| Year(s) |
World Event |
Thurston County
Fair |
| 1871-1881 |
Suffrage and Temperance Movement
big news. |
Fairgrounds built at location
where the Tumwater's Safeway now sits. |
| 1876 |
Alexander Graham Bell invents the
telephone. |
The Fair's first Premium Book is
printed in the local newspaper. |
| 1885 |
Pasteur develops rabies vaccine. |
No Fair is held. |
| 1893 |
Henry Ford built the first car. |
No Fair is held. |
| 1898 |
Spanish American War |
No Fair is held. |
| 1901 |
President McKinley was assassinated. |
Fair Board continues to meet but
no Fair is held. |
| 1912 |
Titanic sinks in the Atlantic
Ocean on the way to New York from England. |
4-H formed in Washington. |
| 1911-1921 |
World War I the big news. |
A County Fair is held in 1913 at
the site of today's Lacey Post Office. |
| 1926 |
Rudolph Valentino, a popular
silent screen movie star, died. |
First official County Fair held
in 13 years. The elementary school in Tenino is the Fairgrounds
until 1930 |
| 1927 |
Lindbergh flies solo across the
Atlantic Ocean. |
Fair is held in Tenino. The
closing ceremony is a wedding, and the couple is given a $125 check from
the county commisioner. |
| 1937 |
World War II begins. |
Harvest Festival replaces the
Fair. It is held at American Legion Hall, and various granges and schools in the Thurston County Fair. |
| 1941 |
Pearl Harbor bombed; United
States enters WWII. |
Lacey School is the site for the
Harvest Festival this year, on August 26th and 27th. |
| 1948 |
Berlin Blockade begins. |
Fair is difficult to hold during
the war, but 4-H continues to compete at 4-H camp. |
| 1953 |
Josef Stalin dies. |
There was no admission fee to the
Fair, and approximately 7,000 people attended. |
| 1956 |
Elvis tops the charts with Love
Me Tender, Hound Dog, and Heartbreak Hotel. |
The Fair was held at the South
Bay Grange with 350 4-H exhibitors. |
| 1963 |
President Kennedy assassinated in
Dallas, TX. |
The concrete restroom building
opened on the Fairgrounds. |
| 1968 |
Martin Luther King, Jr.
assassinated. |
Pony cart in
Lakefair
parade with Viola Woods riding and Albert McMongile driving to publicize
the Fair. |
| 1969 |
Apollo 11 lands on the moon. |
Dairy Barn built, which is now
the Benoschek Building. |
| 1972 |
Summer Olympics in Munich - 11
Israeli athletes killed |
Carnival consisted of 5 rides, 3
kiddie rides, and 8 concessions. |
| 1976 |
North and South Vietnam reunited. |
The play 1776 was
performed twice during the Fair. |
| 1979 |
60 US hostages taken in the US
Embassy in Iran. |
A Park and Ride program from the
South Sound Center to the Fair was established through IT. |
| 1988 |
Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over
Lockerbie, Scotland. |
The Apple Pie contest was
introduced this year at the Fair. |
| 1989 |
Tiananmen Square massacre; Berlin
Wall comes down in Germany. |
The Berry Pie contest debuted. |
| 1992 |
The Internet is chartered and
1,000,000 computers sign on. |
The Horticulture Building is
built. |
| 1999 |
Michael Jordan retires from NBA
basketball. |
Built new grandstands for the
Horse Arena. The Kingsmen and Merilee Rush were headlining the
entertainment. |
| 2000 |
Charles
Schultz, write of the "Peanuts" comic strip, died. Lance
Armstrong won his 2nd Tour de France. |
The
Fair was, at long last, hooked up to a sewer system. The Antique
Division was added to the premium book after a lapse of several years. |
| 2001 |
The
Nisqually Earthquake shook the Puget Sound area on Ash Wednesday.
September 11th, terrorists attack New York and Washington D.C. |
Extensive
landscaping and additional camping spaces were completed before Fair
Week. The 1st Fair Week shuttle service was started to encourage
off-site parking. It ran from Woodland Elementary to the Fair
grounds. Several Native American Tribes made their debut at the
Fair. |
| 2002 |
Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. |
The
grand opening of the Thurston Expo Center. Fly Tying Division was
added in Hobbies and Crafts. 120 animals were in the Market Animal
Sale. |
| 2003 |
Katherine
Hepburn, Gregory Peck, MR. Rogers, Bob Hope, and Johnny Cash died.
The war in Iraq starts. |
Pocket
Pets was a new category in the 4-H building. There was an exhibit of
exotic frogs and toads in the Hobbies and Crafts Division. A
homemade dog biscuit contest was held. |
