Amazing Tales from CT: There’s Never Been Anything Quite like the Great Danbury State Fair, Part 2

We encourage you to tune in to our newest program, Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut's Beaten Path, which airs Sunday afternoons at 4:30 right after the Opera.

 

Amazing Tales uses a story-telling format to focus on historically significant people, places, and events from Connecticut’s past. Host Mike Allen interviews subject matter experts on a variety of historical topics.

He specializes in bringing local history to life, by using his journalism and story-telling skills with podcasting and public speaking. For 15 years, Mike worked as a radio journalist, both at NPR's Boston affiliate WBUR and as News Director at i-95 (WRKI-FM) in western Connecticut. He subsequently worked in government and corporate before retiring and starting his podcast. As a resident of Connecticut for more than 50 years, Mike also makes public appearances throughout the state, speaking on topics of local history.

 

The Great Danbury State Fair was the longest running state fair in U.S. history (112 years) when it finally closed in the 1980s – to make way for a shopping mall. The Great Danbury State Fair is legendary. You probably don’t know the real story behind its beginning – or its end. Jack Stetson was the last person to “turn out the lights” at the fair, and he’s written the only book exclusively focused on the fair and its history. In part two of this two-part series, we’ll focus on the fair’s rapid growth in the 1900s and then the backroom dealings that led to the property being purchased by a mall developer. Also sharing his insights is noted Danbury historian Bill Devlin.