Delaware State Fair

Last updated
Delaware State Fair
Delaware State Fair.svg
GenreFair
Begins20 July 2023
Ends29 July 2023
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s) Harrington, Delaware
Years active1919–1941, since 1946
Inaugurated27 July 1920
Area Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland
Website delawarestatefair.com

The Delaware State Fair is the annual state fair for the state of Delaware. It is held in Harrington. The fair is a ten-day event at the end of July. [1]

Contents

History

The midway of the Delaware State Fair in 2012 Delaware State Fair - 2012 (7681707622).jpg
The midway of the Delaware State Fair in 2012

The first Delaware State Fair was held in Wilmington, with mentions of the "Delaware State Fair" being found in newspapers as far back as 1869. [2] In 1878, the Delaware State Fair was moved to Fairview Park Fair Grounds in Dover and held September 24–27. [3] The opening speaker of the 1878 Delaware State Fair was Daniel Henry Chamberlain, former Republican Governor of South Carolina, as well as guest speakers J. Proctor Knott, at the time a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives representing Kentucky's 4th congressional district, and Samuel S. Cox, then Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives representing New York's 6th congressional district. [4] [5]

In 1917, the state fair moved to Elsmere where the Delaware State Fair Association had purchased property and built a fairgrounds within the town limits, in the area of the current Filbert, Birch, and Dover Avenues. The fairgrounds included racetracks, agricultural exhibits, and stages for various entertainment acts. [6] The Association went bankrupt after the 1924 fair, and its assets were sold off. [7] [8] A new fair association was formed and held the Wilmington Fair, which was sometimes referred to as the Delaware State Fair, in 1927 and 1928 at the fairgrounds in Elsmere. [9] [10] [11] [12]

The first fair on the current grounds was held in 1920 and was known as the Kent and Sussex County Fair. It lasted four days and was held on 30 acres (120,000 m2). The Kent and Sussex County Fair changed its name to the Delaware State Fair in 1962. [13] Today the fairgrounds encompass over 300 acres (1.2 km2) and feature concerts, wrestling, rodeo, races, agricultural exhibits, a midway, and other typical state fair demonstrations and events. The Harrington Raceway & Casino is also located at the fairgrounds. The property also hosted a Donald Trump rally for his presidential campaign on April 22, 2016. [14]

The only cancellations were from 1942 to 1945 due to World War II. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the fair resisted cancellation, although safety modifications were put in place and concerts were cancelled. [15] Masks have been required ever since, besides social distancing.

Concerts

The Delaware State Fair has long been a center for regional entertainment, drawing in crowds from the rest of the state, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. It is one of few local concert venues, so has been able to attract many popular acts to Delmarva, among them:

Casino

Harrington Raceway & Casino operates on the fairgrounds year round and consists of a harness racetrack and a casino offering slot machines, table games, and sports betting.

Winter Season

During the winter season the Centre Ice Rink located on the fair grounds hosts public skating and Ice hockey sessions. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware</span> U.S. state

Delaware is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey to its northeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state's name derives from the adjacent Delaware Bay, which in turn was named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and the Colony of Virginia's first colonial-era governor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrington, Delaware</span> City in Delaware, United States

Harrington is a city in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover metropolitan statistical area. Harrington hosts the annual Delaware State Fair each July. The population was 3,774 in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elsmere, Delaware</span> Town in Delaware, United States

Elsmere is a town in New Castle County, Delaware, United States, bordering the city of Wilmington along Wilmington's western border. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 6,131.

The Messenger Stakes is an American harness racing event for 3-year-old pacing horses. It was organized in 1956 at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York to join with the Cane Pace and the Little Brown Jug to create the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers. The race is named in honor of Messenger (1780–1808), a horse foaled in England and later brought to the United States. As a sire, virtually all harness horses in the U.S. can be traced back to Messenger.

Elmhurst is an unincorporated community in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It was founded in the late 1910s and consists of about 500 houses.

WHYY-TV is a television station licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, United States, serving as the primary PBS member station for the Philadelphia area. It is owned by WHYY, Inc., alongside NPR member station WHYY-FM 90.9. WHYY-TV and WHYY-FM share studios and offices on Independence Mall in Center City, Philadelphia, with an additional office in Wilmington; through a channel sharing agreement with WMCN-TV, the two stations transmit using WHYY-TV's spectrum from an antenna in Philadelphia's Roxborough section.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MTR Gaming Group</span>

MTR Gaming Group was a gaming company based in Chester, West Virginia that operated horse racing tracks and racinos. It was formed on March 7, 1988, in Wilmington, Delaware. On September 19, 2014, it merged with Eldorado Holdco LLC, forming Eldorado Resorts in Reno, Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama State Fairgrounds</span>

The Alabama State Fairgrounds, also known as Fair Park, was the former home of the Alabama State Fair and the Birmingham International Raceway, and is located in West Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is located adjacent to the Five Points West shopping area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn Entertainment</span> American gambling company

Penn Entertainment, Inc., formerly Penn National Gaming, is an American entertainment company and operator of integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gambling. It operates 43 properties in 20 states, under brands including Hollywood Casino, Ameristar, and Boomtown. It also offers sports betting in 15 jurisdictions and online casino gaming in 5, under brands such as ESPN BET and theScore.

Churchill Downs Incorporated is the parent company of Churchill Downs. The company has evolved from one racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, to a multi American-state-wide, publicly traded company with racetracks, casinos and an online wagering company among its portfolio of businesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware Route 2</span> State highway in New Castle, Delaware, United States

Delaware Route 2 (DE 2) is a 10.81-mile-long (17.40 km) east–west state highway located in the northern part of New Castle County in the U.S. state of Delaware. It runs from DE 72 and DE 273 on the eastern edge of Newark east to DE 52 in Wilmington. Between Newark and Wilmington, the route is a four- to six-lane divided highway called Capitol Trail and Kirkwood Highway that passes through suburban areas, running through Marshallton, Prices Corner, and Elsmere. In Wilmington, DE 2 is routed along the one-way pair of Lincoln Street eastbound and Union Street westbound, passing through urban areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miss Delaware</span> Beauty pageant competition

The Miss Delaware competition is the pageant that selects the representative of Delaware in the Miss America pageant. The event takes place annually in the month of June and has previously been held in Rehoboth Beach at Convention Hall, in the state capital of Dover, Delaware at the Dover Downs Hotel and Casino, and in Milton at the Milton Theatre. Miss Delaware serves as the official hostess to the state of Delaware. In 2023, the pageant announced that it will be held at Harrington Raceway & Casino in Harrington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware Route 100</span> State highway in New Castle County, Delaware, United States

Delaware Route 100 (DE 100) is a state highway in New Castle County, Delaware. The route runs from DE 4 near Elsmere to the Pennsylvania border near Montchanin, where it continues into Pennsylvania as State Route 3100. The road runs through suburban areas of northern New Castle County. The route intersects DE 2 in Elsmere before forming separate concurrencies with DE 48 and DE 141 from west of Wilmington north to Greenville. In Greenville, there is an interchange with DE 52. North of Greenville, DE 100 continues by itself to the Pennsylvania border, intersecting DE 92 in Montchanin. DE 100 was first designated in the 1930s to run from DE 52 to the Pennsylvania border, where it connected to Pennsylvania Route 100 (PA 100) until the southern terminus of that route was truncated away from the state line in 2003. By the 1970s, it was extended south to DE 4. The route was realigned to follow parts of DE 48 and DE 141 by 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 13 in Delaware</span> Highway in Delaware

U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a U.S. highway running from Fayetteville, North Carolina, north to Morrisville, Pennsylvania. In the U.S. state of Delaware, the route runs for 103.33 mi (166.29 km). It traverses the entire north–south length of the state from the Maryland state line in Delmar, Sussex County, north to the Pennsylvania state line in Claymont, New Castle County. US 13 connects many important cities and towns in Delaware, including Seaford, Dover, and Wilmington. The entire length of US 13 in Delaware is a multilane divided highway with the exceptions of the segment through Wilmington and parts of the route in Claymont. Between the Maryland state line and Dover, US 13 serves as one of the main north–south routes across the Delmarva Peninsula. From Dover north to Tybouts Corner, the route is followed by the controlled-access Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) toll road, which crosses the route multiple times and has multiple interchanges with it. US 13 bypasses downtown Wilmington to the east before it heads northeast of the city parallel to Interstate 495 (I-495) and the Delaware River to Claymont. US 13 is the longest numbered highway in the state of Delaware.

Harrington Raceway & Casino is a harness racing track and casino located on the fairgrounds of the Delaware State Fair, just south of Harrington, Delaware, 16 miles (26 km) south of Dover. The casino, formerly known as Midway Slots, has over 1,800 slot machines, table games, simulcasting, and sports betting. In addition, the venue promotes and hosts concerts and other similar entertainment revues. Multiple dining options including a buffet are available as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleasanton Fairgrounds Racetrack</span>

The Pleasanton Fairgrounds Racetrack at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California is a one-mile race track for Thoroughbred, Quarter horse and Arabian racing. Constructed in 1858 by the sons of Spaniard Don Agustín Bernal, it is the third-oldest horse racing track of its kind in the United States. Only the Freehold Raceway in New Jersey (oldest) and Fair Grounds Race Course in Louisiana are older.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Circuit</span>

The Grand Circuit, also known as the "Big Wheel", is a group of harness racing stakes races run at various race tracks around the United States. Run on one-mile tracks, it is "the oldest continuing horse-racing series in the United States."

Delaware State News is an American daily newspaper published in Dover, Delaware. It is owned by Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA and prints seven days a week.

The Wilmington and Northern Branch is a partially-abandoned railway line in the states of Delaware and Pennsylvania. It was constructed between 1869 and 1870 by the Wilmington and Reading Railroad, a predecessor of the Wilmington and Northern Railroad. At its fullest extent it connected Reading, Pennsylvania, with Wilmington, Delaware. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway leased the line in 1900. With the Reading Company's bankruptcy and the creation of Conrail in 1976 the line's ownership fragmented, and the section between Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, has been abandoned.

References

  1. ↑ "Delaware State Fair" . Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Seventeenth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society". The Harrisburg Telegraph. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. September 29, 1869. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
  3. ↑ "Eastern Shore Jottings". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. July 17, 1878. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
  4. ↑ "untitled". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. August 2, 1878. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
  5. ↑ "Delaware State Fair". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. August 6, 1878. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
  6. ↑ "Town History and Photos". The Town of Elsmere, Delaware. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "Delaware State Fair will go into receiver's hands". The News Journal. Wilmington, DE. September 20, 1924 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Property of fair goes at auction". The Morning News. Wilmington, DE. January 27, 1925 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "September 5–10 fixed as dates for new fair". The Evening Journal. Wilmington, DE. February 15, 1927 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Grangers' and children's day at Wil. Fair". The Evening Journal. Wilmington, DE. September 6, 1927 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Gates open on city fair today; many exhibits". The Evening Journal. Wilmington, DE. September 24, 1928 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ McLaughlin, Joe (September 26, 1928). "Lee Frisco wins Elsmere opener". The News Journal. Wilmington, DE – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "State fair's leaders work to make it that". The News Journal. Wilmington, DE. July 14, 1962 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Bittle, Matt (April 22, 2016). "Trump wows crowd in Harrington". Delaware State News. Dover, DE. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  15. ↑ Neiburg, Jeff (June 24, 2020). "'Unusual times for us all': Delaware State Fair will go on, with restrictions in place". The News Journal. Wilmington, DE. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Centre Ice Rink". Skate at the Fair. Archived from the original on 2012-07-27. Retrieved 2012-10-15.

38°54′36″N75°34′26″W / 38.910°N 75.574°W / 38.910; -75.574

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.