How the County Fair Turned My Grandparents Into Local Celebrities in the Midst of the Great Depression

My love for the county fair runs deep and goes back to Aug. 21, 1931, 41 years before I was born. 

The Great Depression was in full swing and times were tough, including in Warren County, Iowa. In order to take everyone’s mind off of the dire financial situation and give them something to look forward to, the Warren County Fair Association announced a contest where a local couple would win an extravagant wedding at the fair.

The winning couple was kept a closely guarded secret until the moment they stepped into the grandstand for the ceremony. The winners were Vern Foust and Helen Utsler, my grandparents.

My grandfather was a farmer, and he drove an egg truck. My grandmother, whose father had passed away when she was a child, worked at the local laundry. 

There’s no way they would’ve been able to afford anything but the simplest wedding, but my grandparents were just happy to be together. Thanks to this contest, though, they found themselves at the center of the biggest event to ever hit Warren County.

The Big Reveal

Local newspaper The Indianola Record wrote, “The long heralded marriage of the unknown bride and groom took place on a platform, appropriately decorated for the occasion, in front of the grandstand crowded to capacity from people from all over the county in holiday mood, but at the same time possessed with a full sense of the propriety of such a ceremony. People were seated in the two ampitheatres, spilled over into the race track, occupied seats on improvised bleachers, and crowded the open spaces directly in front.”

The paper reported 4,500 people were in attendance. I remember my grandma saying, “They were hanging off the rafters!” According to census records, the number of attendees was equal to more than one-fourth of the population of Warren County at the time.

The newspaper wrote, “The stands, jammed with curious people, the lights and shadows playing across the platform, the glare of a hundred electric lamps, and the bridesmaids each wearing a dress of a different shade, provided an interesting and colorful setting for an unusual occasion.”

The ten bridesmaids, “popular girls” selected by the Fair Association to represent each town in Warren County, walked down an aisle lined with white ribbons held by local Boy Scouts. The maid of honor was my grandma’s choice: her best friend, Ruby McClintic. (Later, Ruby would marry my grandma’s brother, Leonard, turning the two best friends into sisters-in-law.)

After vows were exchanged, The Record wrote, “The bridegroom kissed the bride, and as he did so the crowd cheered.” The president of the fair association presented my grandparents with $25 in gold, which would be worth more than $3,000 today. I can’t imagine what that meant to them. 

Local merchants presented the couple with gifts, and a band played songs including, “Oh, You Great Big Beautiful Doll.” When the ceremony was over, the sheriff drove the newlyweds to my great-grandparents’ farm in the rumble seat of his Chevy Roadster for cake and ice cream.

A Reprieve From Hard Times

While the fairytale wedding was an amazing gift for my grandparents, they weren’t the only ones who benefited. Times were so hard, and people desperately longed for something to celebrate. The wedding gave the people of Warren County a reason to come to the fair and be genuinely happy. The crowd witnessed a simple couple who didn’t have much in the way of money — but who had more than enough love — make vows to stay together forever, through good times and bad.

And that’s exactly what they did.

My grandfather passed away before I was born, but my grandma lived into her 90s. When I’d ask about her wedding day, she’d smile, show me the newspaper clipping, and say, “It was really something.”