Pages past, Sept. 11: County fair offers hot dogs, advice

On this date…

1972: The Roosevelt County Fairgrounds was bustling with folks entering exhibits for the annual county fair.

County home agent Sheryl Borden said a last-minute ruling to only allow pint-sized jars in the canning competition had caused a bit of an upset with local homemakers, but she reported that the entries of “fancy work, ceramics, and other crafts” had more than doubled from the previous year and had already overflowed the exhibit space.

Jack Patton was at the grill in the American Legion booth smack dab in the center of the fairgrounds “dishing out hot dogs and advice.” Fellow Legionnaire Ernest Hintz said the afternoon before had been the biggest Sunday afternoon the food booth had ever had.

Over at the beef barn, assistant county agent Storm Gerhart noted that steer entries were about double from the previous year and that “quality, at a glance, seems to be excellent.”

Dink Essary was signing up entrants for the evening Old Fiddlers Contest, where he expected a big field of contenders, “with probably a woman or two.”

County agent Billy Smith was “too busy to talk” to the reporter on the scene but was sighted “trotting from place to place.”

Sixteen-year-old Kathy Grider of Melrose was crowned fair queen that evening to reign over the three-day slate of activities.

Pages Past was compiled by Betty Williamson.