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Thursday, August 28, 2014

History of the Oregon State Fair

The Oregon State Fair is currently taking place at the Oregon State Fair and Exposition Grounds here in Salem. The state fair has been an ongoing tradition in Oregon since 1861. After the first fair in Oregon City it has been held in Salem for more than one hundred and fifty years.
In 1885 the Oregon State Legislature officially charged the state board of agriculture with the management of the Oregon State Agricultural Society and the State Fair.



Discussing the first fair in 1861 the Oregon Argus on September 7th stated:
We are a go-ahead people, and if we design to keep up with the people of other States, we must not forget that all improvements worth anything – of whatever character – are effected only by zeal, labor, and perseverance. Come up, brethren and sisters, to the work expected of us.


Next year, in 1862, The State Republican’s had a gloomier take on the state fair.
Of home manufactured articles on display was rather slim, but all that could be expected of a people who have depended on foreign manufactories so long that they can’t make a broom stick or an ax handle until poverty drives them to it.


The articles above are both drawn from the excellent Historic Oregon Newspapers website. I think we can agree that Oregonians today are filled with zeal and labor and are not only driven to axe handle manufacture by poverty.

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