Earliest days of fair quite different from today

On August 3, 1866, Governor of Kansas, S. J. Crawford, issued a proclamation declaring the organization of Cherokee County, in southeast Kansas.

Twenty-nine years later, in May of 1895, the Daily Advocate of Columbus, a newspaper published by McNay and Lea, originated and promoted the idea of a reunion, inviting the participation of the county’s original old settlers.

An old settler had to be a pers…