ECHOES FROM THE PAST - FAIR HISTORY
Charles H. Babcock appeared before the Fair Board of Directors on November 7, 1949 to offer without cost, land for a new fairgrounds on the property adjoining Cherry Street Extension and facing partly on 30th Street. The very generous offer was accepted. Plans began immediately for construction of buildings and improving the new grounds. In 1994 Journal reporter Ron Jordan wrote the following: From as early as the alte 1930s until integration took effect in 1963, blacks and whites in Winston- Salem attended separate fairs. When the World of Mirth midway show came to the Winston-Salem Fair for a five day run each October, it played to all-white crowds. The few blacks at the fair were a part of the traveling show. “The following week, Lawrence’s Greater Shows rolled into and set up on the same grounds, where they provided entertainment for blacks at the Western Carolina Colored Fair, the forerunner of the Carolina Colored Fair. In later years, the white fair came to be known as the Dixie Classic Fair. The Carolina Colored Fair, which later became just the Carolina Fair, was formed in 1953 after the Western Carolina Fair dissolved. John H. Marks Shows of Roanoke, VA., provided the midway attractions.” While the Western Carolina Fair had promoted agricultural exhibits, the Carolina Fair tried to attract more patrons “by increasing prize money and adding a better carnival to the midway and new features like a Hula-Hoop contest. The Carolina Fair had a successful run from its inception, drawing thousands of patrons from in and around Forsyth County. Promoted as both ‘educational and agricultural’, it featured prize livestock from several of the surrounding counties as well as arts, crafts and food.” In the early years, Jordan wrote, both the white and black fairs were held north of town, and later moved to the fair’s current location off University Parkway. “Attendance at the (Carolina Fair) stated slowing down after 1963, when the Dixie Classic Fair was integrated and blacks began attending it,” he wrote. The decline of the fair came rather quickly after that. Blacks now had a choice and favored the bigger and better Carolina Classic Fair, and that is where they spent their money. Some remained loyal to the black fair, but also attended the Dixie Classic.” Since the Dixie Classic was held first, people often had less money left to spend by the time the Carolina Fair came along. “In 1968, E.E. Hill, the president of the fair corporation, announced the Carolina Fair was closing,” Jordan wrote. In 1950, the name of the Fair was changed to the Fair of Winston-Salem. Then, in 1956, the name was changed to, Dixie Classic Fair for Northwest North Carolina. The Fair has been in its present location since 1951. James A. (Jim) Graham was Fair Manager from 1952 until 1955. He was elected and served as Commissioner of Agriculture, NC, from 1964 until 2000. Neil Bolton was Manager of the Fair from 1956 until his death in 1972 (and Manager of Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum until 1969). W. B. “Bill” Austin, Jr. was Manager from 1972 until retirement in 1993. David L. Sparks began his career at the Fair in 1988 as Assistant to Fair Director and became Fair Director in 1993. Della Stephens joined the Fair family in 1962 and was promoted to Assistant to Fair Director in 1994 after 32 years of service to the Fair (and Memorial Coliseum from 1962-1969). Della retired on December 31, 2002. Dona Martin was promoted to Assistant to Fair Director in February 2003. David Sparks retired as Fair Director in 2018. Cheryle Hartley was promoted to Fair Director in December 2018. Cary Hester was promoted to Assistant to Fair Director in 2019. On December 1, 1969, the Winston-Salem Foundation gave the Fairgrounds, Memorial Coliseum and $75,000 to the City of Winston-Salem. Since then, the Fairgrounds continues to operate under an “enterprise system”. The Fair generates sufficient cash to cover all operating expenditures and debt
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