Salem man, 80, hasn't missed a state fair - Statesman Journal
Ray Hughes was born that year and attended his first Oregon State Fair, in diapers, at the age of 3 months. The fair was scaled back in 1942 and isn't counted in the event's 150-year history, and there was no fair in 1943 and 1944, when military units set up camp on the fairgrounds during World War II. "I'm sure there are older people who started going... Going to the state fair has been a family tradition for Hughes, and it started with his mother, Ola. She attended her first one as a teenager after moving here from Kansas in 1919 and went every year until she physically was unable to in her 90s. Hughes has no memorabilia from state fairs gone by, not even a single photograph from his childhood. He graduated from North Salem High School in 1953. As a kid, Hughes seldom missed a day of the fair. His dad enjoyed going to the horse racetrack, which was demolished in 2002. "That's one of the biggest mistakes the fair board ever made, tearing down that racetrack," he said. "I saw some really good acts there," said Hughes, singling out Roy Acuff, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers as some of the headliners. He also misses the old state fair food, which he. Source: www.statesmanjournal.com
