3/9/2012:
People from across the state and region are gathering in Valley City today as they have been for the past 75 years. The enticement is the state’s oldest and longest running agricultural exposition: The North Dakota Winter Show.
In 1938, when the first Winter Show was set for March 8th through 11th, the dates for the fledgling venture were chosen for being one of the few times a year when farmers and ranchers are not busy with vital seasonal chores, yet in the planning stages for the coming year.
Local businessmen teamed with The Greater North Dakota Association, the NDSU Cooperative Extension Service specialists and county agents, the Soo Line railroad and more “to promote and improve the condition of agriculture, horticulture, mechanical manufacturing and household arts for the purpose of exhibiting and showing agriculture, horticultural, mechanical manufacturing and livestock products.”
One of the dreamers, the GNDA’s agricultural committee chairman B.E. Groom said, “The Winter Show could become the show window for all groups.” And for many years the annual get-together was promoted as the “Show Window of North Dakota!” Governor William Langer opened the inaugural event and praised the concept and the Valley City location by correctly predicting that “the state will become increasingly proud of this event.”
Over the years and throughout the erratic March weather on the high prairie, the Winter Show prospered and is now home to the North Dakota Agricultural Hall of Fame, annual livestock shows, FFA and 4H participation, a PRCA Rodeo, food booths, business sponsored exhibits and booths and a wealth of entertainment.
In 1938, the first show’s entertainment included an 80-man singing group “The Amphion Chorus,” as well as a drama presented by a cast from the Sanding Rock Indian reservation.
North Dakota’s Peggy Lee was a huge “homecoming” hit when she was the featured artist in 1950, the show’s twelfth year. Minnie Pearl dropped by to say “Howdy” in 1956 with a Grand Old Opry Show that filled the city’s auditorium. Opry stars Homer and Jethro entertained in 1956, followed the next year by the wacky Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
Other popular stars throughout the years included The Ink Spots, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, Dottie West, Grandpa Jones and even famous circus clown Emmett Kelly. They all helped provide part of the show in The Show Window of North Dakota.
Dakota Datebook written by Steve Stark
Sources:
http://www.northdakotawintersjhow.com
Halvorson, Brenda, 1987 Valley City Times Publishing, “The First 50 Years North Dakota Winter Show”