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YORKVILLE — Earl Polley had an idea.
As administrator of Racine County's agriculture school, Polley had a building filled with future farmers who had nowhere to showcase their work.
Polley's solution: Start a county fair, so boys from the school could exhibit their livestock and girls could show off their homemaker skills.
It was not an original idea; plenty of other counties in Wisconsin already had fairs. In fact, there had been a Racine County Fair, too, but it faded away some 40 years earlier.
So, in 1922, Polley pulled together a group of supporters and organized a county fair.
This year, the event originally conceived as an outreach of the Rochester Ag School is celebrating a grand anniversary — its centennial.
Long after the agriculture school ceased operations and after farming was eclipsed somewhat by other industries that likewise are now fading, the Racine County Fair has persevered through the decades to mark its 100th anniversary in 2022.
Special tributes and recognitions are planned for the fair from July 27 to July 31 at the fairgrounds, 19805 Durand Ave., Yorkville.
Organizers and supporters credit the county fair's longevity — through war, upheaval and other turbulent times — to its success in adapting and modernizing while still holding fast to its original mission.
Powered by the momentum of beloved traditions handed down through the generations, the exhibition of rural entertainment and fun remains as Earl Polley envisioned it: a special yearly event for families.
Jeff Busch, president of the Racine County Agricultural Society, which produces the county fair, said the 100th anniversary of the fair is cause for celebration and recognition.
"It's a milestone, if you think about it," Busch said. "How many things make it a hundred years? How many events?"
The handprints of those who helped launch the county fair remain visible a hundred years later.
In an image from approximately 1950, Racine County Fair pioneer Harvey Nelson is shown standing on the right, joined by his sons, Alvin "Pete" Nelson, left, and Eugene Nelson, center, while Harvey is holding Pete's son Doug and placing his hand on Eugene's son Steve.
The Racine Mercantile Hall, built in 1927, still stands as the oldest structure on the fairgrounds. The building has been restored and repurposed as a repository of artifacts dating back to when Harvey Nelson was the agricultural society's first president in the 1920s.
Nelson's two surviving grandsons, Steve Nelson and Doug Nelson, still attend the fair themselves, now with their own grandchildren experiencing the same sights and sounds that have thrilled fairgoers since the early days.
Steve Nelson, 74, said although the fairgrounds is larger and the facilities are updated, the summertime tribute to rural life remains unspoiled and unchanged.
"The feel of it is the same," Nelson said. "And the kids still look forward to it just like we did."
Racine County itself was quite young when the first county fair took place, long before Earl Polley got involved.
Just a few years after Wisconsin statehood in 1848, historical records show that various forms of cattle shows and other livestock exhibitions were taking place in what is now Racine County.
The Burlington Historical Society has records indicating that a "fair and stock show" started in 1850.
In the early years, the location of the fair was a frequent issue and generated some degree of controversy. Racine, Union Grove and Burlington all hosted events at one point.
Archives of the Racine Journal Times show that the first county fair took place in 1856 on a farm belonging to James Mather in Union Grove. The newspaper reported that the event was a simple exhibition of farm animals, followed by a dinner in a local tavern.
In 1863, leaders of the agricultural society gathered to consider relocating the fair because a Union Grove site was no longer acceptable. Organizers decided to relocate to a 10-acre Burlington site leased from a landowner named Pliny Perkins.
By 1874, the event in Burlington ranked as the third-largest county fair in Wisconsin.
A ticket to an 1884 event presented by the Racine County Agricultural Society boasts of the 35th annual event, suggesting that fair-like exhibitions began as far back as the 1850s.
However, a railroad company later acquired the county fairgrounds property, and the last fair was held in Burlington in 1885. From there, the idea of a county fair lapsed in Racine County for many years.
"It was kind of dormant," local historian Gerry Karwowski said.
While the fair was enjoying a successful run in Burlington, a group of residents in Yorkville had organized a social group they called the "Old Settlers Society." The group started holding lavish picnics in 1870, and then acquired 12 acres of parkland for its activities.
The Old Settlers were so organized and structured that members were issued badges, similar to law enforcement officers, identifying them as members of the society.
In 1912, the state built seven agriculture schools to train young Wisconsin students for future careers in farming. One of the schools was built in Rochester and was officially named the Racine County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy.
The school taught young boys to raise livestock and grow crops, and taught young girls home economics, including the basics of sewing, cooking, canning and cleaning.
After Earl Polley took over administration of the school, he began promoting his idea of creating a new county fair. Polley sought assistance from political leaders, banks, farmers and newspaper publishers.
"He was smart in soliciting businessmen," historian Marge Martin said. "He said, 'Let's get together and form a fair.'"
Marge Martin of the History Seekers of the Union Grove Area shows one of the displays her group prepared on the history of the Racine County Fair, to be displayed during this summer's 100th county fair.
After nearly four decades of inactivity, county fairs returned to Racine County. The event in 1922 became the inaugural run of the modern county fair. The location was briefly up for grabs.
"Everybody wanted it," Martin said.
After returning to Burlington the first year in 1922, organizers engaged with the Old Settlers Society in Yorkville and relocated starting in 1923. The social group was aging and tired by then, so leaders of the society turned over their 12-acre park site to the county as a permanent home for the county fair.
Known today as Old Settlers Park, the site overlooking Highway 11, also known as Durand Avenue, remains owned by the county.
The agricultural society created by Earl Polley, Harvey Nelson and others would later acquire about 40 additional acres extending the fairgrounds farther north, making room for significant growth.
Organizers introduced horse racing, rodeos, live musical entertainment and other features.
"They went out of their way to add something new every year," Martin said.
Tom Wojciechowski of Bristol twirls his lasso as he competes in the calf roping competition in July 1997 at the Racine County Fair.
The early fairs of the 1920s and '30s were held Tuesday through Thursday in the fall, rather than summer. Children with perfect attendance at school were excused from classes to attend the fair.
Throughout the years of the Great Depression and World War II, the annual event remained largely unchanged, although the war brought some temporary changes in the 1940s. The fair was downsized to just one or two days, Martin said, and fairgoers at one time received free admission in exchange for donations of scrap iron to help in the war effort.
By the 1950s, the war was passed, and the county fair enjoyed a period of renewed growth and expansion.
Many older wooden structures were replaced with metal buildings for exhibitions, concessions and activities. The agriculture school closed its doors in 1959, but a network of 4-H Clubs kept children and teenagers engaged.
"It's a milestone, if you think about it," said Jeff Busch, president of the Racine County Agricultural Society. "How many things make it a hundred years? How many events?"
Sharon Tilton, an active 4-H Club member in the '50s, recalls an octagon-shaped building on the fairgrounds where boys and girls would exhibit their arts and crafts and other projects. The building had an indoor stage where girls were expected to model articles of clothing that they had sewn or knitted together.
Each girl was expected to show progress over the years, starting with a knitted scarf and progressing up to a blouse and a skirt that she had made herself. The experience was nerve-wracking, Tilton recalled, but it also was a fun rite of passage for 4-H kids.
"You had to get up in front of people," she said. "And you knew you were going to be judged."
Seven-year-old Joey Kmecak fights to maintain control of his goat, Hannah, during the Goat Parade at the 2016 Racine County Fair. This year's fair starts July 27.
Soon, the fair was attracting big-name musical artists to entertain the crowds. Among those to have performed at the fairgrounds were such national names as Roy Clark, Crystal Gayle and Pam Tillis.
The fair was not without its occasional misfortune or tragedy.
Burlington Historical Society records show that a man from Chicago was accidentally shot and killed in 1880 at a shooting gallery. In 1938, a rodeo rider named Jim McHugh was killed in a rodeo accident.
The front page of the Racine Journal Times reported on a bleachers collapse that injured 40 people, many of whom went to the hospital, at the 1969 Racine County Fair.
In August 1969, the county fair bleachers collapsed as hundreds of spectators took their seats for a horse show. At least 40 people were injured, and many were transported to nearby hospitals. "All of a sudden I could feel the thing sinking," one victim told the Racine Journal Times, which carried news of the collapse on the next day's front page.
The fair celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1972, with crowds arriving by the thousands every day.
Tilton recalls that the fair during her youth was a family event that seemed to involve the entire community. In addition to showing her 4-H projects, she volunteered at the American Legion concession stand. Her mother prepared barbecue to donate to the American Legion.
After the fair closed each night, Tilton's father joined other fathers in serving as night watchmen to safeguard against any thievery or other mischief on the fairgrounds.
"You pitched in and did stuff," she said. "It was a social thing. And it still is."
Just two years ago, patrons, supporters and participants were devastated when the 98th county fair was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Racine County Fair 100th anniversary official logo
As the 100th anniversary event approaches, the fair remains the work of the Racine County Agricultural Society, the same nonprofit community-minded group that Earl Polley and his associates created in 1922.
About 220 farmers and others pay $40 a year for memberships to the society. From that base, 39 people are elected as board members, and of those, seven serve on an executive board.
With offices at the fairgrounds, the group works year-round to keep the fair organized and moving seamlessly from one summer to the next. Nearly 100 businesses and other sponsors support the effort at various levels.
Busch, who has been the group's president for the past five years, said he cannot imagine how the fair's early organizers managed the heavy workload without such modern conveniences as email and cellphones.
He credits the county fair's longevity to the people who come to the fairgrounds and then take home timeless memories. Those cherished memories, he said, serve as the inspiration to do whatever it takes to keep the fair coming back year after year.
Busch's own childhood memories of the fair motivate him to stay involved.
"All of my true life friends seem to be from here," he said. "The people who do this are very passionate about what they do."
In an image believed to be from the 1930s, Eugene Nelson, the son of Racine County Fair founder Harvey Nelson, shows a cow at the county fairgrounds in Yorkville.
The Racine County Fair is commemorating its 100-year anniversary with a new exhibition on the fair's history, as well as other special features. Go to racinecountyfair.com for details of the fair's centennial event. The fair kicks off Wednesday and ends July 31.
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Tom Wojciechowski of Bristol twirls his lasso as he competes in the calf roping competition in July 1997 at the Racine County Fair.
Marge Martin of the History Seekers of the Union Grove Area shows one of the displays her group prepared on the history of the Racine County Fair, to be displayed during this summer's 100th county fair.
Seven-year-old Joey Kmecak fights to maintain control of his goat, Hannah, during the Goat Parade at the 2016 Racine County Fair. This year's fair starts July 27.
A ticket to an 1884 event presented by the Racine County Agricultural Society boasts of the 35th annual event, suggesting that fair-like exhibitions began as far back as the 1850s.
In an image believed to be from the 1930s, Eugene Nelson, the son of Racine County Fair founder Harvey Nelson, shows a cow at the county fairgrounds in Yorkville.
The front page of the Racine Journal Times reported on a bleachers collapse that injured 40 people, many of whom went to the hospital, at the 1969 Racine County Fair.
Racine County Fair 100th anniversary official logo
In an image from approximately 1950, Racine County Fair pioneer Harvey Nelson is shown standing on the right, joined by his sons, Alvin "Pete" Nelson, left, and Eugene Nelson, center, while Harvey is holding Pete's son Doug and placing his hand on Eugene's son Steve.
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