This day in Mohawk Valley history: September 26, 1899

A STREET FAIR.

Fort Plain Merchants Emulate a Western Custom.

For a number of years with each recurring autumn the merchants in many of the small buy thrifty western cities have held street fairs which have proven more successful than those held by the agricultural societies of the various counties. This plan of bringing together the products of the farms, the forests and streams have never until now, we believe, been adopted in the east. Fort Plain is first in this line. Several merchants have united in offering prizes to the farmers of that vicinity for vegetables and fruit products of their landed acres. They have attracted to one of the principal streets of that village one of the largest and most varied aggregations of specimens of field and garden crops ever assembled in the county. The fair opened Saturday and hundreds of people were attracted to the village, and Saturday evening the throng was simply immense.

Source: NYS Historic Newspapers

NOTE: Fort Plain’s most recent Street Fair was held in conjunction with Heritage Days celebrations in August 2023, nearly 124 years after the first Street Fair was reported!

Fort Plain Heritage Days and Street Fair August 2023