Erie County Fair

Erie County Fair
The Erie County Fair in 2013
Genre	County Fair
Dates	August 10–21, 2016
Location(s)	Hamburg, New York
Years active	177
Website
http://www.ecfair.org

The Erie County Fair is a fair held in Hamburg in Erie County, New York every August. Based on 2014 attendance statistics, The Erie County Fair is the largest fair in New York and the third largest county fair in the United States, often drawing over one million in attendance.

The first Erie County Fair was held in 1820, and was hosted by the Niagara County Agricultural Society. The fair is third largest county fair in the USA with the 2014 fair setting an attendance record of 1,220,101.

Fair Dates

The 2016 fair will run from August 10-21.

The 2017 fair will run from August 9-20.

The Erie County Agricultural Society is a private, not for profit membership corporation established in 1819, then called the Niagara County Horticultural Society. It held its first fair in 1820 on what is now the site of the Donovan Office Building in Buffalo. One year later, Niagara County split into Erie and Niagara Counties, and so did the agricultural society. The Erie County Agricultural Society is the oldest civic, community member organization in Erie County. The only time in the history of the fair where the event was not held was 1943 during World War II due to rationing of supplies for the war effort. The fair was briefly renamed America's Fair during the early to mid-2000s in an effort to expand the fair beyond Erie County; it has since been renamed the Erie County Fair. 2014 marked the 175th edition of the fair, and was celebrated with special events including a high wire walk by Nik Wallenda.

The region’s first agricultural society was founded in 1819 with the goal of sponsoring a county fair to promote education and competition among farmers. This goal was realized when the first fairs were held on the Buffalo waterfront in 1820 and 1821. Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, one of Buffalo’s most active energetic pioneers was elected President for the fledgling organization. The location was near Terrace and Main Streets, the current site of One Canalside (2014). Enthusiasm for the annual “Farmer’s Holiday” was shortcut when local farmers lost interest due to poor travel conditions, a downturn in the economy and the community’s collective focus on the building of the Erie Canal. With the opening of the Canal in 1825, the Village of Buffalo quickly grew in size and economic stature becoming a city in 1832. After not holding a fair from 1822 through 1840, The Erie County Agricultural Society was re-activated in 1841 and sponsored a Fair held at Lafayette Square on the grounds of the Erie County Court House. So earnest were their endeavors that only once since 1841 has a year passed without a Fair. In 1943 the Fair was postponed due to World War II rationing of gasoline and other vital commodities.