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Centralia Country Fair

1975 · Centralia, WA

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Background

Horse racing on "Wed., Aug. 6th" anchors the schedule, and two names in the cartoon illustration narrow the year: country singer Jeanne C. Riley and Seattle TV clown J.P. Patches both point to the mid-1970s Pacific Northwest fair circuit, with Evergreen Savings paying for the printing.

The Southwest Washington Fair has run at the Chehalis-Centralia fairgrounds since 1909. This folded pocket schedule — three panels sized to slip into a shirt pocket — was a common fair giveaway of the era, likely picked up at a bank branch counter before the drive south on I-5.

Evergreen Savings bankrolled the printing, and the left panel is effectively a full bank advertisement for their "neighbor to neighbor savings" philosophy, listing eight southwest Washington offices from Chehalis to Yelm. The copy touts a "TransFund Savings account" and a "Tran$matic service" for automatic bill payment — period marketing for what we'd now call direct deposit and autopay. An institution named Evergreen Savings operated in western Washington from October 1971 until rebranding as Evergreen Bank in March 1980, which frames the window for this piece.

The headliners do real work for dating. Jeannie C. Riley (spelled here as "Jeanne," her actual given name) broke through in 1968 with "Harper Valley P.T.A." — a #1 country-and-pop hit about small-town hypocrisy — and spent the following years working the county fair circuit. J.P. Patches, played by Chris Wedes on KIRO-TV Seattle from 1958 to 1981, was a beloved children's clown who made regular appearances at Pacific Northwest fairs throughout that run. "The Famous Ralkowski!" rounds out the grandstand billing but has left no traceable record.

Horse racing on Wednesday August 6th is the sharpest chronological anchor: that date fell on a Wednesday in 1969, 1975, and 1980. Evergreen Savings didn't open until late 1971, ruling out 1969; by August 1980 the bank had already rebranded. 1975 is the only year consistent with all three constraints.

Researched with claude-sonnet-4-6 on May 24, 2026. AI-assisted — verify before citing.

Highlights

  • "Free Pocket Schedule" is printed in red at the top right, naming the format explicitly — a giveaway intended to be carried into the fairgrounds.
  • The title lettering "C'mon back to the country Fair" mixes hand-lettered casual script with a bold serif, a pairing common in 1970s commercial illustration.
  • "SEE JEANNE C. RILEY!" appears as a named callout at the upper left of the cartoon illustration, singling her out above the generic grandstand-shows listing.
  • "HORSE RACING WED., AUG. 6TH" specifies a midweek date — the most precise chronological fact on the item and the key to narrowing its year.
  • The Evergreen Savings logo — a stylized evergreen tree beside bold red type — anchors the left panel, with eight branch towns listed in a single line directly below.
  • "J.P. PATCHES!" is called out near the lower center of the cartoon, placing a Seattle children's TV celebrity on the same bill as a national recording artist.

Further reading

Centralia Country Fair — Archive — Archive