Ideal weather was forecast for this day in 1908. In fact, the weather was predicted to be great all week. And beautiful weather is so important when the activities take place mainly outside.
Holding the fair at the new fairgrounds held great expectations after expenses of nearly $40,000 for new equipment, land, buildings, and race track. Another new feature of the fairgrounds were the strings of hundreds of incandescent lights that illuminated the buildings and grounds.
In 1908, the Piedmont Fair ran for four days, from the 6th to the 9th of October. School children, accompanied by their teachers, were admitted at no charge on the first day. A large crowd was expected on the 7th, because the Honorable John W. Kern was scheduled to speak. Kern was the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, and he was speaking first at the courthouse and later at the fairgrounds.
To help residents get to the fair, a new streetcar line was built to travel from Courthouse Square to the fairgrounds. Cars were scheduled to leave the Square every ten minutes.
The newspaper carried many advertisements from businesses enticing shoppers to visit their stores during fair week. One business, Rosenbacher & Brother, offered a free fair pass with every purchase of goods in the amount of $10.00. The pass could be used on any day of the fair, and prices would not be raised in the store because of the offer.
In the newspaper ad shown above, the center building is the new Exhibition Building. It measured 80 feet x 120 feet, and was built to house the agricultural exhibits, and those of needlework and of the kitchen.
Other buildings included barns and stalls, and exhibition halls for machinery, farming implements, and other equipment.
Some other features were a grandstand, a band stand, and a race track which was the only standard half mile track in North Carolina.
A glowing report of the fairgrounds’ opening proclaimed it a success in the newspaper on the following day. Beautiful weather attracted thousands of attendees in the morning, afternoon and evening. A concert by the Salem Band capped a memorable opening for the Piedmont Fairgrounds.
Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
