The Ionia Free Fair, looking back 1915-2015

The 1917 Ionia Free Fair was held August 15-18.  To "guarantee" good weather for those first few fairs the dates were chosen through "scientific calculation".   They were rewarded with great weather in the early years.
The 1917 fair brought the first tractor display on the midway, S.A. Mulhauser was the chairman of that department.
By May of 1917 the effects of World War I were being felt in the community, approximately 4000 men would be drafted in the county.  The Governor requested that a Patriotic Day be held during the fair, and Thursday was selected as that day.  To this day we still designate Thursday as Veterans' Day.
The 30 car Johnny Jones Shows had been contracted for the 1917 fair.  Secretary Fred Chapman reported that selling a large show on coming to such a small community was difficult but the records of the previous years won them over.
A large crowd awaited the arrival of the train carrying the Johnny Jones Shows, there was about a two hour delay due to some minor accidents on the tracks.  Once it arrived the crowd was not let down.  The show featured a large animal menagerie, and some of it's midway attractions were Dakota Max's Wild West Show,  and the Human Chicken Family.
Aerial stunts resulted in mishaps before a Friday crowd.  In Walt Bullock's last aeroplane flight at the fair the engine died.  He landed at about 100 miles per hour before coming to a rest in a 10 acre hay field on the Charles Ross farm approximately 4.5 miles west of the Reformatory.
During the Parachute drop, Charlie Sonier's chute floated him into some electrical wires.  There was a big blue flash, seen by thousands.  It burned off the ropes and dropped him to the ground, he was not seriously hurt.
Mrs. Zala won the automobile at the 1917 fair.

The pictures below are not necessarily from the 1917 fair.  Most of the images we have from the early years do not indicate dates.