A great depression and a terrible world war were finally over and the nation was eager for a return to normal. It was 1947, and not yet a boom time for the Lewiston-Auburn area.

Many war-rationed products were still in short supply. Meat was unavailable or expensive. Newspaper ads offered horse meat at 10 cents a pound for forequarters, 15 cents a pound for hindquarters.

Nevertheless, there was no shortage of things to do. Movie theaters were thriving, and dance halls were popular night spots. Louis Prima and his Orchestra was appearing at the Old Orchard Pier.

There was one unmistakable indicator of optimism and exuberance returning to the families of the Androscoggin Valley and beyond.

It was Labor Day week, and that meant Maine State Fair in Lewiston. During the war, the popular event was scaled back, but 1947 promised to be a return to old-time popularity. It was billed as the “bigger, better and back-to-earth” Maine State Fair, and it lived up to those high expectations.

Newspaper reports hailed record attendance. The opening day count for the 92nd annual Maine State Fair on Monday, Sept. 1, 1947, was nearly 40,000.

Rose O’Brien’s news report in the Lewiston Evening Journal emphasized the enormous demands placed on Lewiston’s public transportation at that time.

“Extra police were rushed up when it was realized that a record crowd had turned out for the opening day and every bus that could be put on the Main Street run was rushed into service,” she wrote.

“Extra buses?” one driver snorted. “We’ve got every bus we can get our hands on going up and we’re just swinging the loop. Even at that,” she said, “you went express from Bates Street with your bus driver signaling the crowds on the corner that another bus was right on the way.”

O’Brien’s story described the many exhibits, including two Thorne’s Corner Grange booths as well as a Glenwood Bakery exhibition of cakes decorated by Lawrence Peterson.

Agricultural exhibits and livestock entries were also top attractions.

Admission was 25 cents, and up to a dollar for the better grandstand seating. The grandstand show between races featured top vaudeville acts.

“There are two aerial acts that are thrillers,” O’Brien wrote. “One is a girl who climbs to the very top of a very high flagpole that is so flexible that it bends under her weight, and there she performs a series of tricks that culminates in a headstand that has the crowd gasping. The other aerial act is a trio on an even higher stand, a wire dancer, an excellent Chinese girl who does a contortionist dance that is fine as can be seen, a dog act and a clown cop act.”

Harness racing was always a big draw for fairgoers, and fans were shoulder to shoulder in front of the stands throughout the week.

Maine State Fair’s remarkable revival in 1947 was repeated the following year when about 50,000 set another record on opening day. The end-of-summer draw at the Old Orchard Pier that Labor Day week in 1948 was the Freddie Martin Orchestra, with vocals by Merv Griffin.

Lewiston’s Maine State Fair started with a parade through downtown streets. A firemen’s muster was presented with a horse-drawn fire engine spouting black smoke from its boiler as a special feature.

Arch Souter’s newspaper report noted that prizes at the midway “games of skill” had changed. Instead of trinkets, concessionaires offered grocery items. A top prize at some booths was a large metal wastebasket crammed full of food products.

The Lewiston Fairgrounds is gone now, with large office buildings for state agencies, restaurant and recreational facilities, and commercial operations now standing where the colorful silk shirts of sulky drivers and handsome pacers and trotters once thrilled the crowds as they circled the track.

The appeal of a large state fair has diminished, although Fryeburg Fair and some others are still very popular each fall. For Lewiston and Auburn, there’s no longer a Maine State Fair, but many events such as the annual Great Falls Balloon Festival serve much the same purpose for entertainment and community pride.

Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and a native of Auburn. He mayn be reached by sending e-mail to [email protected].