Oklahoma Journeys

Week of August 26, 2007

First Oklahoma State Fair, 1907

This week on Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial. Hey, what's that smell? It smells like corndogs, hmm, and look at that! It's a funnel cake, now that's what I want. It must be getting close to time for the . . . it is, it's almost time for the State Fair. We're taking a trip back to 1907 and the very first Oklahoma State Fair this week on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.

From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial. I'm Michael Dean.

Oklahoma is a lucky state for many reasons including the fact that every year there are two state fairs, one in Tulsa and one in Oklahoma City. Rivals though they may be, the end result is that people in Oklahoma have a choice between two great fairs or they can indulge in the decadence of attending both events. This week marks the 100th anniversary of the first Oklahoma City State Fair happening for the first time in the year of statehood, 1907. There had been a territorial fair held annually in Oklahoma City before statehood, but it was a smaller, less well-organized event. The first state fair actually occurred forty some days before statehood but the big day was close enough that you could still call it a state fair. Oklahoma City's fair is unusual among other state fairs in that it began and for many years ran only with private funds. Some of the community leaders in 1907 sold non-interest bearing bonds to provide funding for the annual event and funds accumulated to provide a permanent bankroll. In many ways the first state fair and current fairs still have much in common; people arrive from all over the state to participate, see interesting exhibits, compete in various contests and generally enjoy the spectacle. Some things, however, are vastly different.

The first state fair in Oklahoma City was located on 160 acres of land near the current intersection of northeast tenth and Martin Luther King, the present location of Douglas High School. It featured a slightly different selection of attractions. While people today are delighted by the midway, carnival rides and displays of new gadgetry, attendees at the first fair crowded into the grandstands to watch the horses, horse races, and anything else that dealt with horses. The star attraction was Dawn Daylight a horse from Cashion who according to the papers, "nicely paced one mile without harness or driver," also at the first fair, Slim Beauty set a world's record by racing a mile in two minutes 19 seconds. The first official state fair also had its share of tragedy as there were two deaths occurring at the event both caused by drinking, in one instance wood alcohol was mistaken for bootleg whiskey, and in another separate case, an intoxicated man wandered into a pond on the fairgrounds and drowned. The spectacle all in all the 1907 fair attracted over 30,000 people, about the same percentage of the state's population as attracted by the modern fairs and brought in enough at twenty five cents apiece to fully fund the next year's event. In just a couple of weeks, we'll celebrate the centennial of the state fair of Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma historical society holds a large collection of state fair artifacts and memorabilia, including records, programs, photos and other material, now located in the research division at the Oklahoma History Center, NE 23rd Street just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state's past. I'm Michael Dean.