This year's theme for Archives Month is “The Lighter Side of Tarheelia: Fun, Frolic, and Festivals in the Old North State.” Today's post is contributed by Jennifer Daugherty at East Carolina University.

The first Pitt County American Legion Agricultural Fair opened to the public on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 1920, at what is now Guy Smith Stadium on Memorial Drive in Greenville, North Carolina. For the first decade or so of the fair, it was a tradition to have an hour-long parade along Dickinson Avenue leading to the fairgrounds at the fair’s opening.

In 1984, Louis May compiled a history of the fair, and in 2020, fair photographer and historian Beverly Allamon added additional research in celebration of the fair’s 100th anniversary.

Above is an image from the official 1958 Pitt County Fair program along with this vintage photo from the Daily Reflector Negative Collection. You can see more images from the Pitt County Fair in East Carolina University’s Digital Collections.