FAIR (OF. feire, foire, Fr. foirr, It. firma, fair, from Lat. feria, holiday; connected with Lat. festus, feast). A meeting held for the purpose of exhibiting or selling goods. Originally fairs were held at stated times and places, swat) for the sale of a particular class of merchandise, others for the sale of goods of a general character. People resorted to them to exchange goods, and to collect their stores to last for several months. Princes and the magistrates of cif ies encouraged them, and some of the privileges granted still remain in places. With the crowding together of people in large cities aml the rise in rent, the collection of a store of goods to last longer than a few days became impossible, so the original function of the fair ceased to exist. They flour ish mostly to day on the outskirts of where r leans of communication are defective. In Europe they appear to have originated in the Church festivals, which were found to afford the best opportunity for commercial transactions, the concourse of people being such as took place upon no other occasions. In western Europe the goods exposed for sale are chiefly those of which there is a frequent change of fashion. l'ro visions are seldom an article of sale in them; mid while in sonic parts of the Continent persons of all ranks still wait for the great yearly fairs to make their principal purchases of articles of every description. such as eorn, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, etc., these articles are seldom seen in them.
One of the most noted of English fairs was that of Saint Bartholomew, Smithfield, London, found ed at the beginning of the twelfth century. They grew in importance in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but declined in the fifteenth century, and at the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth they had degenerated into resorts for pleasure seekers. The Bartholomew, Greenwich, (llas gow. and Donnybrook fairs are examples of these.
The greatest fairs in Germany are those of Leipzig, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Frankfort-on-the Oder, and Brunswick. At the first named meetings are held three times a year—New Year's, Easter, and on the Feast of Saint Miehael—and it is estimated that $50,000,000 worth of goods are sold. Other noted European fairs are those of Zurzach, in Switzerland; Budapest, in Hungary; Sinigaglia and Teramo, in Italy; Beaucaire and Lyons, in France; and Nizhni-Novgorod, in Rus sia. The last-named, beginning in July and last ing, eight weeks, is frequented by buyers and sellers from all parts of Europe and northern and central Asia, and it is said that merchan dise to the value of over $100,000,000 is sold.
Outside of Europe, the most important fairs are those of Tanta, in Upper Egypt; Kiaklita and Irbit, in Siberia; Hurdwar, in India; and Mcyca, in Arabia. The last-named fair is held at the time of the annual pilgrimage, and over 100,000 people visit it.
In the United States there are no fairs of the kind that have been common in the Old World; lint the term is applied to a variety of exhibi tions, such as church, charity, and agricultural fairs, and local, State, national, or international expositions or fairs. In fact, the term is ap plied to all exhibitions where people are expect (41 to bestow patronage or to make purchases. At church or charity fairs articles, chiefly of the fancy sort, are sold. The most common kind are the agricultural fairs, county and State. Elkanah Watson. a prosperous merchant of Al banv. N. Y., was the originator of these. Main ly through his influence the New York Legisla ture appropriated, in 1S19, $10,000 a year for six years, for premiums on agricultural prod ucts and family manufactures. Since then an nual State fairs have become quite general, and many States appropriate funds to aid them. The most common fairs are the annual co my fairs, where live stock and all kinds of vegetable prod ucts and manufaetured goods are exhibited, and premiums are awarded to the possessors of the best grades. These fairs are not held primarily for the purpose of selling commodities at the fair, lint largely for advertising purposes. The city street fairs, where amusements of various kinds are furnished. are intended to promote the welfare of the city by attracting traders to them.
The \\•olid's fairs or expositions, and the inter national or State fairs, which have become fa mous the last half-century, are chiefly educational in character, and are adapted to the commercial life of the present, with its rapid means of communication, its populous cities, and production on a large scale, as the old fair, with its convenient meeting-ground for buyers and sellers, was adapted to the commercial life of a few centuries ago. These fairs are intended to promote the' interests of the city and nation or State in which they are held, and to furnish an excellent opportunity for the advertisement of all classes of goods. While commodities are sold at these fairs, the primary purpose of them is to advertise.