No Fair!

I learned today that the North Dakota State Fair has been canceled due to the ongoing flooding problems in Minot, where the Souris River has not receded as quickly as people had hoped.  The fair board made the decision on Saturday, a day after the area received significant rainfall.  The fair had been scheduled to open July 22 and run through July 30.

I’m sure it’s a huge disappointment to thousands of residents.  The state fair is the largest event in North Dakota; last year, it attracted a record 308,000 visitors, which adds up to almost half of the state’s population.

The June 28 view from the grandstand/photo courtesy of the North Dakota State Fair.

The news caught my eye not because I had planned to attend, but because I have a historic interest in the fair.  My great-grandfather’s band played at the North Dakota State Fair about 100 years ago, when the fair was located in Grand Forks.

According to the State Historical Society of North Dakota, the first state fair was held in Grand Forks in 1890, after North Dakota became a state.  Beginning in 1905, the State Legislature authorized a state fair to be held in Grand Forks in odd numbered years and in Fargo in even numbered years, operated by their respective fair associations.  In the mid-1960s, the legislature decided to establish the official state fair in Minot, which had hosted fairs beginning in 1922.

This is the first time the state fair has been canceled since Minot became the official site in 1966.  Among the disappointed will be those who had tickets for shows in the new grandstand, which debuted last year.  Booked acts included Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, Toby Keith, Charlie Daniels, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Pat Benatar.  The tickets will be refunded.

Fairgoers at the 1909 North Dakota State Fair were treated to a much different lineup of entertainment.  One featured group was the Grand Forks Military Band, directed by G. Oliver Riggs (it was called a military band because of the style of music, not because of a military affiliation).  The band played its own concerts and also performed for vaudeville acts at the fair. 

A July 17, 1909 article in the Grand Forks Evening Times explained that the band had a “splendid” program prepared for the state fair visitors, its repertoire consisting of “some of the best standard overtures among which are the ever popular ‘Poet and Peasant’ and ‘Light Cavalry,’ besides selections from the grand and comic operas, Strauss waltzes, popular song medleys and a grist of light, catchy music.”

The article also mentioned that the band and its popular director were known for their liberal encores; at the last concert, the band was to have left the stand at 9, but kept playing encores for 20 minutes.

“Those who attend the biggest state fair North Dakota has ever had will have the pleasure of listening to the best band that ever played at a North Dakota fair,” the article concluded.

Another story about the fair, in the Grand Forks Herald, reported that 25,000 people attended the opening day of the 1909 fair, and some arrived via the city’s new streetcar system.  Popular attractions included speed exhibitions by the world’s greatest harness horses, a balloon ascension and fireworks.

G. Oliver and his band members received good reviews at the fair’s conclusion.  A July 25 article in the Grand Forks Herald stated, “The choice of selections was one of the fine features of the concerts given by the band who occupied their own portable bandstand close to the judge’s stand.  Grand Forks does not need now to look to other organizations to furnish band music for she now has seen a result of Mr. Riggs’ efforts a band second to none in the state.”

I wish the residents of North Dakota all the best as they recover from the flooding and look ahead to the 2012 state fair.  And if Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow are back in the line-up next year with a rocking medley of Franz von Suppé’s “Poet and Peasant” and “Light Cavalry” overtures, I am so there.