Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to cancel this year’s New York State Fair due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic means the cancellation of the annual end-of-summer celebration for the first since the 1940s.
From 1942 through 1947, the New York State Fair did not happen. The reason was the fairgrounds had been converted into a military base.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States turned almost its entire attention to winning World War II.
As early as January 1942, the New York State Fairgrounds were turned over to the War Department to be used for military use.
Much like today with the coronavirus, there were many questions about what this would mean for the Fair in 1942, scheduled from Aug. 30 to Sept. 7.
(With tire rationing, gasoline restrictions and a ban on the sale of automobiles, many worried about if vendors and visitors from across the state would even try to attempt the journey to Syracuse.)
On Jan. 17, 1942, Gov. Herbert Lehman announced that the suspension of the State Fair for the first time in the 102-year history of the event “is a possibility.”
On that same day, Commissioner Holton Noyes, of the State Department of Agriculture and Markets, said he was “seriously questioning whether a date for the exposition should be set in view of current developments.”
He offered some hope.
He mentioned that the Fair continued to operate during the First World War, although military quarters were established at nearby Camp Syracuse, adding that the size of the grounds and addition of modern and spacious buildings had been made.
Noyes had an ally in State Fair Director Paul Smith who believed that the annual event was an “effective morale builder” to have during the war.
“I would like to see the State Fair go on as usual if it can be possibly done,” he said, adding, on Jan. 25, 1942:
“In the first World War, the Fair went on as usual, and if it is at all possible, the Fair ought to go on as usual this year. We can do this again, and Syracuse would profit by it, I am sure. So, too, would the rest of the State.”
An article from the March 24, 1942 edition edition of the Syracuse Herald-Journal announces that the annual State Fair was cancelled for the first time in the 102-year history of the event.
Optimism ended on March 24, when it was confirmed that the Fairgrounds would “be used for practically year-round military purposes.”
In fact, troops began moving onto the grounds that very day.
While there was of course disappointment in the decision, victory in Europe and in the Pacific were seen as paramount.
“If the Army has now decided that it can use the Fair Ground to good advantage, that’s all there is to it,” a Herald-Journal editorial said. “Under the circumstances, those who have been interested in the progress of the Fair will cheerfully acquiesce.”
It would not be until 1948 until the New York State Fair would return with a smaller, “stripped down” version of the event.
The “limited basis” State Fair started on Sept. 13 to a “quiet start” and attracted so few visitors that the Post-Standard reported that “exhibitors and fair officials winced at the thought of the ‘old days.’”
The expansive Fairgrounds welcomed 500 visitors that opening day, many of them exhibitors.
“There was none of hustle and bustle, the noise and smells of the old state fair,” the Post-Standard Collin Weschke wrote.
Things would return to normal in 1949.
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This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle at jcroyle@syracuse.com or call 315-427-3958.
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