The Great Depression

The period of 1930-1935 was a time of retrenchment, as the Great Depression and destructive droughts reduced attendance and revenue.

Eleven different bands, orchestras and drum corps furnished music for the 1930 Fair. Among them was the Iowa Rural School Chorus comprised of more than 4,000 children from rural schools in nearly 70 counties. The first statewide checkers tournament was held. Despite the depression and other adverse conditions, the Fair made a profit.

An exhibition of an autogiro (airplane with windmill-like blades rotating above the fuselage) was considered a major entertainment draw at the 1931 Fair. The machine was the first of its kind to be exhibited and flown in the state. In response to widespread demand, a new modern shower bath facility was built in the Campgrounds. It was “a most valuable addition to the Fair’s accommodations,” campers remarked. An aerial accident killed some people on the grounds when a performing plane crashed into a parking lot.

In 1932, the machinery and farm equipment show featured the first complete television show ever held in Iowa. Thousands of feet of scenes for the motion picture version of Phil Stong’s novel, State Fair, were filmed during eight days at the Fair. A head-on locomotive collision (the third in Fair history) topped the “Thrill Day” program. All the leading newsreel companies covered the train crash, and films depicting the wreck were shown in theaters around the world. The introduction of night horse racing on an illuminated track – the first to be seen in the Midwest – was a successful feature of the 1933 Fair. A rodeo and Wild West Stampede also debuted. Officials commented the Fair was the most successful since 1931.

Extensive improvements – from reroofing the Cattle Barn to building a storm sewer on Dean Avenue – heralded the 1934 Fair. A five-day program of harness and running horse races offered more than $12,500 in premiums. Forty additional acres were added to the Campgrounds, increasing the total to 160 acres and making it the largest of its kind in the U.S. Because of widespread demand, Baby Mine, the Fair’s elephant, toured county and district fairs.

The 1935 Fair welcomed the famous “Festival of Light” direct from the Chicago World’s Fair, combining fireworks, smoke clouds and huge marine searchlights in a spectacular evening show. Total premiums rose $22,000 because of “better times” ahead for Iowa. New features included a Sunday horse show, the first statewide amateur baseball tournament, plus a thrilling “bat-winged” airplane daredevil jumping from a height of 8,000 feet. Lighting on the racetrack was boosted 50 percent, making it the best-illuminated in the Midwest. An FHA model home, designed to be built anywhere for under $3,000, was a main attraction in the Varied Industries Building.

The 1936 Fair boasted a search for “The most beautiful girl in Iowa” to compete as Miss Iowa in the Miss America pageant later that year. Carol Bailey of Waterloo beat out 200 other contestants to take the title. The new $100,000 Swine Barn addition proceeded rapidly. The famous Karl L. King Band headed the list of more than 20 bands playing at the Fair. Photographs were displayed in the Arts Salon for the first time. Camping trailers began to replace traditional tents in the Campgrounds. While heavy rains over three days and a visit to Des Moines from President Roosevelt cut into Fair attendance, a surplus of approximately $10,000 was earned.

More than 200 Iowa young ladies, all wearing wedding gowns handed down from earlier generations, competed in a statewide Bridal Beauty Contest at the 1937 Fair. Plans to build a new Poultry Industries Building (now the 4-H Exhibits Building) were announced. Approximately 60,000 spectators watched in awe as Captain F.F. Frakes crashed a speeding airplane into a house climaxing “Thrill Day.” Frakes barely escaped law enforcement authorities trying to arrest him for his daring feat. Europe’s most renowned knife-thrower hurled knives at his partner who was strapped to the face of a revolving drum. Attendance was the third-largest in Fair history.

The 1938 Fair celebrated the Territorial Centennial of the state with many special exhibits including “Homes of the Century.” Chuck wagon, wild horse and Roman standing races were added to the rodeo line-up. WHO Radio opened its Crystal Studio in the Varied Industries Building, while the Iowa Network (KRNT, KMA, KSO and WMT) announced plans for their own broadcast studio. Auto speed star Floyd Roberts - fresh from his win at the Indianapolis Speedway - made several personal appearances. Some 6,000 entries filled the new poultry building.

In 1939, the former Baby Beef Barn and the Sheep Barn were combined under one roof to create the newly-enlarged (235 feet by 620 feet) 4-H Livestock Building, totaling three acres of exhibit space. New events included window garden and birdbath planting classes. Hollywood glamour star Susan Hayward visited to personally pick “Iowa’s Queen of the Redheads,” a contest open to all the state’s red-haired girls ages 16-26. Margaret Leeper of Waterloo won a trip to tinsel town and a screen test. A mammoth mural depicting the history of agriculture, requiring more than a year of continuous painting by Public Works Administration artists, was dedicated.