Centralia Country Fair — Advertisements Page

The Southwest Washington Fair — known by the 1970s as the "Friendly Fair" — traces its origins to 1877, when Lewis County farmers began competitive exhibitions. The Washington State Legislature formalized the event in 1909, funding permanent fairgrounds between the neighboring cities of Chehalis and Centralia (the "Twin Cities," about two miles apart on I-5) and designating it to serve a six-county region: Lewis, Thurston, Mason, Grays Harbor, Cowlitz, and Pacific. The current fairgrounds site dates to that 1909 act.

The 1975 program lists A.W. 'Tony' Wildhaber as General Manager, with a full board of officers and directors. Saturday was "Dairy Day" — a salute to the Washington State Dairy Princess and Lewis County Dairy Princess — reflecting the fair's agricultural roots. A note in the Saturday schedule credits director Erwin Kain with overseeing the Candy Creek area on the fairgrounds since 1932.

The advertising mix is specific to the moment:

• Lewis County Mall had just opened with JCPenney and Sears as anchor tenants; its ad here — "more than twelve new stores" — reads like a place still new enough to need an introduction. It sat directly across the street from the fairgrounds entrance.
• KMO 1360 AM, out of Tacoma, had carried the "Country Giant" branding since at least 1970; country format and a Lewis County fair audience were a natural fit. The station operated under the KMO call letters from 1922 until 1983.
• PhotoWay at 141 National Avenue, Chehalis — a division of Wayne's Photofinishing, Inc. — pitched itself as a local employer while claiming reach across the entire West Coast.
• McKee Tacoma's Keyboard Center (5915 6th Ave., Tacoma) and a Kranich & Bach dealer round out the sponsors with a pair of instrument ads, both directing buyers toward Tacoma rather than the fair itself.