Danbury Fair 1821-1981

The Danbury Fair was held for one week in October every year for 160 years. It started in 1821 as a small agricultural fair. It was a place to show off your crops, cooking, and farm animals. It was small at first and grew to include much more.

Many people came to the Danbury Fair. In the early years, people rode horses or carriages to get to the fair. They entered through a big gate. By 1895, visitors rode the train or a trolley to visit the fairgrounds. After 1900, they arrived by motorcar. They listened to many kinds of music and could even be in a singing contest.

As the fair grew, there were car races, rides, food, sideshows and dancing. There were contests with prizes for the biggest pumpkin, best sewing, or the tastiest cake. People ate foods like hot dogs, pizza, calzones, and hot apple pie. Every October, Danbury school children got a day off of school to go to the fair. They even got a free ticket!

Starting in 1932, there was a car race track on the fairgrounds. Every Saturday night in summer and early fall, you could go to see the stock car races.

The main midway of the fair was always crowded. The tall statues around the fair made it easy to look up and figure out where you were. After the fair closed, many different people bought these statues and took them all over the country.

By 1942, John Leahey owned most of the Danbury Fair. He worked hard to make the fair a special place. Each year he wore his magnificent ringmaster's uniform and led the daily Grand Parade down the midway of the fair.

After Mr. Leahey died, his family sold the fairgrounds. The very last Danbury Fair was in 1981. It was torn down to build the Danbury Fair Mall. You can see pictures of the old fair at the mall.

Danbury Fair Mural at the Danbury Museum

J. Kilcourse

revised 10/10/09