The idea and beginnings of the Crawford County Fair can be traced back to 1901. In the October 25, 1901 issue of the Cuba Telephone, published by John Harris, an article can be found describing the first meeting of an organized fair board. W.D. Towe was elected President of the board. The board consisted of officers, a board of directors and representatives from each township in the county. Committees were formed and plans were underway for a fair to be held in September 1902. Thus the fair was born. For the first three years the fair was held in the area of what is now Cox Drive in Cuba.
The financing of the Crawford County Fair Association was accomplished by selling stock. It is unknown how many shares of stock were originally sold, but copies of several stock certificates are in the possession of the Crawford County Historical Society. The price of one share of stock was $3000, quite an expensive investment considering the economy of that time.
As the fall of 1902 neared, it was decided, that due to an extremely late harvest, the dates of the fair would be moved to October 16, 17, and 18th. This fair, as did many following it, consisted of a grand carnival, harvest picnic, games, farm and livestock exhibits and political forum discussions. Saturday was designated as school and children's day.
In 1905 the location of the fair was moved. The Crawford County Fair Association has purchased a tract of land just south of the Cuba city limits. In 1936 this land was purchased by the City of Cuba to be made into a park and is now the location of the R-2 school administration offices. An additional tract of land was purchased in 1910 for $1200 and would become the race track, now the ball diamond.
The first recorded "Queen of the Harvest" was Annie Burrows. She lived in Fanning and reigned over the 1905 fair. In 1909 the Grand Parade was held, beginning at the train depot in east Cuba. The parade was led by the Steelville band and participants marched to the fairgrounds. Horseracing was officially added to the fair program in 1913. Many types of races were held and horseracing became the fair's greatest attraction until 1920.
The fair continued to grow and the fair association tried to make improvements to the fairgrounds yearly. The fair board was operating in the black and was paying dividends to the shareholders in 1920. By the late 1920's and agriculture hall, barns, offices and ticket booths had been added to the fairgrounds. In 1930 an arsonist set fire to and destroyed almost all of the buildings on the fairgrounds. No one was ever charged with the crime but it was believed that the person responsible was upset with the association over the awarding of prize money. 1931 was the last year that a fair was held by the Crawford County Fair Association. The fair board was unable to pull out its losses from the fire and with the depression in full swing, the economy was unable to support a profitable fair. For the next fifteen years no fairs were held in Crawford County.
From the years 1936 to 1946, the Cuba Business Men's Club hosted an annual Homecoming on the fairgrounds, consisting of a community fish fry and games. In 1946 the organization changed its name to the Cuba Civic Club. In 1947 a women's auxilliary was also organized and these two groups joined together to start the Cuba Community Fair. The Cuba Community Fair was sponsored by the Cuba Civic Club and Auxilliary until 1950, when it was reorganized. The name was then changed to The Community Fair. In 1972, with hopes of gaining more interest to the fair from communities other than Cuba, the name was once again changed to the present name, Crawford County Fair.
In 1995, Ernie Hood donated the property located at Hood Park to the City of Cuba, with the one stipulation that the Crawford County Fair Board be allowed to hold the fair at that location. In 1996 the fair was moved to its current location.
Through the years, the fair has had good times and bad. From 1902 to the present, the fair has been held in three different locations and had several different names, but one common factor has remained throughout all the changes, the purpose of the fair. It is a time of community, a time of coming together, a time for family and friends. Welcome to the "Crawford County Fair", past and present.