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niBLISHID WIIKLY
IN THI HIART OF
■ASTIRN NORTH
CAROLINA
5^ Per Copy
VOLUME 14
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1971
NUMBER 20
Yesterday was when, at the
turn of the century, New Bern
was already boasting a
population of “nearly. If not
quite, 10,000 souls.” We’ve
grown since then, but not as
rapidly as Jack’s bean stalk.
That year (1900) the New
Bern Fair and Fourteenth
Exhibition of the East Carolina
Fish, Oyster, Game and In
dustrial Association made it
clear that no one would be
permitted to break bad during
the big promotion.
According to printed
regulations, “The sale of
spirituous, vinous or malt
liquors on the grounds or in any
of the buildings is absolutely
prohibited, nor will any pool
selling, gambling devices,
lotteries, or games of chance of
any kind or description be
tolerated or allowed, and any
person found engaging in the
same will be excluded.”
Nary a word was said about
banning hootchy kootchy shows.
Apparently, thirsty males at
least had die satisfaction during
their rigidly enfwced sobriety
of sinfully watching undr^ed
girlies grind and bump.
The rules spelled out that
“Hie President and Directors
shall have the general super
vision of the Fair, and shall see
that order and decorum are
observed on the grounds and in
the buildings.”
To this end, “It shall be the
duty of any of these officers to
take speedy and efficient means
to quell any disturbance that
may arise, and the employees
and policemen will obey any Hie
or more of them.”
If somebody did forget to be a
lady or a gent, it wasn’t hard to
identify an official to whom the
misbehavior could be duly
reported. “The President wiU
wear a white rosette; each of
the Vice-Presidents, red and
white; each of the Directors,
blue; the Secretary, red;
Managere, green.”
Price of admission for each
person, “whether in carriage,
on horse or on foot” was 50
cents. Season tickets were $2.00
for adults and $1.00 for children.
The charge for each two horse
vehicle was 50 cents, and each
one horse vehicle, 25 cents. By
paying $2.25, the owner of a two
horse vehicle could get a badge
admitting the vehicle and
driver all during the fair. It cost
$1.50 for this privilege, if you
had a one horse vehicle.
Even if you entered an exhibit
that won a prize, you couldn’t
get rich. For example, the best
sow entered with six of her pigs
under me years old got the
owner only $2.00. Second prize
was a red ribbon.
It should be said, however,
that there was no en^ fee, and
stalls and grub were furnished
the animals without charge.
Besides, there were contests for
everything imaginable, and it
add^ up to a tidy sum.
In the wild game division,
there were cash prizes for quail,
woodcock, English snipe,
grwback, double rail, single
rail, doves, meadow larks,
willet, curlew, yellow shank,
robins, plovers, and oyster
(Continued on page K)
K»m aUamtt
ii
READY AND WAITING—^Nancy Lynne Mason,
three year old daughter of John and Karen Dunn
Mason, is an excited young lady th^e davs. She
expects to have a baby sister or baby brother
around the house in a little more than two weeks,
and this adds up to happiness. What she doesn’t
know yet is that sharing takes some adjusting. It’s
a problem faced by parents and their firstborn
since time began, but fortunately Nancy Lynne will
eventually conclude that the newcomer isn’t a rival
for affection but somebody who is loads of fun. Her
paternal grandparents are the Clyde Masons, and
the maternal grandparents are the Ernest C.
Dunns.