History of the Fair
The smell is that of Pronto Pups and Cheese Curds and the sound is the yell of “Bingo!” by young children and older adults. Put these together and it can only mean one thing—the start of the Washington County Fair.
The first fair was held in Cottage Grove in the fall of 1871.
The next year the fair was held in Stillwater at the old Parson Farm, at the corner of Orleans Street and Sixth Avenue. At this fair, the Stillwater Fire Department brought out their new equipment to show, there was a squash from Afton that weighed 140 pounds and a quilt made by a 7-year-old girl.
The following year the fair was moved to the Lily Lake Driving Park in Stillwater. After some disagreement about the percentage of the gate to be given to the driving park, the fair moved to Bass Lake (Lake Elmo) in 1875.
In 1876 at Bass Lake, baseball was the game and there were games everyday with the St. Croix Club of Stillwater, Clippers of Winona, Red Caps of St. Paul, Blue Stockings of Minneapolis, Silver Stars of Northfield, and Crescents of Hastings. There was a $100 prize for the champion of the fair.
The next year, 1877, a tornado hit the fairgrounds in Bass Lake and the fairs of 1877, 1878, and 1879 were held again at the Lily Lake Driving Park.
For the next couple of decades, it is unclear where the fair was held or even if there was a fair held at all. In October 1903 the Washington County Fair Association was organized. In 1907, the fair opened in Forest Lake on West Broadway near the railroad tracks for the first couple of years. The fair then moved to an open field between NW Second Street and NW Third Street until 1917 or 1918 when the World War put an end to the fair for a while.
In the early 1920s, Bayport was given the chance to have the county fair. It opened in 1924 at Crocus Park at the south end of the town. In 1927 the fair had record crowds turn out at Crocus Park. In 1928 the Capitol Amusement Company was engaged to run the carnival on the grounds. There was also a kittenball game, dances and an industrial exhibit of automobiles, washing machines and electric refrigerators.
In 1933, more than 8,000 people attended, a record for Crocus Park. The attendance record again had broken in 1936, and more than 10,000 visitors came to the fair at Crocus Park in 1945.
Also in 1945, the fair board purchased the former Veterans Conservation Corps (VCC) site in Bayport and the fair moved there starting in 1946.
The fair was held in Bayport through the 1969 fair, and the new Washington County Fairgrounds were completed and the first fair held in Lake Elmo in August 1970.
The fairgrounds have grown and more buildings have been added since 1970, and recently a demolition derby track was constructed. The fair is still going strong in Lake Elmo and more people come to the fair now than ever before.
Prepared by Brent Peterson, Executive Director of the Washington County Historical Society, 2011