Sulkey Race. Contestants run neck and neck past the reviewing stand at the old race track during the Harney County Fair. 1900-1915 ca Photo courtesy Claire McGill Luce Western History Room, Harney County Library. 

By Kate Marsh

This newspaper’s front page article April 17, 2024, describing our Harney County Fair and Rodeo was an enticing lead-up to our annual September event. It gave us a good look at the additional exhibits and performances coming to this year’s fair. Having researched the subject of the “Harney County Fair, Rodeo, and Race Meet” for the Oregon Encyclopedia several years ago, I want to share the story of the very beginnings of the fairs and races that have meant so much to Harney County.

The first fair in Harney County was a media event. On July 4, 1888, a local newspaper announced, “As no fair is held in this valley for the public exhibition of the growth and excellence of its productions, The Herald proposes to open a column to all producers, farmers, and stockmen, in which to give a written, description of all that is worthy of mention.”

That same month, local horse racers organized the Jockey Club, announcing the opening of a new half-mile racetrack and plans to make the annual races in Burns (Harney County) better than ever. The Herald faithfully listed winning horses and riders, and purses won.

The Harney County Fair Association incorporated in April 1900, leased land near the Silvies River northeast of Burns, and designed a five-day fair, horse races, and rodeo, with premiums for produce and stock the main features. “Ranch rodeos” were popular throughout the county, and local cowboys signed on to compete during the September fairs. In 1901, premiums given included team driving, one dozen heads of cabbage, and ten pounds of butter and cheese.

A few years later, with some buildings taken by fire and the river-side site a haven for mosquitoes, the fair was moved to the Jockey Club’s racetracks on the southern outskirts of Burns. The 1908 fair recorded a parade, livestock, and garden, cooking, and needlework exhibits. Spectators and participants enjoyed Thoroughbred, Roman chariot, and sulky races. By 1918 Burns boasted the first sanctioned race track in Oregon.

World War I preempted the fair for several years, and the effects lingered. For a few years, a rodeo organization managed to include some fair and racing activities with their annual Round-Up. A revitalized Harney County Fair Association positioned their first Fair Queen and her Court at the head of the 1924 parade. The Harney County Fair, Rodeo, and Race Meet was achieving financial success when the Great Depression hit.

When the Oregon Racing Commission established pari-mutuel betting in 1933, racing money made improvements possible and 1935 saw renewed interest in fair activities. Although interrupted again for World War II, the popularity of the event was swelling. Over the next 75 years the fair organization and grounds steadily developed to meet the needs of exhibitors, community interests, rodeo competitions, and, of course, racing.

FFA and 4-H organizations continue to play a big part in the fair; even in-town youth manage to raise sheep, hogs, and beef as projects. Ranch families may come from sixty or more miles away to spend several days at the fair, bringing horses for racing or rodeo events, animals for show, and other premium exhibits. For over fifty-five years, many animals bought during 4-H fair auctions have been donated as food for Shriners Hospital for Children.

At heart, this is a rural country fair. It is the biggest social event in the whole county, and might be the most important.

Sources:

Harney Valley Fair, East Oregon Herald, July 4, 1888, page 3.

Jockey Club, East Oregon Herald, July 11, 1888, page 3.

Brimlow, George. Harney County, Oregon and Its Rangeland, Burns, Oregon, 1980 Harney County Historical Society, p.219.

Harney County Fair Gets Its Start in 1900, Harney County Historical Society Newsletter, Vol. 19, Issue 7, September 1998, p.1.