More Henry County Fair History

This year the Henry County Fair is celebrating its 155th anniversary, but more information found about the fair dates back to 1853. If my math is correct the dates just don't compute.  I discovered it takes A LOT to cancel the Henry County Fair. Since the first fair in 1853 it has only been cancelled less than a hand full of times. It took a war, Civil War that is, a Great Depression and a cyclone. Just think the Olympics were cancelled because of both WW I and WW II, but not the Henry County Fair. It's the energizer bunny of fairs!

On July 6th, 1942 a gale force wind destroyed much of the fairground buildings, the damage wasn't able to be fixed in time and only the 4-H fair was held later that year.

In 1945 World War II came very close to cancelling the Henry County Fair. In that year, a permit needed to be obtained from the Office of Defense Transportation. Henry County applied for the permit but was turned down. The fair board proved it was a local event because eighty percent of the exhibitors were Henry County residents; the permit was then wired just days before the fair began.

So with this type of history, we can be confident that the Henry County Fair will be held for many years to come!