In reading up on the state of fairs I was quite surprised to find how many they're were. Hundreds and hundreds of them from the mid 1700's onward. Most were held in the larger centre's, particularly the ones with an industrial achievement theme. Seems every city with a better way to bake bread or flush body fluids had to have a fair.
Not to be outdone, tiny little Launceston, Tasmania had a cracker of a fair in 1891-92. It ran from November till March and had nearly 1400 exhibitors.
Dubbed The Tasmanian International Exhibition, it was the biggest event the town ever hosted, which pretty well meant the whole damn island. Like many similar fairs it was part trade fair, part cultural splash and part community pride.
A rather unique historical quirk occurred when it came time to issue tickets. For those attendees who purchased a season ticket, their photograph was taken and affixed to the ticket, much like a passport. The photographer, Richard Nicholas, kept a copy of all the photos taken for the tickets and pasted them into an album with the corresponding name next to them. In all, over 1300 locals have their picture in this album. A perfect snapshot of life in small town Tasmania in the 1890's.
The fair turned a handsome profit of 180 pounds.
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