When September rolled around, out rolled the nostalgic memories of old-fashioned Bluffton Free Street Fair. Started in 1898, with near continuous returns, Street Fair, as many Blufftonites colloquially shorten the name, offered a rolled out red carpet of memories.
Local history grew as the name shrank to simply “The Fair” for some. Street Fair advocates claimed it to be the biggest, the best, the greatest, and one that for over a century promised to be bigger and better every year. Naysayers should be forced to sit the bench of the “Dunk Booth.”
A Bluffton newspaper of 1903 published a riddle regarding a lamb, duck, frog, and skunk with each desiring to go to “The Fair.” The amusement came from which got in and why, since the event they wished to attend, unlike Bluffton Free Street Fair, had an admission fee of a dollar. “The lamb got in because it had four quarters; the duck got in because it had a bill; and frog got in because it had a green back; the skunk couldn’t get in because it only had a cent and a bad one at that.”
The early local Street Fair had been in a large way about animals coming to the fair. Streets contained long tents covering pens for farmers to bring, show, and compete for premiums with their sheep, pigs, cows, horses and poultry of all kinds. The last erected and used poultry tent stood at the southwest end of the Main Street’s Wabash River bridge.
Angelkeep could attempt to capture a few animals like the duck, frog, and skunk, as it has, or has had, all of those visiting. Angelkeep has not had a lamb, not even a lamb chop. Angelkeep had a full menagerie of birds ranging from five-foot-tall herons to egg-laying ducks, wrens, and red-winged blackbirds. No Street Fair ribbons could be won in those areas. The community building yet hung to an original element of the early Fairs with flower, fruit, veggie, pumpkin, and hand-work competition. It could be considered the most authentic Street Fair segment, aligned closely with the carousel, candy apples, and those ropes of flags strung up to the top of the courthouse tower.
Angelkeep held a summer-long likeness to the Street Fair carousel with Angelpond’s inhabitants. Walking around the pond invited bluegills to travel in the water close behind. Turtles also followed the circling path. Muskrats, timid when humans were around, circled looking for good food to eat or store up for later snacks.
Angelkeep already planned to take the muskrat initiative when Street Fair rolled. By the time summer ends on the 21st of September, Angelkeep will already have a stash of gebo taffy, caramel corn of both the butterscotch and kettle varieties, and a token memento engraved with name and date from the jewelry booth outside the old City Hall/Fire Station door. Today, others called that building the Republican Headquarters.
Exhibited animals appeared at Bluffton Free Street Fair over the past years such as that skunk in the riddle which failed to gain admittance. One skunk displayed at Street Fair came from the Wells County State Park and Game Preserve. They had their own menagerie of animals which were brought into town and placed on display in a tent between the Grand Opera House and the Wells County Jail. Of course this year that location will hold only Street Fair’s carousel, wild fiberglass horses to ride, located beside Wells County Public Library, not the jail.
State Park became Ouabache. All animals displayed in enclosures there dwindled to only the bison. Bison were much too dangerous to bring to Street Fair. Simply enjoy the Indiana’s Bicentennial Wells County Bison statue on the courthouse plaza while devouring that Mettler’s Fish Sandwich.
The paragraph below the 1903 fair riddle mentioned Charley Mettler buying three Bluffton lots. Mettler was not the only fish booth on the streets back in the day. Indiana’s Conservation Department brought in a truck loaded with fish aquarium displays. One enterprising local man set up a fishing booth unlike any other vendors on the streets. Some used ping pong balls to toss into fish bowls. Others had poles to catch a floating fish holding a prize number underneath.
The odd local carney had a large tank full of live catfish and poles strung with line ending with a lasso. For a buck (or was it two?) you attempted lassoing large catfish. It involved no prize. Catch and release. Street Fair bragging rights.
Angelkeep planned practicing Angelpond catch-and-release fishing prior to Street Fair, just in case that booth reappeared near the American Legion Hall. Did you know American Legion had one of the best breaded tenderloins in Bluffton?
Street Fair countdown started today at Angelkeep.
Mr. Daugherty is a Wells County resident who, along with his wife Gwen, enjoy their backyard and have named it “Angelkeep.”
