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Show I I 1 I t FEATURES CLASSIFIEDS TV GUIDE PAUL HARVEY THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1974 Sipfliiiil CiKt Tt Tki PihIm Mim tirk Citim, lufcr-CiftiarrtifM 14 Ik Mk Tiaci, fatorpnu' l Em HHmir For Jbtad Maud HHmsiai The Best! Thats the reaction you're likely to get from a Box Elder native assessing County their local foir and rodeo, ft's an attitude that has prevailed for better than fifty years. The annual Box Elder County Fair and Golden Spike Rodeo the oldest professional rodeo in Utah swings into action today one mile west of Tre monton. fts been swinging since 192L tt was back in 1921 when members of the Commercial Club and Farm Bureau in Tremonton decided It was time to hold an annual competition day" for the local formers. ' fttofoo- - Jensen, board of director members; and Robert H. Stewart; county agricultural contestants: "We want the higher order of things," announced President Fishburn. "We're going to have fern wild and rough or we wont have them to entertain us." i The group incorporated and then sold $25 life memberships to raise the money for the new organization. The local paper tookgreat pains to point up another plus at that first official county foir the foct that the town's Jails were empty. ft was that year also that the town's weekly newspaper recorded a small miracle. According to the local weekly paper: the commercial club and the Farm Bureau thought it would be a good idea to let John Jones see what Joseph Smith was doing. In the wayof raising fruits; hogs; ' and other produce. Also to let Mary Jane Evans see what Susie Jacobs wu ' doing in the way of needle work and cooking.' In the next two years more The town's weekly paper then $10;000 worth of hints that John Jones was improvements were added to Just conceited enough to bethe fairgrounds located, lieve that he could grow a then, Just northwest of the better crop than Joseph city. Smith. "The competition day idea In 1926, Inspite of cold was timely and introduced more than 10,000 at the psychological moment 'winds, adpeople paid a fifty-ce- nt when the citizens of the mission foe to "gain envalley were anxious to show trance to one of the finest off what they were doing." displays of wild west life The addition ofa new paved that had heretofore been seen main street to replace the in these parts." knee deep mud that plagued the city that year might have added to that sense of comUtah Governor Visiting munity pride. George H. Dem called the rodeo one of the best-sec- ond Competition continued to next three the over only to the ones in grow Cheyenne and ftndleton. years when in 1925 a group of men decided tt was time tb turn the competition day Being third best was ed foir. into a hardly good enough. good behavior of the rodeo enter the contests." ent ft was Monday with the foir due to open Thursday but "the lumber for the sheds and stands was still cm the cars just as ithad been shipped from the mill. Then came thetestofenthusaistic, souls. efficient; willing Within three days the shell of the buildings on the exhibition grounds were constructed, also the sheds. Everybody that could hold a hammer or a saw or drive a nail turned out in the rain storm and the mud to help bring to pass what was conbe to the sidered Impossible. Q3w ' "Perhaps the most pleasing feature of the foir was the manner in which the various events were staged. There was not an arrest nor any accident of any consequence to mar the three days' program. The rodeo and races wen conducted with precision and several have compand tt with a three ring circus so much doing at the same tlmo that it was difficult to see it all. "This success is probably gnat measun to the foresight of Jack Rich. the first day's program due in Be-f- on Mr. Rich called the riders gave them to understand that if any man showed up for any event under the influence of liquor he would be put off the grounds, and in jail if necessary, end would forfeit any entrance fee deposited and be barred from partaking in any future events... Some of the early row, pose in fair supporters, including President the exhibit hall at an early Exhibits in those early days were not always the be st available since some people were too modest to bring them in. The local paper noted for example, that many of the exhibits on dlpiy were "practically field run; But then was a perfectly logical explanation for the . "One man had two geese at the foir and they sold for a nice price. He stated that he had 25 or 30 in a flock and when he went to get them he and his son caught the two which were easiest to The same may be catch. said of nearly everything placed on exhibition.' But the foir and rodeo rolled on suffering a slight relapse during the war years until 1947 when the annual The Box secy-treasur- J.J. Cramer; Welling; George Abbott, Dave Holmgren, Mrs. Orson Pictures supplied by extravaganza moved into its current horn; one mile west of town with investments of as "more than $50,000 described by the Salt Lake Tribune going Into the con- -' Golden Spike Rodeo. Activities get underway today in Tremonton with the opening of concessions at 1 pum. following a morning filled with jinfeing. The Box Elder County Sheriff's Ruse sponsors a chuckwagon breakfost from 6 a.m. until 8 a. m. each morning of the foir. This year's breakfost will be located at 327 West Main. The annual foir parade will wind thru Tremonton's main street beginning at 5 p.m, The Golden Spike Rodeo produced by Cotton Rosser and his Golden State Rodeo will present some of the nation's leading professional as well as amateur cowboys. The rodeo begins at 8 p.m. nightly. Highlighting this year will be the nightly performance of the fomed Lipplzan and horses by Albert lan ing horses that would really buck and riders that could ride would be admitted to Fishburn the Tremonton breakfost, Chuckwagon parade, horse shoe pitching contest and a nightly rodeo-- all are just part of today's Box Elder County Fair and "The foir association decided that the best was none too good for the people of the valley and that only buck- Mrs. Zelma is now Ostermaier. An original fair parade makes its way down Tremonton's Lipplzan horses are schooled in dressage man-uevused when wars were fought cm horseback. Andalusian horses were bred and trained for the great bull rings in Southern Spain. Th main street. ers of Tremonton. Cara and spectators crowd around City shed. structlon of a new modem exhibit building, race track, steel bleachers and grounds making the site "comparable with any county project in the Intermountain territory." Start Today At Tremonton Elder County Fair M.H. Building Fair, Golden Spike Rodeo full-fledg- Association was. organized under the .that year-1- 925 direction of President A.N. er; Fishburn, C.J. Dewey, Fshbuntsecond from left on front N. together and . , fair. A. the old county fair grounds at Tremonton around developed a motion which gives them the appearance of dancing. Ostermaier learned his craft from his father, who was a member of the famed Spanish Riding Academy of It was Vienna, Austria. from that fomed school which General Georage Patton rescued the Lippizans during eir training side-steppi- ng wwn. Racing will take the spotlight Friday and Saturday with action getting underway at 1:30 pum. each day. The races feature the Bear River State Bank Derby and Elder turity. Box County Bank Fu- The junior dairy sale is 3 p.m. Friday with the Junior fot stock sale scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Uilike visitors at the 1925 foir and rodeo, today's visitor is greeted by heated grandstands with a 3, 500 seat capacity at the rodeo and ed modem display buildings at the foir. Improvements are still A new 100-fo- ot taking place. indoor arena by 250-fo- ot to house future events year around is currently being constructed at the foir complex. See ya at the foir. set for well-light- 1925. t ! |