The Inaugural County Fair Held in Downtown Canton
In 1850, the first Stark County Fair was held in downtown Canton near Public Square and the courthouse, on lots and in buildings owned by the Presbyterian Church and Union School on West Tuscarawas Street. The fair drew both agricultural society members and interested spectators, who thronged Market Avenue. Livestock was exhibited on church grounds, while the domestic and fruit displays were in the schoolhouse.
Premiums, paid in U.S. silver half-dollars, were awarded for winning entries in a variety of classes including horses, cows, sheep, and hogs, along with the finest flour and grain crops. Women won prizes for the best-woven cloth, the best quilt, and the best wax flowers. Plowing matches (not demolition derbies or tractor pulls), were a popular sport in the 1800’s and a surefire attraction for spectators at the fair. Joshua Gibbs, a Canton plow maker, was a consistent winner.
(Starkcountyfair.com – Fair History – by Joan Porter, revisions by R. Taylor)