Back in August, I had the great honor of hosting the Meyer Sign Fair History Booth at the 2024 Skagit County Fair. In the midst of the interviews we recorded with fairgoers, participants, and performers, one of the folks visiting our booth at the Evergreen Classic Pavilion presented me with a copy of an article written in the 1920s by Violet Eldred Dynes recalling her childhood memories of the fair.

What little I’ve learned about Ms. Dynes is that she was born on March 25, 1907 in Sterling, which exists today as an unincorporated community in Sedro-Woolley. Her parents were Frank Emery Eldred and Gertrude C. Burwell.

 In her article, “The Good Old Days,” she reminisces about what she refers to as the “Burlington Fair” around 1920 — at which point Violet would have been in her late teens or early 20s. She would go on to marry Joseph William Dynes in 1926, and the couple had several children. The family would eventually move to British Columbia, which is where Violet passed away in 1996 at the age of 88.

Here, then, is her story.