The Williamson County Annual Fair has always been sponsored by the Williamson County Agricultural Society. This Society was incorporated in 1856, with the following gentlemen as its first officers: Willis Allen, President: John H. White, secretary: James D. Pulley, treasurer. Its Directors were: John Goodall, J. H. Swindell, O. H. Pulley, R. M. Hundley and George Willard. Prominent among the members of the Association were: M. C. Campbell. George W. Binkley and J. M. Cunningham, who all united in the purchase of ten acres of land from T. A. Aikman, to be used as a fair ground. It lay on the west side, just outside of the then corporate limits of the town, and cost $5 per acre. The gentlemen whose names are given above fitted it up at their own expense, besides buying the land, and then made a present of it to the Society. Annual fairs were held on this place until after the beginning of the Civil War, when it was sold to R. M. Hundley.

In the spring of 1863, one company of the Thirty Fifth Iowa were stationed here for a short time. They were said to be paroled prisoners off military duty and were here to assist the enrollment officer, but the county was not enrolled. In July and August, 1863, Major Biers with the third battalion of the Sixteenth Illinois Cavalry, was camped in the old Fair Ground. He was sent here to arrest deserters, suppress sedition, and enroll the county.  He put the town of Marion under martial law with Capt. Wilcot as Provost Marshal, who stationed guards on all the principal streets. They required some persons to take the oath (to the Union) before leaving town. (This action was due to strong Southern sympathies and an attempt by locals to secede from the Union earlier.)

The present location for the Fair was purchased from George C. Campbell about 1866. It comprised at that time 25 acres at the Eastern limits of the city, one mile from the public square in a beautiful natural grove of oak. It has been greatly improved and enlarged till in 1905 it contained 52 acres in one body, ample buildings erected and a fine race track graded, which is said to be the best in Southern Illinois. The amphitheater would seat 1000 persons in 1905. The whole was enclosed in a high and tight board fence. At the first meeting of the Fair the membership fee was placed at $1.00 and remained at that figure in the year 1886, for which we have reliable report, the attendance after the first day was from 5,000 to 8,000. The receipts were $3,100 and the expenses including premiums, $2,000. The surplus was used to cancel an old debt against the Society, leaving at that time less than $100 to be paid. The officers that year were C. H. Dennison. President; Wm. F. Westbrook, vice president; W. H. Eubanks, secretary; C. M. Kern, treasurer, and the directors were Oliver S. Tippy, Shannon Holland, John H. Sander, Thomas, N. Cripps and Dr. Theodore Hudson.

In August of 1939, a countywide Centennial celebration was held to celebrate the counties birth in 1839 and a Sesquicentennial celebration was held again in 1989. In both events the celebration was augmented by parades and beard growing contests. In the 1939 celebration a pioneer cabin was reconstructed on the fairgrounds near the entrance by the Pioneer Daughters of Williamson County. The cabin was constructed of mostly original parts from buildings scattered around the county and stood until it burned down around 1950.

The fairs of today wane in comparison to the events held there in the past. It was always an event to be anticipated and the best livestock growers, cooks and handicraft folks in the county would show up to display their finest efforts. There were originally much more grandstand seating, events taking place in the center of the race tracks, and tunnels that would allow access to the inner field from outside on the fairway. Locals would bring their families and tie their horse and buggies up in the infield and make a complete day of it. As of this writing in 2012, the Williamson County Fair is still running in a much diminished capacity of yesteryear but is the longest sustained and continuous fair in the State of Illinois.

(Extracts taken from 1905 Souvenir Book, WCHS. Photos taken from 1905 book and the Williamson County Historical Society and Ron Emery, compiled by Sam Lattuca 12/13/2012)