Facts about the Greene County Fair
Did You Know…
n The first Greene County Fair was held 154 years ago, in 1867.
n The first fair was sponsored by the Waynesburg Central Fair Association.
n The first fair was held at the original fairgrounds location, which was on the south side of Waynesburg, east of Morgan Street.
n The 1867 fair offered a number of attractions, such as horse racing and livestock, as well as gambling attractions.
n The featured performer at the 1887 fair was Professor Oscar Hunt, “The Daring Astronaut.” Hunt performed acrobatic stunts on a trapeze attached to a hot air balloon.
n During the early 1890s, the fair association was forced to dissolve and all properties were sold for $6,200 to E.M. Sayers at a sheriff’s sale on Aug. 12, 1893.
n A new association took over the fair in the mid-1890s.
n The fairgrounds were sold in 1901 and divided into building lots.
n There were no fairs held at the location from 1902 to 1910. During those years, an event billed as the Greene County Fair was held in Carmichaels.
n By 1911, the new Waynesburg Fair and Agricultural Association formed. The association purchased a 60-acre farm from R.S. Sayers for $12,000; the farm became the location of the fair as it exists to this day.
n The grandstand was built in 1912 with a seating capacity of 2,500.
n At the 1913 fair, a new exhibit hall was opened to accommodate the increasing number of visitors to the fair. Approximately 25,000 people attended the fair that year.
n The Greene County Commissioners purchased the 41-acre fairgrounds from the fair association in 1940 for $12,500, the exact amount of the debt incurred by the association.
n The fair closed from 1942 to 1945 during World War II due to wartime shortages of gasoline and tires.
n A building was constructed in 1945 that would house an inside show ring for cattle exhibitions. The bleachers inside seated 1,200.
n Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, several buildings and a second show arena were added to the fairgrounds.
n County Commissioners formed the first Greene County Fair Board in 1975.
n In 2009, the Greene County Commissioners dedicated a newly constructed building at the fairgrounds in honor of John Gapen, a former Greene County extension agent for Penn State Cooperative Extension. Earlier in 2009, the county completed construction on the 4,000-square foot pre-stressed fabric building, located on the eastern end of the fairgrounds. The new building will house the county’s emergency response vehicles and trailers, emergency lighting equipment and other supplies to be used in the event of an emergency or disaster. A Red Cross trailer will also be housed in the building, which was paid for with a combination of funds from the Greene County 911/Hazmat fund, the Greene County Fair Board and the county.
Information obtained from “History of Greene County Pennsylvania,” by G. Wayne Smith and the county’s website, www.co.greene.pa.us. Additional information provided by Debbie Stephenson, secretary/treasurer of the Greene County Fair.