The first Tingley Street Fair and Baseball Tournament was held in 1900. This celebration became an annual affair around the first of September from 1900 through 1907 and was held on Main Street.

In 1908, the celebration was called a "Fair" and was held on the Frank McGUGIN land (present day [1982] ball field down by the stock yards). From all accounts in the Vindicator it must have been very similar to our County Fair today (1982), with judging of livestock, handiwork, and garden produce. Since the County Fair at Mount Ayr was no long being held, Tingley citizens had "high hopes" of their fair becoming "the" County Fair. Livestock barns and a grandstand were built on the McGUGIN land. The fairs were hampered by rain every year, therefore preventing many farmers from getting their exhibits to town. The fair was held for five consecutive years, and in 1912 it was decided to tear down the structures and sell the lumber.

The Street Fair and Baseball Tournament were again held on Main Street in 1914 and 1915.

The Vindicator, July 27, 1905

The various committees appointed at the tournament meeting made a partial report. Enough has been contracted for making this the leading Tournament of any that have yet been held. They are all clean and entertaining.

Foremost is Professor SIMMER, the strong man. He performs feats of strength and gives a lecture on physical training that is of great value if put into practice. CLARK and STONEBREAKER acrobats and contortionists, will be here in their double trapeze, barrel jumping, and revolving ladder, unicycle riding and balloon ascension and parachute leaping acts. The double trapeze is 40 feet high. One of the leading features in the trapeze act is the sensational act of holding a small trapeze with the teeth with a full line of athletic feats while swinging is in full motion. Another leading feature is the backward somersault from chair to table, from table to barrel, and into barrel backwards, an act that is done only by Mr. CLARK.

In the balloon ascension the big jumbo balloon is used, it is one of the largest found on the road. A trapeze is attached to the balloon and performers on same while ascension is being made. The parachute leap is a feature worth seeing.

Efforts are being made to secure the ball teams from Troy, Kansas, Clarinda, Villisca, and Cambridge, Iowa. Trap shoot is being planned also.

The base ball schedules are filled. Local teams will compete during the forenoon, and each afternoon there will be semi-professional games, Humeston, Bedford, Maloy and Tingley contesting.

The Tingley Concert Band will furnish music all day long, and open air concerts each evening, the days to end with CULHANES' Comedians at the Opera House each evening.

The Vindicator, August 30, 1906

Ideal weather, splendid music, good free attractions, fine colt show, ball games and all tend to make the sixth tournament the best of all. The weather being so delightful, we had large crowds, estimated from 3,000 to 4,000 on Thursday and Saturday, and 5,000 to 6,000 on Friday.

We were all proud of the Tingley band and the excellent music they presented. They played almost all day long excepting during the ball games. When there seemed to be a lull in the program, band master J. W. ASBURY would start the music to going.

This splendid organization numbering 60 persons, presented an attractive appearance with the white and blue costumes of the ladies - blue ties, skirts and saddle blankets, and white caps and waists. The gentlemen had red saddle blankets. Red, white, and blue plumes were on the horses' heads. they performed many difficult evolutions, riding in twos, fours, eights and twelves, keeping an elegant line and doing many other difficult things. A needle threading contest by ladies riding at a gallop was won by Miss Fay STANLEY in 9 seconds with Miss Louella HOUSE second in 19 seconds. Great credit is due to Prof. E. N. DeWITT for the successful training of these young people in this riding exhibition.

Saturday forenoon's colt show was a success.

At the horse show the driving teams was very nice indeed. In the single drivers, Luke SHAY got first and Dr. HANNELLY second. The saddle horse exhibit was won by E. N. DeWITT first, and Joe CLEVER of Humeston second.

The McCOY family were the star attractions and presented 8 acts Friday. Mr. and Mrs. McCOY were jugglers, and Mr. McCOY a slack wire performer. He rode a bicycle, climbed a ladder and did many other astonishing things. Little Everett McCOY, age 11, walked the high wire and stood on his head on the wire 40 feet above the street. He also turned a backward somersault on a moving slack wire and landed on his feet on the wire.

The dog, a Scotch Terrier, climbed a 40 foot ladder and jumped off into a net.

The first day, thee were only two teams present - Clarinda, Iowa and Ridgeway, Missouri. Not all the Clarinda players were present so L. A. TOPE and Lloyd ANDERSON went into the game with Lute EIGHME on the bench. Games also were played in Friday and Saturday.

P. E. KEESLER was present with his electric theater or moving picture show in the furniture building beside the postoffice. His two made-up darkies entertained the crowd with song and dance before each exhibition.

The watermelon stand . . . of pleasure. The merry-go-round was generally well crowded. Shooting galleries, baby racks, hamburger and lunch booths, candy and lemonade stands, the six-legged South American ox and the panoramic view of the San Francisco earthquake all helped entertain the people at a very moderate price. The Myrtle Vinton Company presented highly entertaining plays at the opera house each evening of the tournament.

The Vindicator, August 27, 1908

Final preparations were made at a special meeting of the Tournament and Fair committees. It was voted to have two rest rooms for ladies and children with combs, basins, water, looking glasses, and cleanly necessary adjuncts; seats and benches along the sidewalks on both sides of Main Street. The stock tent will be on the north side of Main Street; and tent for fancy work, culinary, farm and garden and poultry departments just east of STEWART &Son's. The merry-go-round in the street near the ENGLE House and a platform near SLENTZ'S and RICHARDSON'S.

The Vindicator, September 10, 1908

The most successful of all Tingley Tournaments . . . the largest crowd ever assembled in Tingley that day, nearly 6,000 persons. . .

The Vindicator, 1910

The Vindicator office completed Monday the work of issuing an edition of 500 copies of the premium list for the Tingley Fair which will be held Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, September 7, 8, and 9. The total of the premiums offered in the several departments is as follows:

Premiums will also be awarded on meritorious articles not enumerated in the premium list should the judges deem them worthy. Call at the office of Secretary L. F. HALL and get a list and prepare some exhibit for the Fair.

The special premiums officer are:

O. A. TALBOTT &Co. - 5 bushels of oats for best span of draft mares.

The Vindicator, October 24, 1912

TINGLEY FAIR WILL CEASE

At a meeting of the Fair Association, it was voted to dispose of all its property, pay expenses and premiums of the 1912 Fair and cease to do business. Several things have conspired to bring about this result.

First, it required too much money to keep even a small fair like ours going. We are handicapped by poor railroad facilities so that people from neighboring towns cannot attend, there being no morning and evening trains.

The lease for the fair grounds had expired and Mr. McGUGIN wished to plow up the land.

It requires the unanimous support of the community. This the Association did not have.

We regret to record this, but it is the cold fact.

[Also, it rained almost every year, which kept people from getting their exhibits to the fair.]

~ ~ ~ ~

The Vindicator, October 24, 1912

The Tingley Fair Association will sell all of the lumber belonging to the Association on the Fair Grounds, about 1000 feet of fencing and 100 cedar poles, at auction.

SOURCE: Tingley, Iowa Centennial: 1883 - 1983. Pp. 80-1. PSI, Inc. Belmond IA. 1983.
Courtesy of Mount Ayr Public Library, September of 2011

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2011