The World’s Largest Street Fair: a remembered summer’s dream

  

 

The Way We Were

The song was written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) and Marvin Hamlisch (music) and performed by Barbra Streisand.

Mem'ries,
Light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? Could we?
Mem'ries, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it's the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were...

Recalling summers past memories of Keokuk’s annual Street Fair light the corners of my mind.  They are like faded water-colored images of the way we were.  Fifty plus years have passed since I rode the Rollercoaster, Ferris wheel, Scrambler, Tilt-a-whirl, Himalayan Express, and Merry-go-round that were set up along Main Street for one magical week each summer.

The summers of my high school years, 1962, 63, 64, and 65 I recall walking the fairway each evening, meeting friends, riding rides, and eating cotton candy.  I came home the summer after my freshman year in college, 1966, and walked that midway once again; perhaps for the last time.  The Street Fair was forced off of Main Street when the four lane highway was constructed through Keokuk.  The Fair was moved to side streets and used this venue in 1967, 68, and 69 and moved to the river front’s Victory Park in 1970.  Once it was moved from the original Main Street location the allure of this annual event changed.  Scattered pictures, sound of laughter amidst the noise of the carnival, smell of greasy food, if we could do it all over again would we?

Remember the laughter, the faded water-colored prints of memory, the smiles we gave to each other, and the smiles we left behind…frozen in time.  These are reminders of the way we were.    

Evening along the Fairway

The sun is finally going down.  Darkness grows across the sky spreading from east to west.  My friend drives her old ’46 Plymouth and we park it on Blondeau Street that runs parallel to the carnival midway on Main.  We walk the block to Main and enter at the midpoint between 3^rd and 13^th streets.  A stage that hosts free acts and family entertainment sits here and a band is performing.  Four blocks down the street is the place where Hugo Zacchini, the human cannonball, is shot out of a cannon over two Ferris Wheels and into a net on the other side.

Games are interspersed with the rides on the fairway and barkers stand outside trying to shill fair goers to their tents.  As we walk toward 3^rd and get nearer the river the carnies become more incessant in their bid to draw us in.  The kiddies rides are blocks away, the family entertainment stage is back near 8^th street, and here at the last block of The World’s Largest Street Fair the games become bolder, the barkers more aggressive, and the crowd more desperate. 

The Girlie Show tent sits here and as evening closes in the dancers become more suggestive, the barker more provocative, and the male audience lining up to pay their cash to enter the tent and see the show are more frenzied. Just a block down S 2^nd street is where Keokuk’s red light district once was.  A remnant of the infamous era still exists at the Hawkeye Hotel, scene of a double unsolved murder in the early 1960’s, and this sits just a couple blocks west of The Girlie Show Tent on the fairway.

Someone has said that looking back and remembering the annual street fair in Keokuk during the 60’s you realize that “the closer you got to the river the weirder things became”. I would add that the closer Saturday night/the last night of the street fair got the more frantic the shills, barkers, and the remaining crowd became.  Another year of this week-long event was coming to a close.  The next day, Sunday morning, Main Street was empty of carnival rides and open to traffic as the good citizens drove to church and the carnies, barkers, shills, and performers moved on to their next town; often taking with them a few disgruntled young people who hoped to see the world from the fairway of this World’s Largest Street Fair.

Last Call

The first street fair was held at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898 and Keokuk celebrated this with a Fall Celebration.  This event became an annual occurrence; the time eventually moved to summer months and in the late 1960’s it was held in June.  At some point the Fall Celebration became the Street Fair and eventually The World’s Largest Street Fair.

This annual event was held along Main Street until 1967 when construction of a 4-lane highway moved it off of Main and onto side streets.It returned to Main Street in the mid 1980's until its end in 1989; a 91 year event that was an earmark of Keokuk’s history.

By the time it returned to Main Street its popularity was waning.  The advent of Theme and Amusement Parks drew away the fair goers to their glitzy parks, theme based shows, IMAX Theaters, and clean well dressed staff who were often college students working summer internships in their college degree programs.

Gone were the days of carnival barkers, games of chance, girlie shows, and midways.  An evening of walking up and down Main Street, meeting friends, eating cotton candy, corn dogs, the music and noise that could be heard for blocks, the rush of riding The Mad Mouse are now only dim memories of a time long past.

Uniformed well spoken staff and maintenance people have replaced the carnies.  Clean, neat, homogeneous faces greet the Amusement Theme Park customers rather than the sweat stained shirts, grease covered hands, and dirty hair of the carnival roustabout.  Costumed actors draw visitors into games, theatres, and attractions at the park.  The barkers and shills removed from these upscale expensive venues by a middle class desire to find wholesome entertainment for the entire family.

No more traveling carnivals populate Main Streets, USA.  The summers are not heralded by the arrival of the rides, games, barkers, and side shows. Dissatisfied young people no longer are tempted to leave home called by the allure of the gilded midway.  The way we were plays quietly in the background.  The noise of the midway recedes as the strains of this song grows stronger

Life moves on but we still cling to the faded memories of a time long passed. We remember the laughter and we never do forget the scattered pictures and the fun we once shared.  The Last Call has been given on the midway.  In time memories will fade and be lost, but until the last midway stroller is gone the spark of days gone by is fanned into flames of The Way We Were.

Mem'ries, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget

The Season's Change

A Midwest Landscape 

August rolls across the Midwest; hot, muggy, and mosquito filled.  Schools will begin in a few more days.  It always seems that when school is back in session the summer wraps itself closely in and smothers us with its cloying warmth.  I remember back to my days in grade school, of coming back into the classroom after recess and laying my head on the cool surface of my wooden desktop and wanting to drift off to sleep. When my kids were grade school age they walked home in clothes wilted by the day’s heat and their activities.  Ah, August what do you hold in store for us?

Chandler captures the intense August Heat in these colors

We sloth through the days and simmer throughout the nights; waiting on a reprieve from this mind numbing heat.  Looking to the sky we hope for the relief of rain; we welcome the occasional shower and long for a quenching downpour. Crops and plants stand patiently in the hot sun, roots reaching deep into the earth to draw from any moisture buried there. 

As August beats down on us we find the shade, the cool, moist hollow places in which we take respite from this month’s unrelenting and oppressive heat.  We await September and then October when autumn will arrive and the landscape breaks into glorious shades of yellow, gold, rust, and orange that beckons to the approaching winter.  

Last Call

 The Street Fair

The Way We Were

Mem'ries,
Light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? Could we?
Mem'ries, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it's the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were...

Recalling summers' past memories of Keokuk’s annual Street Fair light the corners of my mind.  They are like faded water-colored images of the way we were.  Fifty plus years have passed since I rode the Rollercoaster, Ferris wheel, Scrambler, Tilt-a-whirl, Himalayan Express, and Merry-go-round that were set up along Main Street for one magical week each summer.

The summers of my high school years, 1962, 63, 64, and 65 I recall walking the fairway each evening, meeting friends, riding rides, and eating cotton candy.  I came home the summer after my freshman year in college, 1966, and walked that midway once again; perhaps for the last time.  The Street Fair was forced off of Main Street when the four lane highway was constructed through Keokuk.  The Fair was moved to Main and South 2^nd to Exchange and down Exchange to 4^th and back to Main.  It used this venue in 1967, 68, and 69 and moved to the river front’s Victory Park in 1970.  Once it was moved from the original Main Street location the allure of this annual event changed.  Scattered pictures, sound of laughter amidst the noise of the carnival, smell of greasy food, if we could do it all over again would we?

Remember the laughter, the faded water-colored prints of memory, the smiles we gave to each other, and the smiles we left behind…frozen in time.  These are reminders of the way we were.    

Evening along the Midway

The sun is finally going down.  Darkness grows across the sky spreading from east to west.  My friend drives her old ’46 Plymouth and we park it on Blondeau Street that runs parallel to the carnival midway on Main.  We walk the block to Main and enter at the midpoint between 3^rd and 13^th streets.  A stage that hosts free acts and family entertainment sits here and a band is performing.  Four blocks down the street is the place where Hugo Zacchini, the human cannonball, is shot out of a cannon over two double Ferris Wheels and into a net on the other side.

Games are interspersed with the rides on the midway and barkers stand outside trying to shill fair goers to their tents.  As we walk toward 3^rd and get nearer the river the carnies become more incessant in their bid to draw us in.  The kiddies rides are blocks away, the family entertainment stage is back near 8^th street, and here at the last block of The World’s Largest Street Fair the games become bolder, the barkers more aggressive, and the crowd more desperate. 

The Girlie Show tent sits here and as evening closes in the dancers become more suggestive, the barkers more provocative, and the male audience lined up to pay their cash to enter the tent and see the show are more frenzied. Just a block down S 2^nd street is where Keokuk’s red light district once was.  A remnant of the infamous era still exists at the Hawkeye Hotel, scene of a double unsolved murder in the early 1960’s, and this sits just a couple blocks west of The Girlie Show Tent on the midway.

Someone has said that looking back and remembering the annual street fair in Keokuk during the 60’s you realize that “the closer you got to the river the weirder things became”. I would add that the closer Saturday night/the last night of the street fair got the more frantic the shills, barkers, and the remaining crowd became.  Another year of this week-long event was coming to a close.  The next day, Sunday morning, Main Street was empty of carnival rides and open to traffic as the good citizens drove to church and the carnies, barkers, shills, and performers moved on to their next town; often taking with them a few disgruntled young people who hoped to see the world from the fairway of this World’s Largest Street Fair.

Last Call

The first street fair was held at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898 and Keokuk celebrated this with a Fall Celebration.  This event became an annual occurrence; the time eventually moved to summer months and in the late 1960’s it was held in June.  At some point the Fall Celebration became the Street Fair and eventually The World’s Largest Street Fair.

This annual event was held along Main Street until 1967 when construction of a 4-lane highway moved its venue off of Main and onto side streets. In 1970 it was moved to Victory Park along the river at the foot of Main. It returned to Main Street in the mid 1980's until its end in 1989; a 91 year event that was an earmark of Keokuk’s history.

By the time it returned to Main Street its popularity was waning.  The advent of Theme and Amusement Parks drew away the fair goers to their glitzy parks, theme based shows, IMAX Theaters, and clean well dressed staff who were often college students working summer internships in their college degree programs.

Gone were the days of carnival barkers, games of chance, girlie shows, and midways.  An evening of walking up and down Main Street, meeting friends, eating cotton candy, corn dogs, the music and noise that could be heard for blocks, and the rush of riding The Mad Mouse are now only dim memories of a time long past.

Uniformed well spoken staff and maintenance people have replaced the carnies.  Clean, neat, homogeneous faces greet the Amusement Theme Park customers rather than the sweat stained shirts, grease covered hands, and dirty hair of the carnival roustabout.  Costumed actors draw visitors into games, theatres, and attractions at the park.  The barkers and shills removed from these upscale expensive venues by a middle class desire to find wholesome entertainment for the entire family.

No more traveling carnivals populate Main Streets, USA.  The summers are not heralded by the arrival of the rides, games, barkers, and side shows. Dissatisfied young people no longer are tempted to leave home called by the allure of the gilded midway.  The way we were plays quietly in the background.  The noise of the midway recedes as the strains of this song grows stronger

 
Life moves on but we still cling to the faded memories of a time long passed. We remember the laughter and we never do forget the scattered pictures and the fun we once shared.  The Last Call has been given on the midway.  In time memories will fade and be lost but until the last midway stroller is gone the spark of days gone by is fanned into the flames of The Way We Were.