Biscuit Man, who brought a chuck wagon and demonstrated how to make biscuits from scratch; the Button Man, whose clothes and car were covered with buttons; a miniature hay baling machine, the alligator wrestler, racing pigs and a monkey who liked to spit. Some attractions were a onetime thing, like the giant python that wrapped itself around its handler’s body. “In order to keep the board of directors, Steve had to promise us that we would never have snakes again,” Thomas said, with a laugh and a shiver at the memory of the creature. Blair nodded her head enthusiastically in agreement. There was also the year that someone walked into the Civic Center while the team was still setting up for opening day and said, “Did you know you have a bear loose?” “Needless to say, you’ve never seen so many officers and directors jumping on fourwheelers and vehicles to go out there to see what the heck was going on,” Thomas said. “We were just standing there watching this bear. He apparently knew how to get out of its cage. Steve knocked on the handler’s door and tells her and she just calls him like a dog and the bear comes trotting back and gets back in his cage!” Weather has also left an indelible mark on the history of the fair. One year a twister touched down and caught the corner of a tent and knocked a huge post onto W.L. (Wimpie) Cochran’s brand new truck. He was the first president of the fair, serving from 1977 to 1981. “We were busy working inside the Civic Center and we didn’t even know it had been raining,” Thomas said. The entertainment stage has featured lots of big names over the years, including The Bellamy Brothers and more recently, Terry Fator, the ventriloquist who won America’s Got Tal-
ent. “He was scheduled to perform here the year he auditioned for the show,” she said. “He got a friend to fill in while he auditioned and then he made it, so the next year, he was very famous by then and he came back and did his show for the same price he charged us the year before.” She said the organizers are excited to bring bigger and better acts to the entertainment stage for the 40th year, including Jon Conlee, Susie McEntire Eaton, Tyler and the Tribe, Cody Wayne and Westbound 21, the Bo Hennessy Band, Jessie Raub, Jr., Los Texas
Wranglers and hypnotist Tammy Barton The 40th year is bringing back warm memories for everyone involved in the fair, from the organizers to the fairgoers who remember showing their steers, heifers, goats, hogs, lambs and chickens to blue ribbon winners in the food, arts and academic entries and winners of the Chicken Stew Challenge who received their awards from Bo Pilgrim himself. Some of the past winning recipes in the Bake Show are featured in the new catalog, including Murl Davis’ Peach Cobbler in 1986. There is also pride as past scholarships winners see their names in print in the 2015 catalog. The first scholarships were awarded in 1983 to Dwanna Maxton and Terry Horn. The 2014 recipients were Mount Pleasant High School Seniors Katy Bragg, Preston Again and Presley McClendon. This year, four scholarships will be awarded, two $2,500 scholarships and two $1,500 scholarships.
The catalog also features photos from over the decades and asks people in the community to submit their old and new photos from the fair on their Facebook page, which now has more than 7,000 likes and hopes to reach 10,000 this year. Blair said it brings the community together like one big family and also draws tourism dollars with folks coming in from around the Northeast Texas and the Dallas area to attend the 4-day fair. “It really helps the restaurants and the hotels,” she said. Blair, who oversees the vendors, said it is quite a sight when everything starts going up. “To me, you go to the Civic Center and it’s a blank slate and when everyone comes in and you get all the vendors set up, it’s like, ‘Wow, you just can’t imagine getting to that point. Then, when the carnival starts setting up, it really starts taking shape. When everybody see the rides going up, they are ready to come in the gates,” she said. It brings the whole team a sense of satisfaction to continue the fair tradition every year. “It’s a labor of love or I wouldn’t have done it for 21 years,” she said. There are also bittersweet memories of past fair volunteers. “There’s a lot who are now retired, like Huella, and there’s a lot of people we’ve lost over the years and we miss them,” Thomas said. “That’s just part of it.” Russell said all of the directors, chairmen and volunteers over the years have done a tremendous job keeping the fair going each year and have succeeded in shaping and growing the event and the organization into what it is today.
For information about the Titus County Fair contact the Chamber at 903.572.8567 or the fair’s website at tituscountyfair.com
mtpleasanttx.com
19