Midweek Matinee: California State Fair, 1913

It’s time to seriously consider your summer road trips, and we here at Hemmings suggest that you include a proper state or county fair in your itinerary. You remember: the rides, the livestock, the 4-H dioramas, the fried ice cream, the rigged games, the carneys – and in our case, budgeting half a buck to sit in the grandstand and marvel at the Joie Chitwood Thrill Shows, held on the dirt track on closing night – an annual ritual that heavily influenced a lifetime of automotive shenanigans. Although today’s film clip includes several thrills dating from WAY earlier than the extent of our fond recollections, you can definitely trace the lineage.

All photos are frame grabs from video below.

Please note: Any similarities of these scenes with typical rush-hour traffic here in Vermont are purely coincidental. Yes, the film quality is lousy, and no, there’s no sound, so you’ll need to crank up your own Scott Joplin “Maple Leaf Rag” earworm.

From a livestock parade, to horse-drawn carriages, to harness racing, to guys on horseback and motorcycles… trust us, this is all leading up to a classic automotive event. And here it is: a few seconds of auto polo action, truly an under-appreciated sport, but one near and dear to those within the Hemmings Nation. After enjoying this film, check out Dan Strohl’s previous auto polo coverage.

For the grand finale — perhaps there were concerns over the relative safety of staging, say, a tractor pull or greased pig contest — the Events Planning Committee apparently brainstormed and came up with this completely reasonable idea instead.

Public domain archival footage courtesy of the Internet Moving Images Archive, in association with Prelinger Archives.