Warren County has emphatically been an agricultural community from its very beginning. Those roots are celebrated every year at the Warren County Fair.

The first fair was held in the southeast part of Indianola in 1855, just 10 years after Iowa became a state. A year later, the fair moved to 20 acres of ground that the Warren County Agricultural Society purchased for $320.

Early fairs offered premiums for everything from the best thoroughbred bull — $5 — to the best plowman and produce. Ladies were encouraged to present “any specimen of needlework” for competition. There were no barns at those early fairs. Animals simply roamed pasturelands around the grounds located just a little more than a mile outside of Indianola.

All through the summer of 1905 the Agricultural Association “had been preparing to hold the largest, best, and most thoroughly enjoyable fair on this, its 50^th anniversary.” No expenses were spared. But then, during the fair in September, the Advocate-Tribune reported:

“The clouds grew thicker and it grew almost dark in the tents. Suddenly, at about 9:30, there came a blinding flash of lightening accompanied by a crash of thunder that fairly stunned the frightened crowd. So brilliant was the lightening that it seemed to those in the tents that the walls had burned away.”

That lightning bolt passed over the art hall, hit the poles of a canvas tent, killing four men at the fairgrounds, whose ages ranged from 14 to 59. The community mourned, but the next year the fair bounced back. The swine shed was full as was the art hall, the class of horses at the races included Iowa’s finest, and the size of potatoes and pumpkins was outstanding.

The fairgrounds look much different today. The annual celebration of Warren County’s rural community is held at the same location, but it’s now nestled in the heart of town. Youth and open class exhibitors show off their rabbits, dogs and goats along with more traditional cattle, hogs and jams and jellies. There’s delicious fair food, carnival rides, music and grandstand events. It’s an annual event that is, every year, “kind of a big deal!”