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Show FEATURES - U CLASSIFIEDS TV GUIDE PAUL HARVEY InSSD! AJGUST 22 1974 e.ir r,. f.- - 7S Is 0er Cowwffjf it . ir Cd.:f; ';; . J I Wow F&cffl The lie st! That's the reaction you're likely to get from a Box Elder native County assessing their local fair and rodeo. It's an attitude that has prevailed for better than fifty years. The County Kndeo annual Box Elder Fair and Golden Spike the oldest professional rodeo in Utah-sw- ings into action today one mile west ofTremonton. It's been swinging since 1921. It was back in 1921 when members of the Commercial Club and Farm Bureau in Trem nton decided it was time to hold an annual "competition day" for the local farmers. to the local According 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 way of raising fruits; hogs; and other produce. Also to let Mary Jane Evans see what Susie Jacobs was doing in the way of needle work and cooking." The town's weekly paper hints that John Jones was just conceited enough to believe that he could grow a better crop than Joseph Smith. "The comjietition day idea was timely and introduced at the psychological moment when the citizens of the valley were anxious to show off what they were doing." The addition of a new paved main street to replace the knee deep mud that plagued the city that year might have added to that sense of community pride. Competition continued to grow over the next three years when in 1925 a group of men decided it was time to turn the competition day into a fair. full-fledg- ed , The Box Elder County Fair Association was organized that year 1925under the direction of President A.N. Fishburn, C.J. Dewey, secy-treasur- er; M.H. Welling; J.J. Cramer; George Abbott, Dave Holmgren, Mrs. Orson Jensen, board of director members; and Robert IL Stewart, county agricultural t The group incorporated and then sold $25 life memberships to raise the money for the new organization. enter the contests." of things," announced President Fishburn. "We're going to have 'em wild and rough or we won't have them to entertain us." It was that year also that the town's weekly newspaper recorded a small miracle. plus at that first official county fair the fact that the town's jails were empty. It was Monday w ith the fair due to open Thursday but "the lumber for the sheds and stands was still on Die cars just as it had been shipThen ped from the mill. the most pleasfeature of the fair 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 were conducted with precision and several have compared it with a three ring circus so much doing at the same time thai it was difficult to see it all." Th contestants: "Irhaps ing But there was a perfectly logical explanation for the "This success is probably great measure to the due in foresight of Jack Rich. Before the first day's program Mr. Rich called the riders together and gave them to understand that if any man showed up tor any event under the influence of liquor he would be put off the grounds, and in jail if necessary, and would forfeit any entrance fee deposited and be barred from partaking in any future events..." Some row, of the pose early in the fair supporters, exhibit nice price. Ik stated that he had 23 or 30 in a Hock and when he went to get them he and his son caught the two which were easiest to catch. The same may be hall at including President an fair. run." Building Fishburn-secon- is now from d the Tremonton extravaganza moved into its current home one mile west of town with investments of "more than $50,000" as described by the Salt Lake Tribune going into the con "One man had two geese at fair and they sold for a breakfast, Chuckwagon parade, horse shoe pitching contest and a nightly rodeo-- all are just part of today's Box Elder County Fair and Golden Spike Rodeo. Activities get underway today In Tremonton with the opening of concessions at 1 p.m. following a morning filled with judging. The Box Elder County Sheriffs Posse sponsors a chuckwagon breakfast from "i a.m. until 8 a.m. each morning of the fair. This year's breakfast will be located at 327 West Main. The annual fair 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. was "The fair association decided that the best was none too good for the people of the valley and that only bucking horses that would really nightly. Highlighting this year will be the nightly performance of the famed Lippizan and horses by Albert Ostermaier. Lippizan horses are schooled in dressage used when wars were fought on horseback. horses were bred and trained for the great bull rings in Southern Spain. Th ian could ride would be admitted to An original fair parade makes its way down Tremonton's main street. man-uev- Anda-luzi- Pictures supplied by Mrs. Zelma Fishburn of Tremonton. Cars and spectators left on front shed. City struction of a new moiiertt exhibit building, race track, steel bleachers and ground making the site "comparable with any county project in tin intermountain territory." the Utah Governor Visiting George H. Dern called the rodeo one of the best-sec- ond only to the ones in Cheyenne and Pendleton. riders that N. Start Today At Yremomor, In 1926, inspite of cold more than 10,000 winds, adpeople paid a fifty-ce- nt mission fee to "gain entrance to one of the finest displays of wild west life that had heretofore been seen in these parts." and A. Fair, Golden Spike Rodeo Exhibits in those early days were not always the best available since some people were too modest to bring them in. The local paper noted for example, that many of the exhibits on display were "practically field next two years more then $10,000 worth of improvements were added to the fairgrounds located, then, just northwest of the city. buck early said of nearly everything placed on exhibition." But Uie fair and rodeo rolled on suffering a slight relapse during the war years until 1947 when the annual In the Being third best hardly good enough. ! good behavior of the rodeo "We want the higher order The local paper took great pains to point up another 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 conto sidered be the Impossible." 1 crowd around the old county fair grounds at Tremonton around 1925. ers an eir training side-steppi- ng a developed motion which gives them the appearance of dancing. learned his Ostermaier craft from his father, who was a member of the famed Spanish Riding Academy of It was Vienna, Austria. from that famed school which General Georage Patton rescued the Lippizans during WW n. Racing will take the spotlight Friday and Saturday with action getting underway at 1:30 p.m. each day. The races feature the Bear River State Bank Derby and Box Elder County Bank Futurity. The junior dairy sale is set for 3 p.m. Friday with the junior fat stock sale scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Sat- urday. Unlike visitors at the 192 fair and rodeo, today's visitor is greeted by heated grandstands with a 3,500 seat capacity at the rodeo and modern display buildings at the fair. Improvements are still taking place. A new 100-foindoor arena by 250-foto house future events year around is currently being constructed at the fair comwell-light- ed ot ot plex. See ya at the fair. |