Headliners, hippies, Homer mark history of event

Sunday, August 27, 2006 The Canfield Fair marks its 160th year this week — and what a ride it's had! By JEANNE STARMACK VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER CANFIELD — Here's a Canfield Fair trivia pop quiz: 1. What rising star caused an uproar by backing out as the headlining act at the Canfield Fair in 1988? 2. Two groups at the fair kept authorities busy in 1970. What were they? 3. What is the correct spelling of this singer's name: Engelbert Humperdink; Englebert Humperdinke; or Engelbert Humperdinck, and what year did he appear? 4. What longtime fair employee remembers when he had a shovel, pitchfork and wheelbarrow, and nothing else, to maintain the fairgrounds? (Hint: His name is easier to spell.) If you guessed Homer Miller for No. 4, you're absolutely right. He was the fairgrounds' head of maintenance from 1947 until 1979. If you never got to meet Miller, one way to get to know him is by going to the basement of the administration building on the fairgrounds. There's a feature story about him there in an archive of scrapbooks that begins with fairs in the 1930s and continues until last year. Another way to meet him is to go to his home on state Route 46 not far from the fairgrounds he tended for 32 years. He's 91 now and full of memories of the fair, which has been around a lot longer than he has. Longtime participant Born nearby, Miller grew up with the fair. He first took part in the mule races when he was 12 — "It was the greatest sport in the world for me" — and the hot dogs and french fries he looked forward to every year. When he was a teenager, the only rides the fair had were the merry-go-round, the Ferris wheel and the Whip. He raced mules until he was about 25. When he began his job in maintenance, he supplemented the fair's meager set of tools with his own tractor for mowing. He saw a lot of history at the fair and he met a lot people, from whom he says he learned a lot. He remembers when the hippies "caused trouble," and he remembers meeting entertainer Bob Hope, though he's a little fuzzy on the dates. That's where those scrapbooks come in handy. They chronicle the year fire hoses were turned on "hippie-type" youths who had congregated for a sit-in near the grandstand. It was 1970, and the Canfield Fair was not immune to the political turmoil of the time, even though it was in a "nice town" with no hippie population of its own to speak of, Miller said. Hope appeared at the fair in 1978, so perhaps MiIler met him then. But he also could have met him when he appeared again in 1979, the year Miller retired. When Miller started his job, the fairgrounds encompassed 125 acres. When he retired, it had spread out to 353 acres. He's seen a lot of growth, but he hasn't seen it all. In the beginning Even the scrapbooks don't bear witness to the fair's very beginning, which was in 1846 on the Green in Canfield. The lore of that first fair survived, however, to surface in writings by longtime Vindicator columnist Esther Hamilton. "Vegetables were displayed on windowsills of the Congregational Church, and the livestock was tied to hitching nails outside," she wrote in a1968 column. The fair lasted one day. But five years later, it had expanded to three days and people were complaining about having to pay 12 1/2 cents to get in, she wrote. The fair kept growing. In 1935, the 89th version opened with the hope that it would "exceed the peak of 50,000 people" from 1929. Fair board member Vernon Crouse said the fair had used "every inch of available space" and had to turn many good exhibits down. People liked shows best then: "Last year the board got $76 as its 20 percent share of receipts paid to see the fat lady at a dime a look." By the 1950s, the fair was five days long, and admission was 50 cents. The fair board bought 80 acres of the Phill Wetmore farm in 1956 at $600 per acre, and that made the fairgrounds among the largest in the state. The board used the land to expand parking. Lassie made an appearance at the fair that year with trainer Rudd Weatherwax. A record 155,655 people visited. In 1957 and 1958, the Lennon Sisters entertained audiences. Cimmarron, the largest bull in the world at 6 feet tall, 10 feet long and 3,140 pounds, made an appearance in 1957. The weather, always important in accounting for attendance, held 1961 back from breaking a record for the gate. It rained three of the five days. Pies and protests A very sweet year was 1962, when Heck's Restaurant baked "the world's largest pie" and challenged people to guess how much it weighed. Three people guessed close enough to 80 pounds, seven ounces, and the prize of a fresh pumpkin pie once a week for a year was awarded to all three. In 1963, 4-H girls were protesting a fair board ruling that prevented them from staying overnight with their exhibits unless their parents were present. Boys were allowed to stay, minus parents. "No exhibit is worth risking a girl's safety or reputation," The Vindicator opined. The times they were a changin' by 1969. Former drug addicts were on hand to tell teens to stay straight at the church-sponsored "Teen Revolt" booth, while a Heart Association display warned of the dangers of smoking. The grandstand sit-in of Labor Day 1970 was followed by another gathering in 1971, which was quelled much faster after chants of "Send in the pigs." The hippies of 1970 weren't the only group causing concern that year. Seven steers broke loose from a nearby farm one day during the week. "Fair Police Chief Bruce Riley got a call that the steers were inspecting the midways and 'nobody is with them,'" the paper reported. By 1979, gate admission was $2. In 1980, the weather was a big headliner again: "Rain makes nightmare of Canfield Fair parking," as cars were mired in muddy parking lots and admission gates were closed. Engelbert Humperdinck charmed fair crowds in 1983. In 1985, Ohio began allowing the sale of alcohol at county fairs, but you couldn't get a beer at Canfield's. The fair board chose to keep it dry. Pulled out of show It was Gloria Estefan with Miami Sound Machine who decided she was too big an act for the fair circuit in 1988, and she pulled out as Canfield's headliner. Singer Patti LaBelle filled in, and radio station Y-103 announced a boycott of Miami Sound Machine songs. In 1989, the fair expanded to six days. Wayne Newton appeared, and attendance "surpassed 500,000 for only the sixth time in its history." Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, animal acts were plentiful. The Vindicator sponsored an Elephant Encounter in 1999 and 2000, when three elephants entertained and educated fairgoers. The Vindicator also sponsored a live shark show in 2000. In 2002, the Great American Bear Show featured bears on scooters, teeter-totters and on large, rolling balls. The animals weren't to be outdone by the vegetables. In 1999, a 6-foot-wide, 90-pound cabbage sent from Alaska was a cole-slaw lover's dream. Attendance in recent years has been above 300,000 people. What's happening at the fair in 2006? Miller intends to find out. He'll be waiting at his home for Paul Moracco, the present maintenance chief, to send someone over to pick him up. He's looking forward to making some more memories. Now, for the last quiz question: What begins at 8 a.m. Wednesday and runs through Labor Day? You guessed it. It's fair time.