These photographs of the Knox County Fair represent a part of a larger project documenting approximately twenty county fairs throughout central Ohio. This project is, informed in part, by Kenyon College's Family Farm Project. These images are intended as a documentation of the modern day inculcation of agricultural techniques and traditions, as well as civic values among the youth of rural farming communities. With specific attention to fair activities such as Junior Fair competitions, and their indigenous "cultural texts"-- signs, symbols, dress, and evidences of the rules and rituals of competition and judging-- these images provide a trace of the agricultural and educational basis of these fairs, a point of view sometimes overlooked in the fine-art documentary approach to fairs.
Not included among these photographs-- but a part of this project-- is the documentation of 4-H, Grange, produce, and other displays found at county fairs. These complex and ephemeral text- and icon-based exhibits (often quietly tucked away from the anonymous attractions of the midway) accord meaning and importance to referenced community activities, traditions, and values which inform fair activities.
~~Dan Younger
are Copyright Dan Younger 1994-95.
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