Now there’s a new way to discover Lagoon’s past. The Lagoon History Project is now on Tumblr with a new short-form blog acting as a supplement to this website. Those who follow (or subscribe) will find photos and rare content before it appears on LagoonHistory.com and will also see updates on their dashboard when new features are added to the website. Many new features are on their way for 2013, including a long-awaited addition to the Yearbook series, so get in the loop today!

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LINKS

Follow the Lagoon History Project on Tumblr.

Like LagoonHistory.com on Facebook.

Email updates are also available. Subscribe here.

Concept of Utah State Fair at Lagoon published in Deseret News.

By the mid-1960s, the Davis County Fair had not been held in its original location at Lagoon for roughly 20 years. The much larger Utah State Fair, with a history dating back to 1856, had been utilizing the same buildings for about 60 years. In August 1964, Lagoon manager Robert Freed sent a proposal to the president of the Utah State Fair Board suggesting the state fair move to Lagoon. As reported by the Deseret News, Freed’s proposal outlined the following benefits of having the state fair at Lagoon:

1. It would become truly a ‘State Fair’ by locating on a multi-lane interstate highway, midway between Utah’s two largest cities and population centers.

2. Lagoon’s facilities, promotional program and ‘wholesome image’ would enhance the fair and increase its attendance.

3. The amusement park’s midway with its ‘reasonable operation and control’ would remove any transient carnival atmosphere from the fair. Lagoon’s lower-than-usual midway prices would not be increased during the fair.

4. The fair board and manager could concentrate on the fair itself and dispense with the problem of building maintenance during the 355 days of the year when the fair is not held.

5. The fair can be self-supporting without capital investment by the state for remodeling or contracting concessionaires.

6. Fair facilities will no longer compete with private enterprise during the non-operating part of the year.

7. Problems of parking, congestion and antiquated buildings will be eliminated by moving to Lagoon.

8. New Lagoon buildings would provide the fair with a ‘new look.’

9. Other state fairs have ‘flourished’ under a similar arrangement – the Texas State Fair, for example, held at a Dallas permanent amusement park.

10. The state can dispose of present fair property at a profit or use it for other purposes.

11. Complaints of noise and congestion by neighbors of present fair property would be eliminated by moving from a residential location.

In a way, having the state fair at Lagoon would also extend the operating season at a time when the park usually closed down after Labor Day. The tentative plans included extensive changes to the north end of the park. The Ferris Wheel which stood at the end of the Midway would have been moved further north to allow the installation of a fountain and a new entryway on the other side of the Patio Gardens dance pavilion. More rides would have been added even further north with new picnic pavilions doubling as exhibition buildings during the fair. The new buildings would have been inter-connected in “a contemporary architectural style” – much like an outdoor shopping mall (as shown in the illustration above). A new grandstand was also to be built with a ½-mile race track modified from the existing, defunct track.

Proposed layout of the Utah State Fair at Lagoon printed in Deseret News, August 1964.

The process of finalizing plans wouldn’t have been a simple process. After being agreed upon by the Utah State Fair Board, the 1965 Utah Legislature would have had to change the state constitution which required the fair to be in the capitol city. Then it would need to be included on the November 1966 election ballot for voters to consider.

Even though the president of the Fair Board said there was a possibility of the plan being accepted, no further reports on the plan’s rejection¹ seem to have been printed in papers. Instead, just a matter of weeks later, Davis County Fair officials were reportedly giving serious consideration to moving the county fair back to Lagoon. They had recently sold the fairgrounds near Davis High School in Kaysville to the school district and were looking for a new venue for the fair. In the spring of 1965, an agreement was made between the Davis County Fair and Lagoon, but some of the plans announced for the Utah State Fair were still going forward on a smaller scale. A new expansion on the north end of the Midway that year featured a new fountain as planned for the state fair. Other additions originally planned for the state fair such as the Davis Pavilion and Davis Stadium were completed soon after. Opera House Square was added in 1968 on the east end of what would have been the new entrance and the further expansion to the north never took place until 1986 after the county fair relocated once again and new rides were installed on the former grounds.

There are other connections between Lagoon and the Utah State Fair, but more information is still needed. I have come across some references that suggest Lagoon may have operated rides at the state fair for an unknown period of time. Also, a former employee once told me Lagoon’s Sky Slide was sold to the state fair in the ’70s or ’80s.

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Check back soon for Lagoon And The Fair, Part III about Lagoon and the World’s Fair.

Browse photos in the Lagoon And The Fair Gallery.

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NOTES

1. It’s likely plans for the state fair at Lagoon were simply abandoned once it was apparent that the Davis County Fair had a greater need for space like what was available at Lagoon. Over the years, consideration has been given to moving the state fair to other places like the Salt Palace and the Weber County Fairgrounds in Ogden, but the Utah State Fair continues to be held at the Fairpark in Salt Lake City. The original buildings have since been remodeled or torn down.

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LINKS

Lagoon And The Fair, Part I: The Davis County Fair

Lagoon And The Fair, Part III (coming soon)

Lagoon ’65

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SOURCES

Why Not Move Fair To Lagoon?. Deseret News, 13 Aug 1964.

State Fair At Lagoon? Board Ponders the Move. Davis County Clipper, 21 Aug 1964.

Lagoon Sets 69th Season. Deseret News, 26 May 1965.

3 are still recovering from Friday slide rides. Deseret News, 14 Sep 1983.

Lagoon Summer Shows. Deseret News, 23 Jul 1993.

Palmer, Douglas D. Fair board to study Weber offer. Deseret News, 3 Aug 1994.

Whirlwind Update and More. Email message to author, 20 Oct 2005.

History of the Fair. UtahStateFair.com, accessed 12 Sep 2012.

Part of an advertisement for the 1906 Davis County Fair at Lagoon from the Davis County Clipper.

In the days before big box retailers and internet shopping, state and county fairs were prime opportunities for exhibiting locally-produced goods to nearby areas, aside from being major community events.

It was especially important in the comparatively isolated settlements of Utah before the introduction of major railroads. The first territorial fair was held as early as 1856. Years before Lagoon opened, Farmington – a centrally-located county seat – was considered as a possible host for a fair in Davis County. One of the first recorded references to this was probably a letter to the editor printed in the Davis County Clipper in 1892 when the county’s population was around 7,000 people. It stated, “We have been waiting for the bright minds of Farmington to suggest means for a County Fair to be held in that place about September 25^th next.”

The idea was tossed around for years afterward. A large meeting was held at the Kaysville Music Hall in June 1906 to discuss the possibility of a fair in Davis County. The meeting featured speeches punctuated by performances from the county’s three brass bands. According to a news report, one speaker “pointed out in glowing terms the great resources of the county, what she could produce from her soil, her livestock and manufacturing industries, etc. and also the great benefits the county and her people would derive from exhibiting her products to the other counties of Utah and perhaps other states.” Residents voted unanimously to hold the first Davis County Fair that fall at Lagoon. Simon Bamberger, founder of Lagoon and a senator at the time, also spoke saying, “The Lagoon is at your service,” and told those in attendance, “you have the best county in the state.”

After the success of that first fair, a Davis County Clipper article stated, “The Lagoon is an ideal place for holding a fair as there are so many suitable buildings and outdoor attractions.” However, it seems the fair was not initially intended to be an annual event at that point in time. The next fair was two years later when Davis County joined Box Elder, Morgan and Weber counties in the Big Four County Fair. The combined fair was hosted at the Ogden fairgrounds for a number of years as it grew to include counties in neighboring states as well. Davis County had an ongoing tradition known as Farm Bureau Day which was essentially a one day fair at Lagoon. Around the mid-1920s there was talk of expanding the celebration into a full-fledged, annual fair. Governor George H. Dern spoke at the festivities in 1926 urging the county to do just that.

Preparing for the Davis County Fair at Lagoon in 1939. Photos from Deseret News

It wasn’t until 1929 that the Davis County Fair became a regular occurrence and Lagoon was home to the fair until World War II. In 1942, exhibits were dropped and the two-day fair reverted back to a single day. Lagoon remained closed for two or three seasons during the war and it seems there was a chance of it being closed for good. Land was purchased east of Davis High School in Kaysville as a permanent site for the county fair where school buildings such as the fieldhouse were also put to use.

When county fairs were first held on the Kaysville site in the 1940s, fair officials hoped to expand in that location, but surrounding plots of land later became unavailable. Residents of the homes being built around the perimeter of the fairgrounds complained of dust and noise from the fair. By the ’60s, the Davis School District needed space to build an equipment shed and the most obvious choice was the largely unused fairgrounds next to Davis High. The land was sold to the school district in 1964 with an agreement to have one last fair on the site in 1965. A county-owned park in an unincorporated area between Kaysville and Farmington was a decent place for relocating the county fair, but the required buildings and improvements could have taken years to complete. Meanwhile, Lagoon had been thriving since its World War II closure and it already had a race track and several practical buildings for exhibitions and contests. The former home of so many earlier county fairs was starting to look like an attractive venue once again.

Construction of buildings for the fair’s return to Lagoon in 1966. LEFT: Animal exhibit sheds were built with the help of Davis County Jail inmates west of the grandstand. RIGHT: Davis Pavilion was an exhibition building meant to double as a picnic pavilion during the regular season. Photos: Davis County Clipper

A deal was settled upon in 1965 for the fair to come back to Lagoon². New animal sheds, pavilions and a grandstand were constructed on the property. The race track was revitalized after decades of going unused. The return of the county fair to Lagoon in 1966 brought in record crowds estimated to be three times the size the attendance of any previous fair.

Fixing up the fairgrounds at Lagoon in August 1977. Photo: Deseret News

The tradition continued each August with the fairgrounds also being used for things like Boy Scout jamborees. In the early ’80s, another multi-year lease was about to run out and Davis County was looking for a new site for its fair once again. In 1981, Lagoon began maintaining the county-owned grandstand (which stood where Double Thunder Raceway is now) as part of an agreement to purchase them from the county at the end of the lease. But the following winter, Lagoon showed interest in becoming a permanent host for the fair and even talked about donating land north of the park to the county for that purpose. Davis County had $50,000 budgeted for buying land for a new fairground and if it was decided to stay at Lagoon, that money would have gone towards construction of new buildings. The county also looked into the possibility of allowing the grounds to be used by equestrian groups to generate more revenue year-round.

A deal was never reached and the Davis County Fair had its last year at Lagoon in 1984. Livestock pens used since the ’60s were sold off and removed by early June of that year. Temporary pens were set up for the 1984 fair and afterwards, Lagoon went ahead with projects utilizing land once set aside for the fair. In September, construction began on a new maintenance and warehouse building where the pens had been located. A Deseret News interview with Peter Freed in 1982 revealed, “…Lagoon soon will expand to the north, building rides where the Davis County Fairgrounds now stand and the rodeos are held. He [Peter Freed] expects one of the first rides to be a new roller coaster, which he said he expects will cost about $3 million.” It’s very likely that the coaster mentioned was Colossus: The Fire Dragon which cost about the same and was installed the following year on the south end of the park. It wasn’t until 1986 that Lagoon’s midway expanded northward onto part of the land occupied by the race track. There were even plans to build an IMAX theater¹ somewhere on Lagoon’s property which never came to be.

The Davis County Fair would return to Kaysville for a time before a new, permanent fairground was completed south of Lagoon and Interstate 15 in 1990.

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Read about Lagoon’s connections to the Utah State Fair in Lagoon And The Fair, Part II.

Browse pictures in the Lagoon And The Fair Gallery.

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NOTES

1. Read more about the Lagoon IMAX which was never built.

2. The first ten-year contract required Davis County to pay $3,000 annually for year-round use of the land. In 1975, a new ten-year contract was signed allowing the county to use the grounds for 10 days per year, free of charge. This was based on the fact that the county had made improvements to the property during the previous ten-year lease. It was also at that time that Lagoon paid $20,000 for facilities “previously used for cutter and horse racing tracks.”

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SOURCES

Public Opinion. Davis County Clipper, 17 Jun 1892.

Kaysville Kinks. Davis County Clipper, 23 Mar 1906.

Will Hold A County Fair. Davis County Clipper, 29 Jun 1906.

Excellent County Fair. Davis County Clipper, 5 Oct 1906.

Proved A Big Event Farm Bureau Day. Davis County Clipper, 3 Sep 1926.

Food Cookery Exhibits Feature Davis County Fair At Resort. Deseret News, 26 Aug 1931.

Farm Bureau Sets Davis County Fair At Lagoon, Aug. 15. Deseret News, 26 Jun 1934.

Davis County Fair Opens At Lagoon; Exhibits Colorful. Deseret News, 24 Aug 1939.

Davis County Fair Sets All-Time Attendance Record. Deseret News, 26 Aug 1939.

“Davis Howdy Days” Announced as New Davis Fair Name. Davis County Clipper, 7 Jun 1940.

County Fair Cut To One Day To Aid Victory. Davis County Clipper, 10 Jul 1942.

Davis County Fair Opens at Kaysville. Deseret News, 25 Aug 1950.

Davis Too Considers Fair Site At Lagoon. Davis County Clipper, 4 Sep 1964.

A Fair Question- Where To Locate. Davis County Clipper, 19 Mar 1965.

County Fair, Lagoon Ready For Signature. Davis County Clipper, 28 May 1965.

County Fair Is A Success. Davis County Clipper, 2 Sep 1966.

Davis County’s Fair Aug. 17-19 At Lagoon. Deseret News, 6 Jul 1972.

Fair time in Davis. Deseret News, 23 Aug 1973.

Davis Signs Contract For Fairs At Lagoon. Davis County Clipper, 3 Jan 1975.

Davis celebrates with parade. Deseret News, 21 Aug 1976.

Lagoon to purchase fair-site bleachers. Deseret News, 12 Feb 1981.

Lagoon possible fair site again. Deseret News, 26 Jan 1982.

Davis County Fair expected to pack Lagoon. Deseret News, 4 Aug 1982.

Pearson, Howard. He’s the master of the midway. Deseret News, 6 Aug 1982.

County unlikely to buy new fair site soon. Deseret News, 7 Sep 1982.

Lagoon stock pens are being removed. Deseret News, 31 May 1984.

Winter hasn’t slowed the work at Lagoon. Deseret News, 5-6 Feb 1985.

Arave, Lynn. 4 days of fun on tap at Davis fair. Deseret News, 16 Aug 1999.

History of the Fair. UtahStateFair.com, accessed 2 Sep 2012.

Given the nature of many thrill rides, it’s not uncommon for them to be compared to aviation. Ever since the Wright Brothers first flew in 1903 (and maybe even earlier), the amusement industry has drawn upon the experience of flying for inspiration. The connection is still apparent today as Lagoon adds the new ride Air Race to its list of rides based on air travel.

The first such ride at Lagoon would have probably been the Captive Aeroplanes added around the late 1910s. The planes swung out over Lagoon Lake before they were switched out with large silver rocket-shaped gondolas. Real airplanes also entertained Lagoon’s guests. In 1914, a big race was held on the old race track north of the park between Lincoln Beachey in an airplane and Barney Oldfield in an automobile.

Captive Aeroplanes over Lagoon Lake.

Kids also had the chance to experience floating through the air on rides like the old Kiddie Planes or today’s Red Baron and Helicopter rides. Rides such as Rock-O-Plane, Roll-O-Plane and Octopus were manufactured by Eyerly Aircraft, whose founder Lee Eyerly started out inventing devices to train pilots and later found his creations to be more popular as amusement park rides. When Lagoon added Space Scrambler in 1961, airline stewardesses and a pilot were photographed taking one of the first rides by the Deseret News. The Sky Coaster’s creator based the ride on the thrill of jumping out of a plane and Lagoon’s Sky Coaster features signage portraying a fictional “Lagoon Air Corps”.

For the 2012 season, Air Race has taken its place next to Jet Star 2 and one of Lagoon’s most popular classic rides – Flying Aces. In addition to these rides, many Lagoon rides and their names have also been inspired after space travel such as The Rocket, Satellite and UFO to name a few.

Red Baron in Kiddie Land. Photo: B. Miskin

Read more about some of the rides mentioned above:

Space Scrambler

Rockets

Flying Saucer

Octopus

Peter Freed and the clock in Pioneer Village, 1977. Photo: Deseret News

At the south end of Main Street in Pioneer Village stands a large antique clock. Unlike other attractions in Pioneer Village, it lacks any accompanying informational signage, but it’s history shows it is authentic and one of many preserved treasures at Lagoon.

The bulk of Pioneer Village was acquired from the collection of Horace Sorenson, but Lagoon has also procured some artifacts of its own. One example is this old street clock relocated in 1977 from Main Street and 300 South in Salt Lake City. Throughout much of the 1800s, street clocks were manufactured in the Eastern states and were costly to ship, making these clocks a sign of prestige in the West. By the turn of the century, however, street clocks could be found up and down Salt Lake City’s Main Street. The last one from the 19th century still operating in Salt Lake is the Old Zions Bank Clock at Main Street and 100 South. In its early days, water diverted from nearby City Creek drove an underground water wheel that powered the clock.

Photo from a 1992 Lagoon brochure.

It’s unknown how old Lagoon’s clock is or how long it stood at its former location. When park president, Peter Freed was interviewed by The Deseret News in 1977, he said the old clock “didn’t work anymore. It was a wreck, just a shell.”

The clock had to be removed by crane. Richard Freed, who had restored several items for Lagoon including the old Engine No. 999 and the band organ used on the Carousel, also worked on the restoration of the clock. One original clock face remained and was used as a pattern to etch three other faces in glass. The original motor, operated by 100-pound lead weights, was removed and displayed in the tool collection. The restored clock now runs on electricity and – when it was first installed at Lagoon – the chimes would ring every 15 minutes. It has been repainted at least a couple of times since it arrived in 1977.

Main Street Clock, 2007. Photo: B. Miskin

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LINKS

The True Namesake Of The Freedola

SOURCES

Old chime clock makes a timely addition to Pioneer Village decor. Deseret News, 27 Jul 1977.

Markosian, Richard. What Lies Beneath Salt Lake City?. UtahStories.com, 26 Aug 2010.

The Old Clock – Last 19th-Century Post Clock in Salt Lake City. Waymarking.com, 6 Sep 2010.

Street Clocks!. GreatStreets.org, accessed 22 Mar 2012.

Photo printed in the 10 March 1982 Deseret News.

Lists of the many popular performers that have come to Lagoon can now be found on LagoonHistory.com. The lists include performances at venues including the original Dance Pavilion, Patio Gardens, Village Green and Lagoon Stadium. Some of the most popular names of the 20th century came to Lagoon and many returned more than once.

The list is far from complete, but will be updated as more information becomes available and can be confirmed. Thanks to the many people who have emailed me concert information over the years!

Alphabetical List Of Performers At Lagoon

Chronological List Of Performers At Lagoon

Just like the rest of the website, more info will be added as it becomes available or when it can be confirmed. If you have photos, please submit them to admin@lagoonhistory.com and share your memories!

Click here to browse the 1980 Yearbook.

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Standing at the 900 South entrance to Ken Garff Honda in Salt Lake City, it may be hard to imagine a 300-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower standing as the entrance to what was once envisioned to be the city’s amusement center. But that’s exactly what the Majestic Park Company had in mind.

Proposed additions to Majestic Park in a 1915 newspaper ad.

Majestic Park opened around 1913 on the grounds of the original Salt Palace which burned down in August 1910. It featured a 23,000-square-foot dance hall and baseball diamond which was home to the original Salt Lake Bees franchise starting in 1915. There was also a bicycle track which could have been a remnant from the days of the Salt Palace.

In early 1915, a series of ads were placed in newspapers to attract investors. These advertisements announced big plans for the park’s future including:

• 300-foot electrified replica of the Eiffel Tower
• Racing coaster “similar to ‘Race Through the Clouds’ at Venice, Cal.”
• Carousel, slides and various concessions
• Natatorium with 75 x 150-foot swimming pool
• A larger, 40,000-square-foot dance hall
• Roller skating rink measuring 60 x 130 feet
• Roof garden

Illustration: Eugen Haberer

The park was to be designed by James Carey of New York who also designed the original Luna Park at Coney Island and Dominion Park in Montreal. Both parks featured a single, large tower as a focal point much like the Eiffel Tower replica that would have been at Majestic Park.

As far as I can tell, the Eiffel Tower, swimming pool, roof garden and racing coaster were never built and Majestic Park never seemed to fully evolve into the amusement park it was meant to be. A larger dance pavilion was built in 1916 and the name changed to Bonneville Park the following November.

New dance hall under construction, 23 Jul 1916. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved.

The Salt Lake Bees continued to play there until the franchise moved to Hollywood after the 1925 season¹. Meanwhile a new Salt Lake Bees team was created for the Utah-Idaho League and later the Pioneer League. Another season was played at Bonneville Park after the war, but the stadium suffered a fire just days after the playoffs ended. Salt Lake Tribune sports editor, John C. Derks headed an effort to rebuild a new stadium on a vacant lot a few blocks south which would be named Derks Field in his honor. This was replaced with the new Franklin Quest Field (now SpringMobile Ballpark) in 1994.

In the ’60s, the southern half of the former Bonneville Park was occupied by a Ramada Inn, which later became a Holiday Inn and is now a transitional center for the homeless called Palmer Court.

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NOTES

1. The original Salt Lake Bees franchise started out in Sacramento in 1903 and then moved to Tacoma, back to Sacramento and to San Francisco before settling in Salt Lake City. As part of the Pacific Coast League, the other teams were a good distance away from Salt Lake City. High travel expenses led to the decision to move the team to Hollywood where it later became the Hollywood Stars. The Hollywood Stars moved again in 1936 when they became the original San Diego Padres. The franchise came to an end in 1968 after the owner at the time, C. Arnholdt Smith, won a bid for a National League expansion team. He used the same name of his old team when he created the San Diego Padres we know today.

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SOURCES

Pavilion At Majestic Park. Deseret News, 26 May 1913.

Majestic Park Company advertisement. Deseret News, 26 Feb 1915.

Majestic Park Company advertisement. Deseret News, 1 Mar 1915.

Permanent Home Is Planned For Bees. Deseret News, 16 Sep 1915.

F.S. Murphy Says Baseball Club Had No Interest In License. Deseret News, 11 Mar 1916.

Majestic Park To Be Amusement Center. Deseret News, 24 Apr 1916.

Majestic Park Opens. Deseret News, 31 May 1916.

Park Name Changed. Deseret News, 4 Nov 1916.

Games of Chance at Bonneville Park Closed. Deseret News, 6 Oct 1917.

Idaho Falls And Pocatello Ready To Enter New Ball Circuit. Deseret News, 9 Feb 1926.

Writers Plan Plaque; Spur Derks Dedication. Deseret News, 25 Jul 1948.

Schindler, Hal. Utah Grows Up With the New Century. The Salt Lake Tribune, 28 Jan 1996.

Zingg, Paul J. & Mark D. Medeiros. Runs, Hits and an Era: The Pacific Coast League, 1903-58. University of Illinois Press, 1994.

Dominion Park. Closed Canadian Parks, accessed 18 Mar 2011.

History – Salt Lake Bees Spring Mobile Ballpark. SaltLakeBees.com, accessed 29 Jun 2011.

RE: Lagoon’s Herschell Kiddie Coaster. Email message sent to author from Duane M., 6 Mar 2004.