The 70th Annual Fisher Fair Directors, Officers and Superintendents would like to dedicate the 2011 fair to 2 very valued members of our Fisher community and fairboard. We would like to honor the memories of Jack Welborn and James (Jim) Estes.

Jack Welborn

Jack was a member of the fair since the early 1960’s. He was known to be a real joker of our group! His love for people enabled him to talk to anyone. Jack helped all over the fairgrounds, picking up trash, moving equipment, assisting with fencing and ticket booths and overall general maintenance. The committee that he most recently served on with his wife, Virginia, was the Pedal Tractor pull. Children’s Day at the fair was special to him as he solicited prizes from area implement dealers for the Pedal Tractor pull activities. The tractors that were given to the winners was the most coveted prize in the hearts of the hundreds of children over the years, as they all wished they could win a tractor! Jack’s smile and his love of his community brightly showed thru. We appreciate the Welborn family in sharing the great memories with us and the community. We lost a great supporter and friend of the fair in 2010. We will forever be grateful for his dedication to this volunteer organization.

James (Jim) Estes

Jim has been a member of the Fisher fair, since the late 1960’s. He started out working as general maintenance around the fairgrounds and continued to work for many years all around the fairgrounds, trash detail and general maintenance of the fairgrounds. He also mowed the grounds and gladly helped with setup before and teardown after the fair was over. As any volunteer organization knows, those people that are just all around good at anything they do are a dime-a-dozen! In the later years, before his retirement, Jim was our Ticket Superintendent. He was instrumental in signing up volunteers to take tickets at the gates during the fair and assisting the Treasurer with daily ticket booth runs. Jim was a wonderful, giving man who loved life and his family. We honor his memory and thank his family for the dedication to the Fisher Fair and to our community.

2011 – SPOTLIGHT Moments at the Fisher Community Fair

Some people attend fairs because of the awesome fair food, others come to see the livestock in the barns, yet others come for just the overall enjoyment of meeting and seeing people. Then again, some people come to the Fisher Community Fair & Horse Show because it’s been in the corner of 4 townships, Brown, Condit, East Bend and Newcomb townships, in the town of Fisher, IL for 70 years!. We’d like to introduce you to a couple that has been to almost every one of those fairs since 1941! This is the life of Bob and Lois Hedrick.

Their story began over 70 years ago… you see, they met when they were 16 years old. They quickly realized that they had the same birthday and they were born in the same year, October 4, 1922. As they tell it, they were inseparable from then on. They were married on July 10, 1941. They got married in the afternoon and spent their evening at the… very first, Fisher Community Fair!

In 1942, Bob left to serve his country and was stationed in several states before he was transferred to California. Lois followed him around the country and worked on the different bases where Bob was stationed. When Bob went overseas, Lois returned to the Fisher area, waiting for his return. When Bob came back to Fisher, he was employed by FS in Fisher. In 1959, Bob became the President of the Fisher Community Fair. He held that position until 1965. He transferred to Illini FS in Urbana and managed the Farm store until his retirement in 1985. The Hedrick’s have 6 children, 17 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren to date.

According to the history of the fair, the Fisher Community Fair began as a grouping of tents behind the old Fisher Elementary School. The first Fisher Community Fair idea was conceived in 1941 by the Condit 4-H Club in which A.A. Jones was the Leader of the club, the East Bend Brownies; Jess D. Naffziger, leader and the High School FFA Chapter, in which Marshall J. Scott was the Advisor. Because of gas and rubber rationing and shortage during World War II, the residents of the area were not able to travel to the Champaign County Fair. They created the event strictly for the purpose of permitting the Farm Youth Organizations (FYO) to exhibit their work and to help build a cooperative spirit in the community.

The first year of the fair, a crowd of between 1,000 and 1,500 people were sent home by storms from Mother Nature, when a four hour downpour dampened the spirits of all fair-goers and exhibitors. Because of the short day a financial deficit was incurred. The Fisher Lion’s Club, East Bend Brownies, Condit 4-H Club and the Fisher FFA Chapter each contributed $10 dollars to balance the books. That was the early beginnings of the fair and it has continued to be a non-profit fair. Since that time, it has grown into a community institution under the leadership of several different valued leaders in the community that depends on all-volunteer help to produce a small fair like none other in the county, or maybe even the state! The first Premium & Event book was printed in 1942. This book is now a mandatory publication from the Illinois Department of Agriculture. The book must list all categories and classes and premiums that will be offered and paid out to exhibitors. The first Horse Show was held in 1943 on the school grounds. It was so well liked by the fair-goers, that it was enlarged each year until 1946 when it was held at the athletic field under flood lights at night time. In addition to the local exhibitors, horse owners from 10 surrounding towns had taken part in the Horse Show during the first several years.

2011 is the 70th year of the annual Fisher Community Fair & Horse Show. The Hedrick’s have 6 children, 17 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren to date. The Fisher Community Fair & Horse Show would like to honor Bob and Lois Hedrick for their wonderful life together of 70 years and welcome them to sit on our bench’s anytime and enjoy the fair!