Remember E.W. Pearson’s Agricultural Fair? It’s Back!

Dr. Darin Waters Photo: The Urban News

Staff Reports

Have you ever heard of the Western North Carolina District Colored Agricultural Fair and Farmer’s Jubilee?

Founded by Burton Street community leader E. W. Pearson and his neighbors in 1913, at a time when African Americans could not compete in local fairs, the Colored Fair lasted from 1913 through 1947. It offered prizes in dozens of categories and drew competitors from across the region. Originally held in Pearson’s Park in the Burton Street community, the fair changed location several times as attendance expanded. It was eventually one of the largest African American agricultural fairs in the southeastern United States, attended by blacks and whites alike.

Dr. Darin Waters of the History Department at UNC Asheville will speak about the Colored Agricultural Fair at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 18 at the West Asheville Branch Library, 942 Haywood Road. Dr. Waters, a former resident of the Burton Street neighborhood, is known for his ground-breaking research on the history of African Americans in WNC. His presentation, “Upifting the Race: E.W. Pearson and the Colored Agricultural Fair,” will also inform audiences about African American life in WNC in the early years of the twentieth century.

In recognition of E. W. Pearson’s pioneering work, the Burton Street Neighborhood Association is reviving the old-fashioned event in September. The 2nd Annual Burton St. Agricultural Fair and Farmers Jubilee will take place this year from 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday, September 24, on the grounds of the Burton Street Community Center.

Anyone with personal memories of the fair or who has photographs or other memorabilia to share with fair-goers should contact Karen Loughmiller at the West Asheville Branch Library, (828) 250-4750. For more information about the 2011 fair, contact [email protected] or call Safi Mahaba at (828) 301-0166.