Digital Bob Archive

The Southeast Alaska Fair for 20 years, from 1922 until 1941, met at Juneau in September and it was one of the big events of the year.

The first public suggestion of an annual fair at Juneau came at a meeting of the Juneau Commercial Association, predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce, on September 8, 1921. The idea took hold and Governor Scott C. Bone formally opened what was billed as the first Southeast Alaska Country Fair in the Arctic Brotherhood Hall on Third Street on September 27, 1922. The fair ran for three days and nights, with agriculture and handicraft exhibits, concerts, dances, fashion shows and other special events.

The A.B. Hall was the largest available place in town but it was crowded and for the second fair, in 1923, the non-profit Fair Association rented what was called a three-ring circus tent. It measured 80 by 160 feet and was erected at Fireman's Ball Park where the Federal Building is today. The tent served very well and the fair was a success, with fireworks, music by the Kake brass band and a vaudeville show, but a few days after it ended the tent blew down in a windstorm and that experiment was not repeated.

In 1924 and 1925 the fairs were again held in the A.B. Hall, but in 1926 there was a new location. The Juneau Hardware Company had recently gone out of business on South Franklin Street and the store space and warehouse it had occupied were rented for the fair. That gave more floor space than the A.B. Hall, but even it was crowded and at the last minute another store space, recently vacated by the Boston Shoe Store, was rented for the animal exhibits. Obviously the fair needed a home of its own.

This became a reality in 1927. On August 9 a contract was awarded the Morris Construction Company, on its bid of $18,600, to erect a building measuring 100 by 200 feet on Glacier Avenue at 11th Street. The Bill Ray Center occupies a part of the site today. The fair opened that year on September 28 \"with 23 concession booths, 13 advertising booths and a multitude of exhibits.\" That year and in subsequent years it ran four days and evenings, from Wednesday through Saturday.

With the larger quarters, the Southeast Alaska Fair began to draw exhibits, and spectators, from most of the northern part of the Panhandle. There was a general admission charge, but children were admitted free and there were many events especially for them, with prizes in many contests for children.

The fair sailed through the 1930s as a popular and financial success, but fell on dark days in 1941. The Alaska National Guard was inducted into the National Guard in mid-September that year and the guardsmen were fed, and some of them were housed in the fair building until they could be sent to Chilkoot Barracks or other training centers. The fair finally was able to open, for two days only, at the end of September.

And that was the last Southeast Alaska Fair at Juneau. The building became a military warehouse during the war and continued in that use after the war ended.