-_l82 - FAIR§_AND FAIR MAKERS
_ May 24, 1890-- Campbell, Rosedale Agricultural Association. Incorporators;
H. M. Healy, M. J. Costigan, John C. Dradly, John Vastine, and others. Capital, }_
$1c0,00; shares, $100. _ r ·
FAIRS OF THE l880's ‘ ‘ `
V The widespread interest in the fairs of the late l870's is seen in the 1878
Report of the State Commissioner of Agriculture. Among current fairs of the pe-
riod reported to the commissioner's office were those held in the following coun- ai
ties: Barren, Boone,·Bourbon,_Breekinridge, Carroll, Christian (2), Daviess, Fay-
ette, Franklin,‘ Harrison (2), Hart, Henderson, Henry, Knox, Lincoln (2), Logan,
McCracken, Mason, Mercer, Nelson, Ohio, Owen, Pulaski, Scott, Shelby, Simpson,
Todd, Warren (2), Washington, and Woodford.
_The fairs of the l880's were similar in scope and purpose to those of the
preceding decade.A Lexington continued to stage exhibitions in which speed rings
vied with cattle and other stock shows. The Purchase entered the lists with the
Paducah Fair and Jockey Club exhibition of l880.` In 1881 intense rivalry between
the_Louisville Fair Association and the Louisville Jockey Club (Churchill Downs)
developed. In addition to its _cattle show, Fhelby County exhibited excellent
hogs in that year. The Nelson_County Fair was largely a grain exhibit stressing
_ amber wheat, said to yield thirty bushels to the acre. P
_ The Jefferson County (Fern Creek) Fair of 1884 included liberal premiums for
A fruits, flowers, garden and field products, for dairy products, also for poultry
and for domestic manufactures. A baby show was a feature of the fair. There
was a friendly meeting of Louisville_and Lexington livestock men in Lexington for
l the purpose of advertising Kentucky livestock. ‘ l `” -
A` notable event _of the decade was the Hereford "invasion" of 1886. The %~
Shorthorns of Kentucky were challenged at the Shelby County Fair »by· Herefords
from Indiana and Illinois. Upholding, the Shorthorns were T. S. Grundy, T. S.
Moberly, A. Renick, A._J. Alexander, of Kentucky; and G. J. Robins and Sons, of
Indiana. For the Herefords were Adams Earl, of Indiana, and G. W. Henry, of Ill-
inois. One hundred fifty animals were entered in the contest. Yentucky’s Short-
horns won _in the open breed classes all but one of the first prizes offered.
, Other stock shown made this one of the most famous fairs ever held in Kentucky.
While the laurels rested with the Kentucky breeders, this event ‘gave warning of
the end of the long ascendancy of the Kentucky Shorthorns-4 an ascendancy de-
scribed byldilliam Warfield, writing of current conditions for the State Agri-
cultural Report of 1892: A A ` ' ‘
"...From 1852 to 1878 the breeding of Shorthorn cattle in Kentucky was
one of the great industries employing_a`large amount of capital and
inviting the energy and intellect of the best men in the community....
_ mlhile as yet the great number of breeders of other stock were blindly
_ _ following tradition, Short Horn breeders, both in’England and in Amer-
ica, were earnestly engaged in inquiries into the nature and operation _
_ of the principles of breeding, the influence of heredity and kindred IT
natural laws, and the solution of the great problems of the transmis-
sion) of life. It is not too much to say that both in England and in '
America the Short Horn has been chosen as the test of scientific theo-
ries of heredity. _ V
_ "The association of the breed with such high views has been to its ad- · h
`vantage, and until it fell into the hands of speculators in the eighth
in  .