Franklin County Agricultural Society history

At the election of Directors in May, 1852, the result was as follows:

The Fair for the year 1853 was held on the Society grounds the last three days in September.

The Franklin County Fair can date all the way back to 1854 when it was considered the Franklin County Agricultural Fair and was organized by the Agricultural Society of Franklin County.

Election of Directors in the spring of 1855:

Election of Directors in the spring of 1856:

Election of Directors 10th of April 1857:

Then, in 1868, the Franklin County Farmer’s and Mechanics Association took over and changed the name to Franklin County Fair.

“Head of the Statue of Liberty on display at the World's Fair in Paris, 1878.”

One of the people that Grennell worked with was Amos Newport, a man written about in a 1903 edition of the Greenfield Recorder with this headline : “Local Fair Owes Its Start To Old Negro.’’ (That article can be found at the Museum on the grounds of the Franklin County Fair.)

The community event came to an end in the 1930’s. It wasn’t until 1914 that another fair was held; this time being called the Harvest Home Picnic and Farmers’ Picnic and being held on the Red Bridge Park.

Before the Picnic in 1922, it was voted to change the name back to Franklin County Fair.

Early in 1954, the Franklin County Youth Fair was organized.

In August 1, 1956, the executive committee, consisting of Willard Welch, Florine Bondurant, Ann Hensley and George Buchanan, signed incorporation papers.

Beginning with the 1959 fair, the Peaks Mill Ruritans handled the parking for many years for a percentage of the fee.

Franklin County is horse country so a horse and pony show became part of the fair in 1961.

In 1963 the horse show had its first show ring located on the west side of the drive to the high school.

In 1969, the show had grown to such a status that the name Franklin County Fair and Horse Show Inc. appeared on the catalog cover.

Until 1971, the queen contest was the grand finale of the fair.

The fair continued to grow and by the 1980’s it was booming.

Exhibits were up by more than 250 over the 1994 fair.

A sixth day was added to Fair week in 1995 and gate admission remained at $5 Pay-One-Price; Children under 2 have a free gate with rides costing $1.50 each.

The Youth and Open Dairy Shows were merged with the Anderson County shows in 1996 and moved to three weeks before fair week.

The price of admission was raised from $5 to $6 Pay-One-Price for the 1997 Fair.

The board received the coveted Most Progressive Fair in Kentucky award for the 2001 Fair.

In 2006, premiums paid out were significantly more than they were in the early years: livestock winners received more than $9000; horse show premiums totaled nearly $7500, and the exhibit hall paid more than $3600 in premiums.

Excerpt From: The Franklin County Fair: As American as Apple Pie ~ by James Gildea, 2008

The fair was named by Globe Magazine as one of the "10 Great New England Fairs" in 2015.

2016 began the hard work and dedication to turn the fair around.