HAMBURG, N.Y. -- With horse racing, livestock shows and year round field trips, the fairgrounds in Hamburg are really never quiet, but that decibel level goes through the roof come mid-August, when hundreds of thousands of people come through the gates to experience one of North America's oldest and largest fairs.
"As of last year, we are the 10th largest fair in North America. That includes state fairs. That includes the Calgary Stampede. You're up against Denver and these huge properties. It is a sense of pride. It's definitely a place that people feel connected to, feel ownership of," said Jessica Underberg, the Assistant Fair Manager.
The first fair was held in 1820 in Buffalo. It was put on by Niagara County Horticultural Society, which was started the year before.
One year later, Niagara County split into Erie and Niagara counties, and so did the agricultural society. The Erie County Agricultural Society is the oldest civic, community member organization in Erie County.
After the 1821 Fair, the Society foundered due to the poor economy and the difficulty of transporting livestock.
"That was in the time when there weren't roads. People traveled by horse and buggy. You just think about those challenges now, it's huge. No wonder they had a hard time," said Underberg.
The Society was reborn in 1841 and again started holding its annual Fair. The Erie County Fair has been held every year since then with the exception of 1943, which was canceled because of World War II.
"We've moved all over the place. We've been at the Donovan building. We've been in Springville. And it was interesting that one vote swayed the move to Hamburg," said Underberg.
The Hamburg location was chosen because the Hamburg Driving Park Association had a half-mile harness racing track and offered it up to the fair, and archeological evidence dating back to the mid-1600s shows the fair's location has been a gathering place for hundreds of years.
"When I first started here, probably about 20 years ago, I got the privilege to see an archeological dig across the street. It was an Indian burial ground and I got to see the skeleton of a mother and a baby, and you think about how long ago that was and it's still preserved, and the archeological dig and what they did. It just makes you wonder what happened here before we were here," said Underberg.
The roots of the area are still honored today. In 1965, the Nyah-Weh Indian Village opened on the Erie County Fairgrounds as a way to showcase the area's Native American culture.
"I think it's very important. When you go down and listen to the stories that they tell and they talk about the three sisters. They do their dances, it really is amazing," said Underberg.
The oldest building on the grounds is the Octagon Building, which was built in 1885.
"One structure moved around the grounds was used for different things and now has settled on our antique mall and settled into its location. It's 130 years old this year," said Underberg.
From 1901 or 1931, fairgoers could get from Buffalo to Hamburg along a trolley service for 25 cents round trip. The fair owns the only original San Francisco Cable Car operating outside those city limits.
"There's a story that one of our CEO's relatives drove it back from San Francisco at a very slow speed. It's a very awesome sight," said Underberg.
During the 1920 fair, passengers could take a three minute airplane ride.
In 1928, the fair was electrified and the first nighttime fair was held. Nightly fireworks became a tradition
Bill Bieler served as the groundskeeper from 1924 to 1972, which is 48 years. After he died in 1979, his wife Ida lived in the superintendent's house. She was the only permanent resident of the fairgrounds.
"His family is still involved and our groundskeeper today still lives in the Bieler house, so they're on site 24-hours a day, 7-day a week," said Underberg.
The Erie County Fair is at the heart of many things we associate with fairs today. Legend has it that the hamburger was invented at the Erie County Fair.
"There's been different stories going back and forth, but we'll say Hamburg, New York, is the birth place of the hamburger, whether it's here at the fairgrounds or somewhere in the village. How's that?" said Underberg.
The fair's demolition derby was held in 1963. Known as the "World's Largest Demolition Derby," at the peak, the Milligan Family's show featured 280 cars.
"It is one of those traditions that gosh, I don't know if we could ever do without. With JM Productions putting on the event, it is one of the biggest-seller motor events that we have and people love it," said Underberg.
The Erie County Fair also has one of the longest running and most respected tractor pulls in North America. It Started in 1971 and by 1973, it was the first in New York State to be officially sanctioned by the National Tractor Pullers Association.
"We pull tractors from all over the country. When our tractor pull is on, it's amazing to see the folks that travel all over, and we have tractor pullers who will come two days early just so they can do the fair with their family before the pulls," said Underberg.
The fair has always been a place to showcase local talent.
"The kids got to be part of the fair and how cool is that? That community involvement goes from bands to dance troops on the community stage to creative arts entries with who has the best quilt and who has the best canned beans to the best three tomatoes in Western New York and every one has a part," said Underberg.
The Erie County Fair became the country’s largest county fair for the first time in 1970, with an attendance of 600,960. It is currently the nation’s third largest county fair.
"Most of our guests are from the Western New York Area but we pull people from Pennslyvania, Florida, Canada, Rochester. We pull from all over. People take their vacations to come back to Western New York for the fair," said Underberg.
"It was a place to bring everybody together. The things that we did then, we still do today. It's a fabric of the community. It brings together all different pieces of the community in one spot for a certain number of days."
The Erie County Fair is a non-profit membership corporation and does not receive any government funding. The majority of the money to run the fair and upkeep at the grounds comes from the casino on the property
"All of the funds get put back into the propriety and back into our mission statement, so that's why we have new buildings. But it started years ago with things folks didn't recognize. It was sewer lines and electric lines being buried and maybe a roof here and there. But as time went along, things started to come up out of the ground. We built new buildings. We are now doing new programming. That's why we're able to have farm to table field trips now. We have free field trips for kids in Western New York two weeks of every month, all year long," said Underberg.
Need more of a reason to Explore New York at the Erie County Fair this summer?
"Our fair is very much park-like. There's plenty of seating, plenty of things to do and see. You can't see it all in one day," said Underberg.
"There's a combine, a fully functional combine that you can climb up in the seat, and it's a simulator. So they can be feeling like they're the farmer driving the combine down the field. They can see how a robot milks cows less than 10 miles down the road from this fairgounds right now. They can milk a calf, things that people don't get the chance to do that they did do in the 1920s because most people lived on a farm," said Underberg.
Over the last decade or so, attendance has been pretty consistent between the 900,000 and over 1 million mark. In fact, last year, the Erie County Fair set a record with 1,220,101 paid visitors.
The original Hamburg fairgrounds was 12 acres. Today, it is 275 acres. The fair has also grown from one day to 12.