The Carver County Fair has a long and rich history, dating back to 1868. On July 20, the Carver County Agricultural Society formed in Chaska. Later that year, on October 10, this group held the first Carver County fair in Chaska, to display their crops and animals. An elected Board of Directors planned the fair. Despite later battles over location, the fair has been held almost every year since.
In 1868, after the first fair was held, the fair Board of Directors decided to move the fair to Carver, where it stayed until 1882. While in Carver, the first two-day event was held in 1871. The fair returned to Chaska from 1883-1886. Finally, wanting to become the fair’s permanent home, the City of Carver offered the fair board a hall, sheds, a half-mile race track and one hundred dollars each year for five years if they chose Carver as the fair site. Board members at the April 4, 1887 meeting agreed. Between 1887 and the late 1930s, this now three-day event called the City of Carver home.
In 1911, the City of Waconia decided to start their own fair. They wanted to use the name “Carver County Agricultural Society”, but that name already belonged to the Carver organization. Instead, they became the “Farmer’s Cooperative Agricultural Society”. Originally held on the southwest shore of Lake Waconia, additional land was added to the original Waconia fairgrounds in 1914. The fair moved to its current home when the fair board bought land about three blocks south. This property was purchased in 1938 and 1973, and buildings from the original grounds were moved to the new site. The first fair held on the new site was in 1939.
Waconia’s new fair started an almost thirty year battle over which was the true and best “county fair”. In 1911, the Waconia fair group applied to the state to get their share of the subsidy money provided to all county fairs. They were denied by the State because they were not incorporated. The fair board suffered a nearly three-hundred-dollar loss that year. They incorporated as the Waconia Fair Association in May 1914. Following this, the State divided the subsidy funds between the two cities.
With both cities now recognized as the “Carver County Fair”, competition grew strong. Each tried to outdo the other by advertising the biggest and best fair. One ad from the early days of competition was in a September 13, 1912 Norwood Times. It has Carver announcing to county residents that they ought to know that Carver is the “original” fair.
Competition continued until the late 1930s, when Carver tired of the battle and gave in. The Carver fair generously gave the Waconia fair two buildings, Ozzy’s and the Lion’s cheese curd stand, which are still in use in the twenty-first century. The only building still standing from the 1911 Waconia fair site is the French fry stand. On April 18, 1953, the Waconia fair’s “Farmer’s Cooperative Agricultural Society” incorporated as the “Carver County Agricultural Society”.
Other historic buildings on the fairgrounds include the stone entryway and agricultural building, which were built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Depression of the 1930s. County fairs are often affected by the medical, environmental or financial concerns of the times, and the help of the WPA is a major example of this. Another happened during the 1940s, when a polio epidemic was causing a scare across the country. In 1946, the fair decided not to allow anyone under the age of fifteen to enter the fair. Three days later, August 14, 1946, the city of Waconia passed a resolution cancelling the fair completely for that year.
Fairs change over time as well. The main road on the fairgrounds was once called “Amusement Lane”. It, along with other roads on the fairgrounds, was curved to go around the original grandstand location. When the new grandstand location was built in 1987, the original grandstand was burned down by the fire department in exchange for a case of beer. Since then there have been other changes. The most notable was a new fair office in 2012.
Turning Point: The start of the Waconia fair in 1911 began an almost thirty year battle with the city of Carver on who held the “true”, as well as biggest and best, county fair until Carver ceded defeat in the late 1930s.
Chronology:
- July 20, 1868: The Carver County Agricultural Society is established in Chaska.
- October 10, 1868: The first Carver County Fair is held in Chaska.
- Late 1868: The Carver County Agricultural Society decides to hold the Carver County Fair in Carver.
- 1869-1882: The Carver County Fair is held in the city of Carver.
- 1871: The first two-day fair is held.
- 1883-1886: The Carver County Fair is moved back to the city of Chaska.
- April 4, 1887: The fair board members agree to the city of Carver’s offer of a hall, sheds, a half-mile race track and one hundred dollars a year for five years to have the Carver County Fair remain permanently in Carver. The event is now three days long.
- 1911: The city of Waconia makes the decision to start their own fair, beginning an almost thirty year battle for who held the biggest and best fair.
- May 1914: The Waconia fair incorporates as the Waconia Fair Association. Both county fairs receive state subsidy funding for the first time.
- Late 1930s: Carver cedes defeat and closes its fair. Two buildings, Ozzy’s and the Lion’s cheese curd stand are given to the Waconia fair for their use.
- 1938: The Waconia Fair Association purchases new land about three blocks south of the original fair site.
- 1939: Waconia holds its county fair at its new location for the first time.
- April 18, 1953: The Waconia Fair Association incorporates as the Carver County Agricultural Society.
- 1973: The Waconia Fair Association purchases additional land to enlarge the fairgrounds.
- 1987: A new grandstand is built and the original grandstand is burned down by the Waconia Fire Department.
Bibliography:
“A Bit of History Regarding County Fair”. Weekly Valley Herald, September 16, 1920.
Albrecht, Jan. “In The Beginning”. Waconia Patriot, August 12, 1982.
Articles of Incorporation, Waconia Fair Association, 1914.
Carver County Agricultural society Collection, Carver county Historical Society, Waconia
Description: The Articles of Incorporation for the Waconia Fair Association, 1914, allowing the Waconia Fair to receive subsidy funding for the fair.
Articles of Incorporation, Carver County Agricultural Society, 1953.
Carver County Agricultural society Collection, Carver county Historical Society, Waconia
Description: Articles of Incorporation for the Carver County Agricultural Society, when the Carver and Waconia Fair became one fair.
“Backward, Turn Backward, Oh! Time in Your Flight: An Historical Narrative of the Carver County Agricultural Society”. Weekly Valley Herald, September 28, 1922.
Barac, LaVonne. “Fair Only 71 Years Old Despite 1868 Birth”. Waconia Patriot, August 5, 1982.
Barac, LaVonne. “Fair: Reflections Note Move to Waconia in 1930s”. Waconia Patriot, August 12, 1982.
“Both Sides of the County Fair Case”. Norwood Times, September 20, 1912.
“Carver Fair Society Refutes Charges”. Norwood Times, September 27, 1912.
“County Fairs Reimbursed”. Weekly Valley Herald, January 13, 1927.
“County’s Fair at Waconia Opens at New Spot Today”. Weekly Valley Herald, August 17, 1939.
“Litigation Between Carver and Waconia Settled”. Young America Eagle, January 10, 1913.
“Notice: Town or Village Offering Highest Bids to Have County Fair”. Weekly Valley Herald, January 13, 1882.
Petersen-Biorn, Wendy. “Commentary: Peaceniks, Rivalries and Crooked Roads”. Chaska Herald, July 31, 2011.
Resolution, Carver County Agricultural Society, 1946.
Carver County Agricultural society Collection, Carver county Historical Society, Waconia
Description: A resolution cancelling the 1946 Fair due to the polio epidemic.
Secretarial Minutes (meeting notes), Carver County Agricultural Society, 1953.
Carver County Agricultural society Collection, Carver county Historical Society, Waconia
Description: Meeting minutes from the Carver County Agricultural Society about fair improvements, plans, etc., spanning up to the 1990’s. This include discussion of expelling the Peace Protestors in 1966, possible banning them in the future, and things like setting an age limit at the 1946 fair due to the polio scare.
“The Early Years, Today, and the Future of the County Fair”. Waconia Patriot, September 2, 1976.
“Waconia Must Stand Loss- House Committee Does Not Uphold the Promise of Secretary of State”. Weekly Valley Herald, February 2, 1913.
Weber, Mark. “History Shows County Fair is 111 Years Old”. Norwood Times, August 3, 1978.
“You Ought to Know that the Original Carver County Fair”. Norwood Times, September 13, 1912.
Related Resources:
[Primary]
“68th Annual Carver County Fair Begins Next Wednesday”. Waconia Patriot, August 2, 1979.
Anderson, Keith. “Best 5 Days of Summer”. Waconia Patriot, August 9, 2001.
Anderson, Keith. “Fair Staying Put”. Waconia Patriot, August 8, 1995.
Berry, Jessica. “County Funds Work Done for Fair’s Grandstand”. Norwood Young America Times, August 25, 2005.
Carver County Agricultural Society. Annual Fair. Premium lists of the Annual Fair of the Carver Co. Agricultural Society. Minnesota Historical Society Periodical Collection. Call # S553.M6 C3.
“Carver County Fair Receives International Recognition for Agricultural Excellence”. Waconia Patriot, February 5, 2004.
“Chaska’s Great Fair- Everything Favorable Except the Weather”. Weekly Valley Herald, October 3, 1895.
“County Fair”. Weekly Valley Herald, September 8, 1892.
“County Fair Opens at Waconia Monday- Outlook Bright as 1940 Fair Opens”. Waconia Patriot, August 15, 1940.
“Fair Grounds Aerial View of Many Years Ago”. Waconia Patriot, August 8, 1963.
“Fifth Annual Fair at Waconia Gigantic Success”. Waconia Patriot, September 28, 1916.
“Future of Fairgrounds Unresolved”. Waconia Patriot, November 1, 1979.
“Gambling, Flailing, Gorging, Opinionating, Floral Arranging and Other Great Things to Do at the Carver County Fair”. Chaska Herald, August 9, 2011.
“Pacifists Attend the County Fair”. Waconia Patriot, August 4, 1966.
“The Carver County Fair at Waconia Grows and Grows Each Year”. Waconia Patriot, August 8, 1963.
“The County Fair”. Weekly Valley Herald, October 16, 1868.
“The 7th Annual Fair of the Chaska Agr’l Ass’n”. Weekly Valley Herald, October 14, 1900.
“Weather Man Spoils All”. Weekly Valley Herald, September 17, 1903.
Zuege, Unsie. “Historic Log Cabin to Rise Again”. Chanhassen Villager, August 2, 2007.
[Secondary]
Carver County: Today and Yesterday. Compiled by the Carver County Statehood Centennial Committee, 1958.
Holcombe, Maj. R.I., ed. Compendium of History and Biography of Carver and Hennepin Counties, Minnesota. Henry Taylor and Company: Chicago, 1915.
Rothfuss, Hermann E. “Plays for Pioneers: German Drama in Rural Minnesota”. Minnesota History, 34 No. 6 (Summer 1955): 239-242. http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/34/v34i06p239-242.pdf
Tremblay, Ruth and Lois Schulstad. Images of America: Carver County. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, South Carolina, 2011.
[Web]
“Home”. Carver County Fair. Accessed March 30, 2013. http://www.carvercountyfair.com/home.html
Images/Audio/Video
AV-81-6211. Photograph Collection, Carver County Historical Society, Waconia. Photographic print “Carver County Fairgrounds, 1941” [Description]: An aerial photo of the Carver County Fairgrounds in Waconia, circa 1941. Shows the roadways and buildings on the grounds. Rights held by the CCHS.
AV-81-6233 Photograph Collection, Carver County Historical Society, Waconia. Photographic print “Carver County Fair Entrance, 1912” [Description]: The original entrance to the Carver County Fair in Waconia, circa 1912. Rights held by the CCHS.
AV-81-6622 Photograph Collection, Carver County Historical Society, Waconia. Photographic print “Carver County Fairgrounds” [Description]: An aerial photo showing the fairgrounds in Waconia, circa the 1940s or 1950s. Shows the back of the grandstand in the bottom left of the image. Cars and busses are seen in the middle of the photo. Rights held by the CCHS.
AV-81-9451 Photograph Collection, Carver County Historical Society, Waconia. Photographic print “Carver County Fair Entrance, 1913” [Description]: This photo shows fair visitors entering the 2nd annual fair held on the Waconia fairgrounds. This is the original entrance to the fair, changed in the 1930s through Works Progress Administration work. Circa 1913 or 1914. Rights held by the CCHS.
“This article used with the permission of MNopedia, operated by the Minnesota Historical Society, under a Creative Commons License. No changes have been made to the article’s content.”
