{"id":914,"date":"2009-08-10T12:55:10","date_gmt":"2009-08-10T17:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=914"},"modified":"2009-08-10T12:55:10","modified_gmt":"2009-08-10T17:55:10","slug":"well-be-there-at-the-mississippi-valley-fair-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2009\/08\/10\/well-be-there-at-the-mississippi-valley-fair-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"We’ll Be There at the Mississippi Valley Fair – Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

What wonderful lyrics.\u00a0 Who knew that the Mississippi Valley Fair had its own song (maybe you did after reading last Thursday\u2019s blog<\/a>)?\u00a0 The \u201cMississippi Valley Fair Booster Song\u201d was written and published in 1924 by Albert Petersen, Director of Petersen\u2019s Band.\u00a0 The song made its official public debut in a concert at Fejervary Park on July 6, 1924.\u00a0 Then it was taken on the road.<\/p>\n

Albert Petersen had been the fair booster band director since 1922. Yes, the fair had its own booster club with members of local civic organizations and citizens supporting it.\u00a0 The job was simple,\u00a0travel to local cities in the weeks leading up to the fair to attract visitors to the big event.\u00a0 Apparently Mr. Petersen thought these booster trips needed a little boost and wrote this wonderful song.\u00a0 Mr. Petersen taught members of the group\u00a0the song and even sold copies to fans in Davenport and in the towns they visited.<\/p>\n

July 31st<\/sup>, August 1st<\/sup> and August 2nd<\/sup> were the big booster trips for 1924.\u00a0 On the first trip local towns between Davenport and DeWitt, Maquoketa, Clinton, Princeton, and LeClaire were visited.\u00a0 The second trip included Sheffield, Kewanee, Galva, Cambridge, and Aledo. The final booster run hit Durant, Wilton, Muscatine, Columbus Junction, Washington, West Liberty, Iowa City, Tipton, and Bennett.\u00a0 The trips took place via train\u00a0or car caravan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On July 31st<\/sup> the first trip set off, but not before parading through downtown Davenport.\u00a0 The band played the new booster song while a man named Peter MacArthur sang the lyrics for the gathered crowds.\u00a0 The group that day also included two men dressed as twins, several clowns, a small calliope called a \u201cTangley\u201d, a Kiwanis quartet, and much more.\u00a0 Over 200 people were reported to have made the\u00a0excursion that day.\u00a0 The next two days saw similar numbers of members partaking in the event.\u00a0 The local newspapers reported the travelers were warmly welcomed at each stop.\u00a0 From lemonade to cigars to chicken dinners, the towns visited played host graciously to the probably overheated, but motivated boosters.\u00a0 The last trip on August 2nd<\/sup> was a 300 mile trip via train \u2013 all done in one day!\u00a0 The boosters seem to have done their job well as fair attendance that year was estimated at 71,443 people.<\/p>\n

The boosters’ job was to create\u00a0interest\u00a0to\u00a0visit the fair, but something had to keep people there once they arrived.\u00a0\u00a0Starting from the first fair in 1920, entertainment was always a priority.\u00a0 The 1920 fair featured such excitement as Ethel Dare who jumped from plane to plane in mid-air, horse races of all kinds, \u201cSiege of the Dardanelles\u201d fireworks display, and auto polo and racing.\u00a0 The 1924 fair featured another fireworks display called \u201cThe Destruction of Tokyo: The Great Japanese Earthquake Disaster\u201d, auto races, horse races, and Rubin and Cherry Shows (a traveling carnival).\u00a0 Of course livestock, agricultural and industrial exhibits were always a major attraction for fair visitors.<\/p>\n

These events were certainly something to see and talk about for months afterwards.\u00a0 Even today this\u00a0is true.<\/p>\n

As the Mississippi Valley Fair has drawn to a close once again we can console ourselves with the thought that\u00a0wonderful entertainment and exhibitions will return August 3 \u2013 8, 2010. \u00a0\u00a0If that seems to far away, stop by\u00a0(or email or call)\u00a0to see\u00a0our copy of the booster song so you are\u00a0prepared for next’s year’s fun.\u00a0 See you at the fair!<\/p>\n

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

\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 will … 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":[147,149,145,146,150],"class_list":["post-914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-history","tag-booster-song","tag-ethel-dare","tag-fair","tag-mississippi-valley-fair","tag-rubin-and-cherry-shows"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-eK","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914","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=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":930,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions\/930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}