On August 25, 1851, Malone formed its first agricultural society. It was too late in the year to have a fair, so the first Malone County Fair was held the following year, in October, and ran only two days.
About seven acres of land was leased from William Andrus (of which Andrus Street--aka the River Road) for five years. His remuneration? Fence the land and remove the stone. . In 1856, the fairgrounds was enlarged to ten acres, and a contract was issued for $1,000 to buy the land. by the time Seaver wrote his history, the grounds had been enlarged to about twenty-five acres.The first fair had no race track, but a race track measuring one-third of a mile was constructed for 1853The purse for this track was twenty dollars with special events consisting of Indian foot races, which I believe are our contemporary relay races, and lacrosse.
I suppose in the honor of community spirit, the railroad carried competitors stock for free, but would not be held liable for any damages. Of course, they eventually began charging.
In 1862, Malone held no county fair because of the war, but aside from that year, it had been in existence ever since 1852. However, in 1863, they numbered the fair as though one ran the previous years. So the number of fairs equals one less.
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