Jul 27
Fair season is a time to suspend the normal rules. Go ahead, wear high heels with a swim suit. Have a rock concert in a rodeo arena. Stand in line for just about everything. Wear clean white pants while leading around livestock. See livestock that are groomed better than one or more spectators. Deep fry …
Jul 20
Britney Spears performs at the Mid-State Fair in 1999. ©David Middlecamp/The Tribune I always thought the cartoon mule featured on the television show "Hee Haw" was a contrivance to connect to a rural audience. Guess I was wrong. According to Buck Owen's official website his connection he grew up on a farm outside Sherman, Texas. …
Jul 28
Kids today with their Xbox, why I tell you when I was a kid we had something better. RefrigeratorBox™. Don’t think it sounds like fun? Try this: Put your brother in RefrigeratorBox™ and roll it down the hill. (Offer not valid in oxygen breathing states.) Draw fins on RefrigeratorBox™ and fly to the moon. Carve …
Jul 22
In 1966 the Mid-State Fair was still called the San Luis Obispo County Fair and the entertainment was, well, not very entertaining. The event lasted 5 days, admission was cheap, and you got what you paid for. Admission to the fair was $1, according to the US Inflation Calculator $6.73 in 2010 dollars. I’m sure …
Jul 07
Born Leslie Towns Hope in Eltham, England May 29, 1903, his stonemason father moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio when the boy was four. When he became a naturalized citizen of the United States he became known as Bob. Perhaps his mother, an aspiring concert singer, was an inspiration. Perhaps a child had to perform …
May 03
Over the decades since opening in 1955, Disneyland has fine tuned the art of getting large numbers of people from one place to another. Under manager Maynard Potter, the early 1980s the Mid-State Fair was working to become the Disneyland of fairs and judging by the front page photo they exceeded expectations. The fair designed …
Mar 24
Maynard Potter’s first day on the job as manager of the San Luis Obispo County Fair was Monday April 1, 1968 but the fair board didn’t hire a fool. Replacing retiring manager Larry Lewin the 28-year old brought enthusiasm and new ideas to the job. During his 25 year tenure the fair grew into an …
Mar 23
August 7, 1982 Superstar Kenny Rogers, decked out in a dazzling white suit, sang to a capacity crowd at the Mid-State fair Saturday night. Rogers arrived in a helicopter, and was lowered to the stage from the hovering craft to the wild cheers of his fans. The show started on time, much to the delight …
Mar 05
Not many 73-year-olds can steal the spotlight from a cute animated gecko. Charlie Daniels has been on the national stage for a long time. His first self titled album was on Capitol Records in 1970 and according to his website that was over 50 albums or video releases ago. He was in the first wave …
Jul 22
August 14, 1974 Summer is Fair season with the Santa Barbara County Fair finishing up and the Mid-State Fair opening. The front page of the then Telegram-Tribune shows that 1974 President Richard Nixon had just resigned (five days earlier) and now President Gerald Ford was beginning to face his first challenges. Also on the front …
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