A look back: Haywood County Fair
When it comes to the rich, vibrant history of Haywood County Fair, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone as passionate and knowledgeable on the subject as Alex McKay.
“I think what people here now take for granted is that, for so long, Haywood County was farming and agriculture,” McKay said. “And a lot of that is physically disappearing.”
Sitting in Smoky Mountain Coffee Roasters in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Waynesville one recent morning, McKay sips his cup and flips through historical photos of the Haywood County Fair.
“My family has been here for so many generations,” McKay said. “And I grew up with all of those stories about everything that’s happened here. I cared and I listened to the stories. It meant something to me.”
Over the years, he’s been able to track down and collect the priceless images. For McKay, whose family goes back seven generations in Haywood County, farming is a deep symbol of pride for his family.
“My people were mountain people. We were farmers,” McKay said. “My grandparents were big producers at the tailgate market back when it was on Main Street [in Waynesville]. We did beans, corn, peppers and tomatoes, all kinds of varieties.”
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McKay grew up around farming, with the fair being the one anchor point of the year for the entire local agricultural community. Beyond the produce entries in the competitions, McKay also retains fond memories of his mother and grandmother entering the quilt contests.
“Everyone looked forward to the fair, especially the farmers,” McKay said. “They’d learn new techniques, and new equipment would be shown.”
The first Haywood County Fair, which took place in 1905, was held in a large field off Sulphur Springs Road in Waynesville. Beyond the exhibition tents, vendors and activities, there was also a horse racing track (where betting was allowed) and an elaborate parade that went around town.
“People would bring Revolutionary War relics and Civil War relics,” McKay said. “But, the biggest part of the early fairs were the new innovations that came to the mountains for the first time.”
Of those new inventions presented to the general public in our region included the first car and first airplane (which was brought to the fair by train) to be seen in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Locals even got to ride in the car, which would have been a surreal experience for those used to horseback or simply walking to get somewhere.
And yet, the wildest spectacle was the balloon ascension in 1908 and 1909. With a professional inside the balloon, it would ascend upwards of 3,000 feet into the sky above the fairgrounds, only to purposely explode, with the demonstrator parachuting back to earth.
“[The demonstrator] popped [the balloon] and parachuted down,” McKay shook his head in awe. “And back then, I can’t even imagine how primitive the parachutes were.”
According to McKay, the balloon demonstration was apparently done every single day of the fair when it was showcased.
“It’d be wonderful [today] to see a balloon go up 3,000 feet and have a guy jump out of it,” McKay said, chuckling.
Throughout the early decades of the fair, there were many gaps in when it actually occurred and was able to happen. Between World War I, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression and so forth, the fair would take a backseat to pressing matters of the day.
But, by the mid-1930s, the fair returned, this time taking place near the Waynesville Country Club. For many decades, there were livestock shows that would hold the place of the fair.
“The fair is the whole county’s history, and it brought people together,” McKay noted. “Back in the early days, people didn’t leave the mountains very much, so the fair was the biggest thing that happened right here.”
The modern-day version as we know it would not be set in place until the early 1990s when the fairgrounds (now Smoky Mountain Event Center) was constructed. Since then, the fair has remained a beloved annual tradition for locals and visitors alike, with the gathering currently celebrating its 120th anniversary.
“The fair will always bring us together,” McKay said.
Want to go?
The Haywood County Fair returns Sept. 25-28
• Thursday, Sept. 25 — 5-10 p.m.
• Friday, Sept. 26 — 5-10 p.m.
• Saturday, Sept. 27 — 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
• Sunday, Sept. 28 — 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Location: Smoky Mountain Event Center in Waynesville.
Admission: Adults $8/day, Ages 6-12 $6/day, under 5 free.
Tickets: Cash only, sold at gate.
