<\/p>\n
Recently I had opportunity to examine the official catalog of the Central Maine Fair in 1921. Our older people well remember the Fairgrounds near the junction of Western Avenue and First Rangeway, an area now largely occupied by Seton Hospital. There were few automobiles in 1921, although the assembly line at Ford had put motor cars within the reach of the middleclass pocketbook. Most people of Waterville going to the Fair used the electric car line. The Waterville and Oakland line had a siding at the Fairgrounds, and many cars during Fair Week went only to that point. They ran every fifteen minutes, and sometimes, especially after the evening program, there would be half a dozen cars on one trip. The race track maintained on those grounds was fast and well patronized. The horses entered in the week’s races were the best in northern New England.<\/p>\n
The catalog to which I refer is devoted chiefly to exhibition of livestock. There must have been other volumes dealing with farm products, pickles and preserves, baked food, knitting and needlework, on display in the exhibition hall, and still another about the horse racing. Perhaps there was an overall program of events and exhibits. But this book does contain some general information about the Fair. In 1921 the president of the Central Maine Fair Association was Frank F. Haines of Waterville; vice-president, Frank Besse of Clinton; treasurer, William Knauff of Waterville; and secretary, the Waterville insurance-man, Ralph Gilmore. Besides the officers, other directors of the Association were Harvey Eaton, noted Waterville attorney; Arthur Heald of the State YMCA; William Lanigan of Hollingsworth & Whitney; Guy Hume of Fairfield;<\/p>\n
Although the catalog contains no lists of rules or prizes for hall exhibits, it does tell us who had charge of some of them. Supervising the art exhibit was Mrs. Kate Edwards Fox. Mrs. Charles Davis had charge of floral displays. Mrs. F. W. Nobel supervised the showing of baked goods. Fruit and vegetables were in charge of Howard Ellis. In the stock area, Harvey Eaton looked after cattle, sheep and exhibition horses. Charles Dam tended the poultry, and E. K. Atwood the pigs. Ticket sales were supervised by the president himself, Frank Haines.<\/p>\n
For the most part, the Fair officials were not content with local judging of the exhibits. In fact only one local man was trusted with that task. Waterville veterinarian Paul Baird was trusted with judging horses. Only one other man from anywhere in Maine was a livestock judge. He was H. W. Brock of Alfred, who judged the sheep.<\/p>\n
Cattle judging was divided by breed. The Shorthorns were judged by Arthur Simpson of Lyndonville, Vt.; the Herefords by J. C. Kinzer from far away Versailles, Kentucky; oxen and beef class by Prof. H. L. Garrigus of the Connecticut Agricultural College; the Guernseys by John Clark of Hardwick, Mass.; the Holsteins by Prof. T. E. Elder of Mt. Hermon, Mass.; the Jerseys by A. K. Heath of Skippack, Penn.;and the Ayrshires by A. H. Tryon of Port Chester, New York.<\/p>\n
The Fair officials set up guard against fraudulent display of livestock. One rule said: “No award shall be valid unless the judge’s book shows the name, age, registry number, and owner. Descriptive labels must be attached to each exhibit. Three judges must determine that the animal exhibited is actually the one described and registered.”<\/p>\n
In recent years the public has become increasingly concerned about gambling at the fairs. What was that situation in Waterville in 1921? Rule 22 of the long list of regulations stated: “Absolutely no swindling, gambling, or cheating devices of any sort will be tolerated. All franchises of parties attempting anything of this kind will be forfeited immediately, and any such attempt should be reported at once to the Fair office.”<\/p>\n
People were informed that they need not go hungry at the Fair. The catalog said: “Visitors may be assured of finding on the grounds everything necessary to the convenience of young and old during the entire day. Ample restaurants and lunch rooms managed by experienced caterers will serve meals and refreshments at reasonable rates. A barber shop, ladies toilet rooms with competent women in charge, baggage rooms for the deposit of satchels, cloaks, etc, in charge of responsible persons, are conveniently located. There is also a branch post office, where mail is hourly received and dispatched.<\/p>\n
In 1921 the Fair was held for five days, August 29 through September 2. Admission to the grounds was: children from 8 to 15, 35 cents; under 8 years, admitted free with an accompanying adult. Driving one’s carriage on to the grounds cost 25 cents. Although automobiles were not plentiful, they were sufficient in numbers by 1921 to warrant a charge of 50 cents for driving them inside the fairground gates. Monday of Fair Week was children’s day, and then all under 15 were admitted free. Admission to the grandstand throughout the week cost 50 cents for each seat, and a reserve seat was 50 cents more.<\/p>\n
One somewhat unusual notice said: “Excellent arrangements have been made for parties desiring to camp. Purchase of season tickets will entitle them to free use of land in the park in which to pitch their tents. The cost of a season ticket is $3.00.”<\/p>\n
Top prize in each class of livestock was usually $10, though some special classes called for more. In the Hereford exhibit, under rule set by the American Hereford Association, the top prize was $100; and the same amount went for the best carload of 15 grain fed steers or heifers, under two years old.<\/p>\n
The best yoke of oxen got only $15, but it was something else when it came to ox pulling. There the top prize reached $50.<\/p>\n
Now in 1975 the Central Maine Fair is only a memory, but it was a grand event 54 years ago in 1921.<\/p>\n
Much information about the old days can be picked up from scrapbooks that folks used to make from newspaper clippings and other items. One such scrapbook that recently came to my attention was made by a Waterville schoolgirl, Lurie Getchell, who received the empty book itself from her sister Leslie in 1885.<\/p>\n
So let us note a few items pasted in that old book 90 years ago. First, here is an unusual marriage in 1889. The clipping says: “When Squire Carver of Waterville hurriedly drove on to the covered bridge over the Sebasticook in Winslow, to take shelter from a sudden shower, he found a young man and young woman already there. The man approached the Squire and asked him to marry them. Since they had the necessary papers in proper form, the Squire agreed. While the rain pelted down on the bridge roof over their heads and the Sebasticook gurgled under their feet, William McClintook and Almira Jones were made one.”<\/p>\n
A lot of old time, rather corny jokes are recorded. Here is one sample. A church organist was asked one Sunday to help take up the collection. He refused, saying he didn’t mind playing the organ, but he wouldn’t play monkey.<\/p>\n
The maker of this scrapbook must have been fond of marvelous events, just as many people today keep an eye out for UFO’s, unidentified flying objects, sometimes called flying saucers. In 1888 this girl noticed the following clipping.<\/p>\n
“On the morning of October 13, the inmates of a farmhouse in Minot discovered the reflection of the City of Lewiston vividly portrayed in the sky. The city buildings, churches, the Androscoggin mill, trees, Lisbon Street and the Maine Central Hospital were distinctly seen. The spectacle was visible for half an hour. As the sun rose, it gradually faded away. The farmhouse where it was seen is on the highest point of land between Poland and Streaked Mountain.”<\/p>\n
The book has a full page clipping on Coburn Classical Institute, with a picture of the noble building erected through the generosity of Ex-Gov. Abner Coburn of Skowhegan, and showing in the background the First Baptist Church, which, erected in 1826, is now in 1975 the oldest public building in Waterville.<\/p>\n
Of Coburn the accompanying article says: “We present this engraving made by our photographer C. G. Carleton. On the site of this magnificent gift by Abner Coburn, and between it and Park Street, was once the old burying ground, from which bodies were removed to our present Pine Grove Cemetery. This fine school building is the pride of our village.”<\/p>\n
Like folks who would later examine her scrapbook, Miss Getchell was not willing to let Coburn go unchallenged as a noted building. On the opposite page she pasted an illustrated clipping of Colby’s Memorial Hall. The picture is presented without comment, but it was the historic building erected in memory of Colby men who fell in the Civil War. A committee of Waterville citizens tried valiantly to save it as a permanent historic structure, after the college moved to Mayflower Hill. Their efforts were in vain. The building was taken down, but an exact replica is on exhibition in the present Miller Library of the college.<\/p>\n
One of the clippings concerned a controversial figure of the Far West, who was a Colby alumnus. Isaac Kalloch of Colby Class of 1852 entered the ministry, serving his first pastorate in Rockland, Maine. After the Civil War he went to Kansas, where he was one of the founders of Ottawa University and its first president. Always active in politics, he served four years in the Kansas legislature. In 1875 he became pastor of the San Francisco Tabernacle, where he conducted sensational services and introduced controversial innovations. He served five years as Mayor of San Francisco, and once he exchanged pistol shots with an enemy on one of the city streets. This scrapbook item about Kalloch says of an 1885 episode: “Dr. Kalloch is in trouble again, because he allowed the San Francisco Tabernacle to be used for a Sunday evening boxing match.”<\/p>\n
Evidently this particular Getchell family were Unitarians. The book contains many references to that denomination in Waterville. On one page is pasted the program for the installation of a new pastor, John A. Bellows on June 6, 1878 A relative, Rev. Henry Bellows of New York City preached the sermon. The address to the new pastor was by the Waterville church’s first pastor, Rev. David Sheldon, formerly also a president of Colby. A minister from Bangor gave the hand of fellowship, and one from Belfast the address to the people.<\/p>\n
And with that reference to the denomination whose stately building stood on Main Street behind what is now the Giguere market, we must say goodbye until next week.<\/p>\n
Year: 1974<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #1031, Broadcast on November 23, 1975<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1203,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}