class_list":["post-900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-history","tag-booster-song","tag-fair","tag-mayor-barewald","tag-mississippi-valley-fair"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-ew","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":913,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions\/913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}