07/07/2024
The Gospel Singing Tent Allen County Ohio has an amazing entertainment lineup for this year's Allen County Fair! Great concerts every night!
Allen County Fair
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- Allen County Fair
For more information visit us at www.allencofair.com
Address
2750 Harding Highway
Lima, OH
45804
Opening Hours
| Monday | 8:30am - 4:30pm |
| Tuesday | 8:30am - 8pm |
| Wednesday | 8:30am - 8pm |
| Thursday | 8:30am - 8pm |
| Friday | 8:30am - 8pm |
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170 Years of fun ‘till the cows come home!
When you take a look back over the history of the Allen County Fair, it’s hard to believe that today’s single largest countywide event arose out of a small meeting held more than 160 years ago. On January 11, 1851, a very important meeting was held in Lima, Ohio. The purpose of this meeting was to establish an Agricultural Society whose main directive would be to organize an annual county fair.
The first fair in Allen County was held in the Village of Lima on October 21, 1851. As was typical of fairs in that day, no attendance counts were maintained. However, it was reported that “a vast throng” assembled on the Faurot Farm at the southwest edge of Lima. After that initial one-day event, a two-day fair was held annually in October at the same site through 1855. After a five year absence, the Allen County Agricultural Society was reorganized in 1860, due in large part to the insistence of a group of citizens aided by the local newspaper’s editorials chiding Allen County’s farmers for an absence of a county fair. Two-day fairs were again held annually at the Faurot Farm site through 1866. Beginning in 1867, the Allen County Fair was held on the Roberts Farm, east of Lima, at what would become the Lima Driving Park, and eventually the present site of Lima Memorial Hospital. From 1867 through 1881 the 30-acre site was rented from Josiah B. Roberts, until September 3, 1881, when the 30-acre site was purchased by the Allen County Agricultural Society.
During the period of 1897 through 1902, the Fair experienced five straight years of rain, resulting in devastating losses. Records show that at almost every meeting the principal subject under discussion was how to raise the necessary funds to carry on the fair. Repeated county levies failed, resulting in the sale of the Society property to the Lima Driving Park in 1903. The sale included a stipulation that the Allen County Agricultural Society be granted a twenty-year lease at an annual rent of $500 for the purpose of holding the county Fair.
The half mile track at the driving park was considered among the best in the United States hosting harness, automobile, and motorcycle races. From the early 1890’s until the last fair held there in 1921, the most celebrated harness horses of the nation appeared in competition at the Lima Track. Dan Patch, the legendary harness horse, appeared in an exhibition at the Allen County Fair in 1903 setting a new track record of 2:04. The famous pacer arrived in Lima in his own private railroad car.
