Midway provider marks 100 years along with Augusta fair
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Georgia-Carolina State Fair will be celebrating 100 years when it opens Friday – and so will the fair’s midway provider, James E. Strates Shows.
In addition to its “Centennial of Smiles,” this year will mark the 20th year the Orlando-based company has partnered with the Exchange Club of Augusta to provide the midway.
Strates Shows began in 1923 when James E. Strates, a Greek immigrant, began his first show.
Strates came to America in 1909 and, like many immigrants, worked hard at many small jobs to find success in his new country.
In 1919, he ed a carnival athletic show as a wrestler named “Young Strangler Lewis” who would take on all challengers.
ABOUT THE FAIR:
- The Georgia-Carolina Fair will take place Oct. 13-22 at the fairgrounds, 308 Hale St. Gates will open at 5 p.m. weekdays and noon Saturdays and Sundays. ission is $10 and anyone 17 or under must be accompanied by an adult.
In 1923, he co-founded Southern Tier Shows, which consisted of a three-abreast merry-go-round, a Ferris wheel, an athletic show, 15 concessions and three side shows.
In a short time, he’d turned a hodgepodge of wagons and rigs into a thunderous railroad caravan of shows.
In 1932 the carnival was renamed the James E. Strates Show.
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In 1937 as the U.S. began to emerge from the Great Depression, Strates Shows included 17 major rides, three kiddie rides and 18 shows that included animal attractions, oddities and burlesque-style dance productions.
Show fronts were illuminated with dazzling neon, and four giant light towers allowed the show to operate into the late evening.
Postwar prosperity and “free-spending crowds” resulted in record fair and midway attendance during the mid-1950s.
PHOTO GALLERY:
In 1959, when show founder James E. Strates died unexpectedly, his 29-year-old son E. James “Jim” Strates took control of leading the family business.
He would continue to transform the show with innovation and creativity.
During the 1960s and 1970s, new rides like the Sky Wheel, Sky Diver and Sky Ride dominated the midway.
As the “show” aspect of the midway began to lose favor with a new generation of guests, imported rides from Europe became larger and more spectacular.
In 1972, advanced midway ticket sales were introduced. An innovative centralized ticketing system was introduced in 1975 allowing for accurate financial ability and greater profits for fair partners.
As Strates Shows celebrates its centennial year of operations the family business is led by the third generation of Strates , including Jimmy, Jay, John, and Susan.
Nick Strates, who officially ed the show full-time during the 2015 season, is the fourth generation of the family to continue the tradition.
Overseeing it all, as he has for the past six decades, is E. James Strates who is still actively involved in daily operations from Orlando.
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