By William “Skip” Deegans
Had it not been for a flood, Fairlea’s West Virginia State Fair would likely still be called the Greenbrier Valley Fair. The first West Virginia State Fair began on 25 acres on Wheeling Island in 1881. In addition to the usual fair attractions – midway, exhibitions, livestock judging, nightly fireworks, etc. – it also had “the finest and largest (swimming) pool in West Virginia.” A large exhibition building had a ballroom on the second floor where there was nightly dancing with orchestras. One custom was the annual cavalcade of animals and horses before the grandstand. In 1886, it was three-quarters of a mile long.
One of the largest attractions was flat and harness horse racing on a half-mile track. In 1922, there were over 150 horses entered to race. The track, however, wasn’t only used for horse racing. There was bicycle racing in 1889 and auto racing in 1934. Wheeling had an aviation industry, and hot air balloons appeared in the 1890s followed by air shows, including parachute drops, until 1915. Like the fair in Fairlea, the Wheeling fair had stockholders, but no dividends were declared and profits were used to improve the fair. In 1921, the State of West Virginia began to help the fair by granting $7,000 towards paying premiums to exhibitors.
Much of the success of the Wheeling fair was due to its accessibility by streetcar and Wheeling’s location on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Adverse economic conditions in the 1930s began to impact the fair. The death knell came in 1936 when Wheeling Island, located in the Ohio River, suffered a devastating flood. The Skeleton of the Exhibition Building is all that remains of the fairgrounds. In 1941, the West Virginia Legislature proclaimed the Greenbrier County fair as the State Fair of West Virginia.
Sources: The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Ohio Public Library, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PBS.
