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Danbury Museum & Historical Society
43 Main Street
Danbury, CT 06810
203-743-5200
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Danbury Fair (1869 - 1981)
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Originally an agricultural fair begun in
1821 and held at irregular intervals, it had evolved into a permanent
event by 1869 when Rundle and White, hat manufacturers, organized an
association to buy property for a Danbury Pleasure Park. This same year
the Danbury Farmers & Manufacturers Society was formed and made
arrangements to use the grounds of the park for a fair which opened in
October with a record-setting 900 entries. |
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Later the Society purchased 100 acres of the park grounds. Admission was
25 cents for adults and 15 cents for children. Back then the Farmers'
Tent offered everything from leaf tobacco and 12 types of pears to
home-brewed wines made of wild cherry, elderberry, and raspberry for the
lucky judges to sample, while the Manufacturing Section included
everything from hats, boots, and saddles to carriages, wagons, churns,
and stoves. |
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As its fame and popularity spread, the Danbury Fair attracted huge
audiences; the locals coming by streetcars and automobiles; those
farther away traveling by special trains. As many as "157 coaches of
passengers" were brought in during the 1901 Fair Week. |
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What really made the fair the extravaganza that it became was the
entrepreneurship of John W. Leahy. With his "unerring sense of great
showmanship, what was once a dirt-pathed exposition of farmwares was
transformed [into] a virtual city of paved expanses, modern exhibit
buildings and midway attractions." Year after year, wearing his
magnificent ringmaster's uniform, John Leahy led the daily Grand Parade.
The harness races of earlier years were replaced by midget car races
which in turn were replaced by stock car races.
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