 As the hot summer season quickly heads to a close the kids are preparing for another school year, Mom and Dad are thinking about settling back into their non-summer routines, football is gearing up for another season, and Texans everywhere are preparing for the start to another kind of season -- FAIR TIME!
While there are festivals and fairs to attend around the year in the Lone Star State there is a late summer, early fall tradition in Texas known as the County Fair. And lucky for us, August and September is the busiest time of the year for county fairs in Texas.
The idea of a county fair didn't originate in Texas of course. They were time honored traditions in Europe that made the switch to the Americas somewhere around the 1760s, a few years before the founding of our nation. Thomas Penn, the son of the famous William Penn, created a charter for the town of York to hold a fair, in 1765, a celebration to be held for "the flourishing state". These early annual gatherings were reported to have been "the liveliest days of the whole year" for most early American communities. In that sense of the word, county fairs of today haven't changed much. It is still a showcase of earnest hard work in the many varied areas of agriculture, livestock, technology, education, arts, science, and above all, entertainment.
 Over the decades county fairs have had to change and evolve in many ways in order to keep attracting attendees. As tastes in entertainment evolved, fairs began to add events like rodeos, horse races, car races, famous entertainers and concerts. Even today fair associations are constantly looking for something new to attract people to their events. But it's nice to know that in the post modern world that most fairs have maintained their roots; their focus is still on agriculture, livestock, arts, educational exhibits and competitions. In other words, you can still find an award winning pie at the fair.
 Just a litle over a century after the first county fair in the New World, Texas gave birth to their own version of the county fair, It happened in 1868 in Washington County, who will be celebrating their 139th year in existence this September. This year Gillespie County will be celebrating its 119th fair and is said to be the longest continuous running fair in the state.
Bit whether a fair is old or new is immaterial. The main thing is the true purpose of the fair -- to celebrate the community, its people and their unique contributions. And, of course, that award winning pie!
Get out and enjoy one of these time honored traditions...The Texas County Fair!
Aug/Sept. Texas County Fairs:
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