PROGRESS: Generations say goodbye to grandstand

The Adair County Fair will say goodbye to a structure that has stood for a good portion of the event’s history when the current grandstand is razed following the 2025 fair this July.

Shirley Meisenheimer, her son, Jerry, and grandson, Trevor, have three generations of involvement with the fair, though only Shirley was a 4-H member.

The family remembers many fairs where area residents attended events in that grandstand. It is thought to date back to 1927, and the inaugural Adair County Fair was held Oct. 11-14, 1892.

In 1925, an amphitheater built at the fairgrounds came down in a violent wind storm. Shares were sold to raise money to replace it, and that opened a short time later. It remains today.

While the structure has largely remained unchanged from the beginning, with only minor cosmetic changes being made throughout the years, its function has ebbed and flowed with the decades.

Shirley, 84, drew up a member of 4-H. In those days, there were clubs for boys and clubs for girls. The three project areas girls were allowed to participate in included food and nutrition, home furnishings and sewing. Her family raised and showed Duroc hogs.

Girls in 4-H were required to participate in achievement shows, and their standing at these shows determined whether they could exhibit their projects at the county fair.

“I still have two of the projects I made in home furnishings,” Shirley said.

Shirley remembers the grandstand in her day, which required a separate ticket for admittance. Her family seldom attended shows there due to how busy they were showing livestock. She remembers the popularity of horse pulls and other events there.

For a long time, the city held baseball games and other athletic contests on a ballfield that was on one end of the grandstand. There was also once a dirt track at the grandstand, which hosted races of various kinds through the years. Back in the day, the back side of the grandstand had windows which opened to booths for vendors.

Shirley and her husband James raised their children on a farm near Greenfield. Their girls were involved in 4-H but the boys were not. Jerry, 56, said his first real invovlement with the fair began when he was in high school, competing in the demolition derby.

“I liked beating up other cars,” Jerry said. “Back then it was way different than they are now. You would just take a car and do the bare minimum to it. It’s not like the welded up things they have now.”

Jerry recalls the carnival at the fair, which was complete with a ferris wheel. He recalls extensive open class livestock shows where anyone could show livestock. Those are all things that have gone away with the years.

As primary groundskeeper for the fair since 1999, Jerry has spent a lot of time on the fairgrounds and takes a great deal of pride in keeping the 40-acre plot looking the best that it can year round.

Each September, the fairgrounds draws a multitude of people for the Greenfield Swap Meet, which has been held in Greenfield since the late 1990s. Just before he came on, the new 4-H/FFA Center was completed. Not long ago, a new show arena was built. There are many weddings, graduation parties, meetings and other events the fairground host throughout the year.

Jerry said that it is most satisfying to see the fairgrounds full each July for the county fair. While there may be fewer farm families than in previous generations and fewer 4-H members participating in shows, it’s still rewarding.

Many of the grandstand events are the same today as when Jerry first attended the fair: a rodeo, tractor pulls and other similar attractions.

Trevor, 25, enjoyed going to the fair as a kid and especially remembers enjoying the mud bogs, which is another event of the past. He began helping his dad take care of the grounds while he was in high school at Nodaway Valley. His mother, Brenda, has been the longtime fair board secretary, with her own responsibilities surrounding the fair.

Like his father, Trevor has spent countless hours seated on a mower at the fairgrounds. He and his father have watched the grandstand deterioriate a little due to age. Moreso, the grandstand has become unsafe in many ways because of how steep and hard-to-traverse the steps are.

“It really hasn’t changed,” Jerry said. “It’s getting aged and I can see it deteriorating, but nothing fast. We’ve had to do work on it.”

Last year, the Adair County Board of Supervisors approved a plan from the fair board to build a new grandstand. The job went out for bids recently. Once it is built, the Meisenheimers hope it can serve the Adair County Fair well into the future.

“The kids are still coming. I hope it keeps going,” Jerry said. “The fair board lets us take care of it. Without them saying ‘do it,’ you drive through a lot of fairgrounds and there are areas that aren’t mowed unless it is during the fair. We mow everything and try to keep it looking nice.”