Robertson County Fair

History:

150 Years of Family & fair traditionsBy Bill Jones

If you have every been a resident of Robertson County for a period of time, one thing you will remember is the County Fair. For over 100 years it has remained the representative focal point of our community. Up until a few years ago we have been mainly an agricultural county. Most of our workforce was in agriculture or farm related businesses. Our economy depended heavily on the operations of farms in our county. The tobacco farms were king for so many years. The making of whiskey from farm products was also a large staple in our county. Our churches, schools and civic organizations depended on these two products to make us prosper. So therefore, our County Fair was dominated by these two items for a long time. After whiskey was outlawed after the turn of the century, tobacco became king and the tobacco industry became the money maker for our county.

There were no hotels to put people up so homes were opened up to house visitors from Nashville and surrounding cities. Our fair was an attraction for many counties in Kentucky as well as in Middle Tennessee and especially the Nashville area. People arrived on the train on Tuesday, the opening day of the Fair, and not go home until the weekend. That brought much activity to our town. People boarded at homes along Main Street and activities were numerous in town at the saloons, drug stores and the many shops that were in town. On the west side of the Square was a three-story building that was called the Masonic Hall Building. One floor was for dancing and another for roller skating. There was plenty to do in Springfield. Trains arrived several times per day with Fair goers and people who just wanted to go on an excursion from Nashville. There were horses and buggies all over Springfield from miles away.

The County Fair was not always held in Springfield. In 1911-1917 it was held in conjunction with Logan County in Adairville, KY. In 1918 the Logan County Fair was not held in Kentucky but in Robertson County. In 1919 it was called the Agricultural and Livestock Fair of Robertson County. In 1922 there were five different communities of Robertson County participating along with the Boys and Girls 4-H Clubs. In 1924 the state gave $350 and Robertson County gave $500 for the support of the Fair and the Kiwanis Club took the responsibility of sponsoring the event. In 1925 the largest crowd on opening day up until that date was when Joseph Byrns, a 14-term Democratic Congressman from Adams and later the Speaker of the House, attended the fair. There were over 6,000 people who attended and was it was held in the Tennessee-Kentucky Warehouse owned by Col. Robert E. Glover and sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club.