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A Little Bit of History on the Denver Fair:
In May of 1982 a group of eager volunteers rallied behind the leadership of the Denver Lions Club gathered in the back room of the then Union Station Restaurant. They gathered to discuss the possibility of organizing a community fair. From that meeting the Denver Community Fair was born and by September of that year the first annual Denver Fair was held. Randy Eshleman was one of those original volunteers, can tell you that the Fair has come a long way since it’s inception. He can recall how the fair suffered through a flood in 1989 in which bulldozers had to pull out all the rides and concessions. Then there were the hurricanes, which have come calling including Floyd in 1999, which caused the most damage. The Fair Committee was forced to close the Fair for 1 day just to clean up the fair grounds. But the most devastating has been that of the Sept 11th terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center – which occurred on the opening day of the Fair. The community of Denver rallied behind the Fair in so many ways but during the week of Sept 11th they did more than that. They rallied and held their loved ones near and dear to them and came out in droves to support this wonderful family event. Randy also recalls the good times when the Fair was able to build new restrooms in the park, remodel the stage area by adding a roof. The Fair has also been giving out scholarships to deserving seniors at Cocalico and crowning the Denver Fair Queen yearly. The committee has come up with innovative contests, which helped spur on interest in the Fair, such as the Cow Chip Poker, Smelly Sneaker, Boy George Look Alike, Outhouse Race and many more contests. We have brought back some of those "old" events just for this year - they are the smelly sneaker contest, cow chip poker and the Jello eating contest.
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Pedal Power Tractor Pull - just one of our many popular Kiddie Events.
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Youth entries are always encouraged at our fair. Here a Pee-Wee Swine exhibitor goes through his paces.
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Getting ready for the Sheep Show
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Dennis Worley - President of the Denver Fair, discusses the midway with Randy Eshleman.
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The 2007 Denver Fair Queen Contestants. They all were deserving candidates which made it really hard for the judges to decide.
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Getting ready for the beef show.
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