Civil War Reunion and County Fair

After the Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers across the country frequently gathered at reunions. These reunions included political advocacy for better treatment of veterans, sharing stories, and reliving the hard days of the war with brothers in arms. The first Civil War reunion in Grayson took place on November 9, 1883. Ashland’s The Independent wrote that “Citizens and soldiers from the county came pouring into town to witness the first re-union of the gallant old regiment held since they stacked Arms in 1865.”

While the first of these reunions took place on the grounds of the Carter County courthouse, this reunion became an annual event held on what is now the campus of Kentucky Christian University. After meeting and reconnecting with their fellow soldiers, the group marched up to “Hill Cemetery” where they decorated the graves of their fallen comrades and those who had passed during the years after the war.

Eventually Civil War veterans became too few or too old for the event to continue as a Civil War reunion. By 1912, the annual event was reorganized into the Carter County Fair, a four-day event in Grayson. By 1918, J.W. Lusby and Thomas Yates purchased the land where the fair was held. People from around the county and the region travelled to the fair by train, by horse and buggy, or, for those of greater means, by car.

Carnival rides and games greeted fairgoers when they arrived. Contests for best desserts, best needlework, and best canned goods offered cash prizes to the winners. Attendees could even attend a horse race or, for a significantly higher fee, take a ride in a biplane. The fair not only allowed families and friends to congregate and have fun but also boosted the local economy.

The final fair in this location took place in 1941, drawing a crowd of 8,000. The open field where the fair was now houses Kentucky Christian University’s athletic facilities. After World War II, the county fair took place intermittently until the 1990s when the fair again became a reliably annual event and a staple of summer enjoyment for Carter County residents.