74 YEARS OF FAMILY FUN
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OUR MISSION
statement of intent
The Purpose of the Chatham County Agricultural and Industrial Fair Inc. shall be:
1) To encourage and promote the agricultural and industrial development in Chatham County.
2) To sponsor an Annual Fair for the people of Chatham County and the surrounding counties to exhibit their agricultural products, industrial products, livestock, crafts, farm machinery and equipment, and family and consumer services.
3) To educate the public concerning industrial products, livestock, crafts, farm equipment, rural development, family and consumer sciences, and home safety, and workplace development.
Scenes of Border Belt and Eastern Carolina Market on Opening Day of Tobacco Auctions. August 1942. From the Raleigh News & Observer negative collection, State Archives of North Carolina. Obtained from Wikimedia Creative Commons.
CELEBRATING OUR AGRICULTURAL & INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHATHAM COUNTY FAIR ASSOCIATION
The Chatham County Agricultural Fair grew out of the tradition of “Achievement Day” held annually by Home Demonstration and 4-H Clubs in the area.
This event offered a chance for people to display their talent at household arts and receive prizes for their work. The Farm and Home Agent of Chatham County, Mildred Bright Payton, presented an idea for a carnival and County Fair to be held annually, with the proceeds being used to help fund the prizes for the Achievement Day. On May 30, 1949, the Farm and Home Organization voted 16 to 2 in favor of the county fair.
The first Chatham County Colored Agricultural Fair was held in 1950 on the Goldston Lumber Company grounds, which were rented for a fee of two hundred and fifty dollars. Through mud, rain and leaks, the event attracted about three thousand people and held exhibits in a rented tent. Preparation of the fairgrounds required a lot of work, but the fair was considered a success…
African-American tenant farmer picking vegetables in rural North Carolina. Wikimedia Commons.
Black sharecropper picking cotton on farm belonging to a white woman. About five miles below Chapel Hill going south on highway toward Bynum in Chatham County, North Carolina.
Tobacco barn, rural North Carolina. Flickr Creative Commons.
CELEBRATING THE AGRICULURAL AND INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE OF CHATHAM COUNTY, NC
Encourage Agricultural Development
Promote Industrial Development
Sponsor An Annual County Fair
