"White River Bluff" copyright by Barney Sellers
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History of the Izard
County Fair
By Jeralene Love |
These facts may not be
accurate, as I have gathered them from memory of what I have been told.
The first Fairs were held
on the Melbourne School Ground, in the late 1930s or early 1940s, having
the crafts displayed in the Gymnasium and they built temporary fences to
show the livestock. They alternated with Calico Rock a few times and held
it on their School Ground. The Thompson Brothers brought in a Carnival.
They had a real bucking horse and offered money to anyone who could stay
on him a certain length of time.
To raise money, the ladies donated a hen to be sold or auctioned and the
men paid a stockholder fee of $1.00. Garfield Brown built the first
building, which was of wood and located in the upper far corner of the
park on Court Street of what is now City Hall. This was in the late
1940s.
The stockholders that I
can think of were: Boyce Cook, Owen Hunt, Dick Reeves, Hale Bibb, Garfield
Brown, Ted Blankenship, T.J. Harris, Cahrles Miller, John E. Miller,
Raymond Blair, Fred Blankenship, Hayden Landers, and W.W. Hames (who was
the Agri Instructor). There were at least 30 or more but the list has been
lost.
In 1958, they got enough money and Garfield Brown built the Rock building
that is next to City Hall. He asked to be remove from the board because it
would be a conflict of interest. The complied and put his daughter ,
Jeralene Love, on it and she is still serving on it today. The first wood
building was then moved by Dewey Love with his dozer to the lower side of
the Park and used for a poultry barn and a livestock barn was built out
from it.
In 1974 the Extension
Homemakers took their savings and built the building that City Hall is
now. Funds were also raised to build the amphitheatre. By this time we
were getting money from the State for Premiums, but I dont know when it
started or when we started getting construction money.
We soon outgrew these
buildings and in 1991, the county and city swapped property and we built
the 40 x 60 Exhibit building, Livestock Barn, and Arena on the LaCrosse
Road where we are now. The Board members and construction men worked long
after midnight and we still started the Fair without bathrooms and
lighting finished, but we did have a Fair. With much appreciation for
donations, the Charles and Earline Miller Poultry Barn and Boyce and Irene
Cook Amphitheatre were built. The EHC ladies reached out again and built a
kitchenette and bought 96 chairs and 15 tables for the Exhibit Building.
Soon we outgrew this
building and with dreams of becoming a District Fair we built another
Exhibit building 60 x 120. In 1997 the dream became a reality and we
became the North Central Arkansas District Fair and Livestock Show. The 6
counties belonging were Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Sharp, and
Stone. After two years, Independence County dropped out and in 2000, Van
Buren County joined us but it was 2001 before they were legal. Since then
we have built the Johnnie Walker Show ring and made more improvements to
the Barn.
In 2003, Paul and Treva
Miller donated a metal Building and we made it into the Commercial
Building. In 2005, we got a grant and built a storage building for the
tractor and other equipment. We are now starting an Internet web site, so
we are still growing. |
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