John L. Ryan (left) and L. M. Swanzey, two enthusiastic fairgoers meet at the junior fair. Mr. Ryan will be 99 the day before Christmas and has only missed one local fair in 75 years, when he was ill last year. Mr. Swanzey, 89 last Tuesday, remembers the 1868 fair eighty years ago. Mr. Swanzey, a charter member and former president of the Stephenson county farm bureau, has been for many years one of the leading farmers and advocates of modern farming methods in this area. Mr. Ryan, a confirmed fair fan, also attended the first World's fair, the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia at which Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his new invention, the telephone, to the emperor of Brazil. He also attended the Chicago World's fair in 1893; the Century of Progress fair at Chicago in 1933 and the New York World of Tomorrow exposition in 1939.

Contributed by Karen Fyock - Undated