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The Lake County Fair has existed in some form or another for over 150 years. The official Lake County Fair Association started as a county institute in April of 1928. A poultry show was added two years later, followed by a home economics department. In 1935-36, a livestock department was added with a horse show and followed by a dairy and other livestock show. The Fair was chartered in 1938 as an educational organization. The charter was brought up to date in 1940 and was changed to a county fair and an educational organization in 1970. The Fair started out as an agricultural fair, but has added many other classes such as painting, ceramics, horse shows, antique shows, demo derbies and motocross events throughout the years.
The Lake County Fair held its first fair in Antioch and moved to various places in the county. Some of the other locations include Gurnee, Waukegan, Libertyville and Wauconda High School. The Fair Board purchased land from Mr. Beemsterboer in 1954. The county fair was held on the grounds located on the corner of Hwy. 45 and Hwy. 120 in Grayslake in 1955 and has been the home of the Lake County Fair until 2008. The Fair Association began building permanent facilities in 1956, and 18 buildings were erected on the present land for community activities of Lake and adjoining counties. This summer of 2008 will be the last time the Lake County Fair will be held at its current property in Grayslake, before it moves to the new location along Peterson Rd., just west of Hwy. 45, between Libertyville and Grayslake.
Some of the early officers were D.H. Minto, Emmet King, Mrs. R.D. McGuire, Bert Edwards, E.E. Elsbury, H.A. Tillotson, William Chandler, and Charles Paddock. These members filled many stations on the Fair Board, either as an executive officer or as a director. The present Board of Directors for the Fair consists of President David DeYoung, Vice President Mitch Brya, Treasurer Peter Tekampe, Secretary William Obenauf, Executive Director Frank Brock, and Directors Frank Beelow, Mike Richards, Jerry Pretzman and Kelli Kepler-Yarc.
- Taken from “A History of the Lake County Fair,”
written by L.A. Nordhausen, Fair Secretary, 1978, with additional information added 5/12/08 |
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