Postcard from the Past: Wyoming State Fair
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“The Fair of Quality” Douglas, Sept. 11-15, 1917
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This week’s postcard is taken from a full page advertisement in the Aug. 14, 1917 issue of the Douglas Enterprise and reads, in part:
The exhibits in all departments will excel any previous year, 13 out of 21 counties have engaged space to display their exhibits, our 1917 catalog is complete and our premiums offered are in keeping with the other state fairs of the U.S.
The Wyoming State Fair (WSF) commissioners are the originators of a “State Fair Garden” on their own grounds.
The WSF was the first state to be designated “a food training camp.”
Our entertainment will be clean and wholesome. Our night entertainment will be of the class which will appeal to all, and we will especially entertain the women and children with the attractions we offer.
A cutline below a picture of dozens of men and women in an advertisement in the Aug. 14, 1917 issue of the Douglas Enterprise reads:
Old-Timers’ combined classes of 1855-87 at Wyoming State Fair, 1916
Additional information follows.
This is to remind you the next annual gathering of the old timers and their friends will be held at the WSF 1917.
For a fourth time, these pioneer men and women will congregate in Douglas and mingle with their friends and the present generation, which is carrying on the work the old timers so nobly began.
Five days have been set aside this year and dedicated to the pioneer.
We can show our appreciation of what they have done for us in a very small way, but let us not procrastinate nor let us fail to put our sincerest motives in every moment of the time we have them with us.
Our fair is instrumental in giving a great deal to the people of Wyoming through the different departments represented, but our influence, as universal as it is, can receive little credit when compared with the standard mark placed by the pioneer.
The WSF, with its advantages, brings all Wyoming to a central point. East meets West, friendships are formed, business relations strengthened and the common interest in the pioneer is the strongest tie.
Once again let us set aside, as individuals, these few days each year, and especially this year meet with the old timers at Douglas Sept. 11-15, 1917.
An article calling for the gathering of “old timers” at the WSF was published in the Douglas Enterprise on Aug. 11, 1914. The “Old Timer’s Association” was established the same year and continued to meet every year at the state fair. It eventually became the Wyoming Pioneer Association, which also meets every year at the state fair.
