Category:Allentown Fair

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Main Wikipedia article: Great Allentown Fair.

The Allentown Fair was first held October 6-8 1852 on a five acre plot east of Fourth Street, between Union and Walnut Streets in Allentown.

The first fair proved so successful, the directors of the Lehigh County Agricultural Society, the sponsors of the event, agreed to make the fair an annual event. However, more room was needed. A tract of open land was selected, between Fifth and Sixth Street north of Liberty and was purchased by the Society for $2,000. Later, an additional three acres adjacent to the tract was purchased from Owen Saeger for $1,065.54. The second fair in 1853 was held at this new location September 28-30 that year.

The fair was held annually until 1862, when no fair was held due to the Civil War. The Fairgrounds was being used by seven companies of the 176th Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia as a mustering point and training area before being sent off to active duty with the Union Army. In 1863, however, the fair continued. It would be 1917 when the fair was again cancelled due to World War I, when the Fairgrounds, then at its current location of 17th and Chew Streets, was being used as a United States Army Ambulance Service training facility called Camp Crane. The Fair resumed in 1919, and has been held annually every since.

Towards the end of the 1880s, the Liberty Street location was no longer adequate due to growth. A search for a new location began. One of the considerations for the new location was that it be large enough to include a half-mile horse racing track. Horse racing had become a part of the Fair in the 1870s and was very popular. Several locations were surveyed and the Society elected to buy the present Fairgrounds site at 17th and Chew Streets. It was then outside of Allentown and a part of South Whitehall Township. It was actually several parcels owned by Solomon Griesemer, S. D. Lehr and Catharine Newhard, and cost the Society $19,310. The partially forested site, known as Greisemer Woods, was prepared and the first Allentown Fair at its current location was held in 1890. A horse racing track was laid out and a wooden grandstand opened that year. In 1910, the current brick and steel grandstand was built at a cost of $9a6,000.

Today, the Allentown Fair ranks among the 25 leading fairs in the United States. It has helped to make Allentown a city known nationwide, and continues to grow every year.

Media in category "Allentown Fair"

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