Danbury Fair
Encyclopedia
Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....
. It was begun in 1821 as an agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
fair, but did not have a regular schedule until 1869 when hat manufacturers Rundle and White helped form the Danbury Farmers and Manufacturers Society. From then until its closing, the fair was open for ten days every October.
The Fair took up 100 acres (0.4 km²) of what Rundle and White had hoped would be a Danbury Pleasure Park. Admission was 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for children. The Fair offered everything from tobacco, pears, and home-brewed wines to hats, boots, saddles, carriages, wagons, churns, and stoves. In 1895, more than 1000 people were employed by the fair.
In 1932, a race track was built on the fairgrounds for the midget car and stock car races that had replaced the earlier harness races.
When the fair's owner John Leahy died in 1974, the organization fell into disarray. The last fair was held in 1981, with an estimated 400,000 attendees. The last day of the fair was October 12, 1981. All of the rides, attractions, and holdings were auctioned off. The Danbury Fair Mall
Danbury Fair Mall
As of 2011, Danbury Fair is the second largest shopping mall in Connecticut as well as the fifth largest in New England. It is located off of Interstate 84 and U.S...
was built on the fairgrounds by the Wilmorite Corporation. Photos of the Fair and original signs used to be found in the mall's Food Court.
The fair featured large fiberglass sculptures of characters such as Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam is a common national personification of the American government originally used during the War of 1812. He is depicted as a stern elderly man with white hair and a goatee beard...
and Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue...
(Photo of fair showing Paul Bunyan and the Farmer). Many of these sculptures were purchased after the fair was closed in 1982 and continue to exist (Photo of Uncle Sam at Magic Forest in Lake George, New York). The sculpture of Uncle Sam is 38 feet tall and is claimed to be the tallest Uncle Sam in the world. The sculpture of Paul Bunyan was manufactured by International Fiberglass, which mass-produced identical sculptures to sell to stores such as tire or muffler shops (thus the sculptures are generally referred to as Muffler Men
Muffler Men
Muffler Man is a term used to describe large molded fiberglass sculptures that are placed as advertising icons, roadside attractions or for decorative purposes, predominantly in the United States. Standing approximately 20 feet tall, the first figure was a Paul Bunyan character designed to hold...
). The Danbury Fair Paul Bunyan was eventually painted like a "hippy" and moved to Max Yasgur's Farm
Max Yasgur
Max B. Yasgur was an American farmer, best known as the owner of the dairy farm in Bethel, New York at which the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held between August 15 and August 18, 1969....
in Bethel, New York
Bethel, New York
Bethel is a town in Sullivan County, New York, USA. The population has been estimated at 4,532 in 2007.The town received worldwide fame after it became the host of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, which was originally planned for Wallkill, New York, but was relocated to Bethel after Wallkill withdrew.-...
(home of annual Woodstock reunions) (Sightings of the Hippie Muffler Man).