History of the Crawford County Fair:
The idea and beginnings of the Crawford County Fair can be traced back to 1901. In the October 25, 1901 issue of the Cuba Telephone, published by John Harris, an article can be found describing the first meeting of an organized fair board. W.D. Towe was elected President of the board. The board consisted of officers, a board of directors and representatives from each township in the county. Committees were formed and plans were underway for a fair to be held in September 1902. Thus the fair was born. For the first three years the fair was held in the area of what is now Cox Drive in Cuba.
The financing of the Crawford County Fair Association was accomplished by selling stock. It is unknown how many shares of stock were originally sold, but copies of several stock certificates are in the possession of the Crawford County Historical Society. The price of one share of stock was $3000, quite an expensive investment considering the economy of that time.
As the fall of 1902 neared, it was decided, that due to an extremely late harvest, the dates of the fair would be moved to October 16, 17, and 18th. This fair, as did many following it, consisted of a grand carnival, harvest picnic, games, farm and livestock exhibits and political forum discussions. Saturday was designated as school and children's day.
