LOCAL COUNTY/STATE FAIRS

Tomorrow starts the local County Fair season with the opening of the 2005 Kane County Fair in St. Charles; it runs Wednesday, July 20 through Sunday, July 24. Other local fairs are the Dupage County Fair (July 27-31), the McHenry County Fair (August 3-7), and the Lake County Fair (July 26-31). A schedule of all the Illinois County Fairs can be found on the Illinois Department of Agriculture's web-site. Links to some of the County Fair web-sites are included.

Nearby State Fairs, besides Illinois' in Springfield (August 12-29), include those in Wisconsin (August 4-14), Minnesota (August 25-September 5), Indiana(August 10-21), and Iowa (August 11-21).

The Elk Grove Village Library has a few books about state and county fairs:

Ordinary Life, Festival Days: Aesthetics in the Midwest County Fair (1995) by Leslie Prosterman (394.6 PRO)

Illinois State Fair: A 150 Year History (2002) by Edward J. Russo, et al (394.6 RUS)

The American State Fair (1999) by Derek Nelson (630.7473 NEL)

The All-New Blue Ribbon Cookbook: Prize Winning Recipes from America's State Fairs (1997) by Catherine Hanley (641.5 HAN)

The County Fair Cookbook: Yankee Johnnycakes, Tater Pigs, Shoofly Pie & 200 More Recipes from America's Best Country Cooks (1994) comp. by Lyn Stallworth and Rod Kennedy Jr. (641.5973 COU)

County Fair (1992) by Raymond Biall (J 630.74)


A Week at the Fair: A Country Celebration (1995) by Patricia H. Easton (J 630.74 EAS)