Ticket to the Past: The Past 25 Years of the Missouri State Fair

Fair Attractions in the Air

In addition to the all time favorite, horse racing; early Fair attractions brought Missourians a look at the latest daring endeavors. Hot-air balloon ascensions and zeppelins thrilled the crowds. In 1907 the Missouri State Fair featured daily airplane flights. It was only four short years after the Wright brothers' first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C.; a time when most Americans had never even seen an airplane. The evenings brought spectacular night flights that lit the skies and, in 1910, Orville and Wilbur Wright themselves provided the Fair's aeronautical thrills.