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Colored State Fair Association
The first
Fair was held in Fort Worth in the last week of October, 1887. Rain
kept attendance low on opening day. The race track was still muddy the
second day, but they staged several races anyway. They also managed to
get in half a baseball game matching the Galveston Flyaways against the
Fort Worth Young Strikers. Joe Thompson of Denison umpired the game. It
was called after 4 1/2 innings with Galveston leading 4-2. They hoped
to finish it the following day.
Alice V. Townsend of Fort Worth brought a crazy quilt with a Lone Star in the center with the words "First Colored State Fair" stitched around it. The CSFA board of directors met monthly, and in March of 1888 they voted to relocate the fair permanently to Marshall. In April they met again and said it would be held in Fort Worth that year. But a blurb in the Gazette of October 3rd said that the fair had opened the previous day in Marshall to "very favorable attendance", although "the quarantine will keep many from attending." The Austin Weekly Statesman documents that the fair was held again in Marshall in September, 1889. A committee was formed in Denison about six weeks beforehand to prepare exhibits from Grayson County. An 1896 story in The Bryan Daily Eagle indicated that the Colored State Fair was held in Houston that year. If it was held annually in one city or another starting in 1887, the 1911 fair in Bonham would have been the 25th. But the Herald Democrat article quotes Fannin County Museum of History curator, Tom Scott, as saying only five fairs were held prior to the one in Bonham. The only other year where the mention of a Colored State Fair was in 1901. It opened that year in Dallas on July 4th and continued for 90 days. Based on Tom Scott's statement - one fair in Fort Worth, two in Marshall, one in Houston and one in Dallas, adds up to five fairs prior to the one in Bonham in 1911. After then, there was one held in Austin in 1931. "...The State of Texas is racing work on the $1,200,000 Hall of State, one of the show pieces of the fair. The Federal Government has its two buildings - the Federal Building and the Hall of Negro Life and Culture - ready to leave the drafting room stage and become realities...." (The Celina Record, Thursday, February 20, 1936, pg.4) "...Highlight of gala and festive celebrations of the Centennial Year will be an event that is in its own right an historic one. It is the Texas Centennial Exposition to open in Dallas on June 6 and continue until November 29. The Texas celebration represents an investment of more than $20,000,000...Hall of Negro Life and Culture, $50,000 for the construction of the building and $50,000 in the collectiong and installing of exhibits... (The Tulia Herald, Thursday, March 5, 1936, pg.8)  Mississippi held their first Colored State Fair in 1885. Other states that have held them include North Carolina and Virginia.  Colored State Fair Association History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |