Izard County Fair
The first Fairs were held on the Melbourne School Ground, in the late 1930's or early 1940's, having the crafts displayed in the Gymnasium and they built temporary fences to show the livestock. They alternated with Calico Rock a few times and held it on their School Ground. The Thompson Brothers brought in a Carnival. They had a real bucking horse and offered money to anyone who could stay on him a certain length of time.
To raise money, the ladies donated a hen to be sold or auctioned and the men paid a stockholder fee of $1.00. Garfield Brown built the first building, which was of wood and located in the upper far corner of the park on Court Street of what is now City Hall. This was in the late 1940's.
The stockholders that I can think of were Boyce Cook, Owen Hunt, Dick Reeves, Hale Bibb, Garfield Brown, Ted Blankenship, T.J. Harris, Charles Miller, John E. Miller, Raymond Blair, Fred Blankenship, Hayden Landers, and W.W. Hames (who was the Agri Instructor). There were at least 30 or more but the list has been lost.
In 1958, they got enough money and Garfield Brown built the Rock building that is next to City Hall. He asked to be removed from the board because it would be a conflict of interest. They complied and put his daughter, Jeralene Love, on it and she is still serving on it today. The first wood building was then moved by Dewey Love with his dozer to the lower side of the Park and used for a poultry barn and a livestock barn was built out from it.
In 1974, the Extension Homemakers took their savings and built the building that City Hall is now. Funds were also raised to build the amphitheater. By this time we were getting money from the State for Premiums, but I don't know when it started or when we started getting construction money.
We soon outgrew these buildings and in 1991, the county and city swapped property and we built the 40' x 60' Exhibit building, Livestock Barn, and Arena on the LaCrosse Road where we are now. The Board members and construction men worked long after midnight and we still started the Fair without bathrooms and lighting finished, but we did have a Fair. With much appreciation for donations, the Charles and Earline Miller Poultry Barn and Boyce and Irene Cook Amphitheatre were built. The EHC ladies reached out again and built a kitchenette and bought 96 chairs and 15 tables for the Exhibit Building.
Soon we outgrew this building and with dreams of becoming a District Fair we built another Exhibit building 60' x 120'. In 1997, the dream became a reality and we became the North Central Arkansas District Fair and Livestock Show. The 6 counties belonging were Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Sharp, and Stone. After two years, Independence County dropped out and in 2000, Van Buren County joined us but it was 2001 before they were legal. Since then we have built the Johnnie Walker Show ring and made more improvements to the Barn.
In 2003, Paul and Treva Miller donated a metal Building and we made it into the Commercial Building. In 2005, we got a grant and built a storage building for the tractor and other equipment. We are now starting an Internet web site, so we are still growing.
