A Visit by Life Magazine

Excerpts from "Saluting 75 Years of People, Pride, Progress"

In 1949, Life Magazine visited the Clay County Fair.  According to the Spencer Daily Reporter article in the 1981 Fair Edition, Burt Rossiter received a call in the summer of 1949.  A faint voice on the other end of the phone greeted Rossiter and informed him that the call was being made from the Time-Life Building in New York City.  It was a man stating that he represented Life Magazine and wanted to know if the Clay County Fair would be an interesting subject for their readers.

Rossiter, one of the fair's councilmen in charge of the 4-H department, thought that the fair would be a great topic.  After a few more questions about winning families and if the fair would be very photogenic, the caller was satisfied, and said he'd send a writer and photographer to Spencer to cover the fair.

On September 19, 1949, a day before the fair was scheduled to start, Rossiter and other board members drove to the Sioux City Airport to greet Life photographer, Lisa Larson and a San Francisco writer, George Shiras.  The  pair were inseparable, recalls Rossiter.

"They were always comparing notes to make sure it would correlate with the pictures," Rossiter said.  They would start covering the fairground activities from early morning until late in the evening, stopping only to catch a quick bite to eat over a table full of more notes.

Getting used to the livestock wasn't hard for the city folks to adjust to.  "Lisa decided if the kids half her age could work around animals, then she would have to also," Rossiter said.

The Life team was surprised that the farmers started working so early in the morning and how well every event was scheduled for the following day.  Extra lights and a PA system were installed in the show ring by a group of volunteers so pictures and the commotion of the ring could be recorded accurately.

Rossiter accompanied the "Lifers" throughout the entire fair and said the pair were courteous with everyone they met.

Because the fairgrounds were so large, the pair had to calculate the number of steps it took from one exhibit to the other in order to save time.

Larson and the writer presented Rossiter with a necktie for the help he had given them when the fair ended.  They then flew to New York with all the information and photographs.  Two months later, on October 10, 1949, the article was published and sent around the world for people to read about the "World's Greatest County Fair."

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