Our Fair

The Marietta TImes, September 20, 1888

We can not say that the Fair held in this city last week by the Washington County Agricultural Association, was a success.  The attendance was not large, neither was the display taken as a whole.  The floral hall presented rather a vacant appearance, and had it not been for the displays made by W. H. Styler, druggist, M. S. Luchs, liquor dealer and W. F. Wendelken, wholesale grocer, the Hall might as well have been closed.

The show of cattle and of stock under the circumstances, was very good.  The horse display with two or three exceptions was a failure.  We regret to make these statements, but the truth compels us to make them.

The receipts were not sufficient to bear expenses, but it is hoped that the $400 which the Society expects from the state, and an assessment of 50 per cent on the guarantee fund, will settle the bills contracted.

We do not place the blame for this failure on the management entirely, as the surfeit of the public entertainments to which our people have been treated has had much to do with it.  Yet we think with proper and energetic management and a liberal use of printers ink, judiciously used, and properly distributed among all the printing offices of the city, as it should be, would have made the Fair a success.

With the mistakes and failure of this year as a warning, we hope the management will guard against them next year.