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Kline Creek Farm's Country Fair will bring visitors back to 1915 in DuPage

A time machine of sorts brings crowds back to Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago each year for the annual Country Fair.

Usually, visitors are whisked back to farm life in the 1890s via costumes, artifacts and historical context provided by interpreters.

But this weekend, participants instead will experience the nuances and details of life in 1915.

“This year is the DuPage County Forest Preserve District's centennial,” said Dennis Buck, a heritage interpreter at the farm and fair coordinator. The temporal switch is being made to honor that 100-year anniversary.

Buck said mechanization prompted significant lifestyle changes during that 25-year span.

“In the 1890s, about half the country was still agricultural,” he said. That decreased steadily as machinery introduced new efficiencies.

“Eventually, you start adding motors. By 1915, you see more farms with machinery in the field,” he said.

The industry and technology tent will include corn-sheller demonstrations. There also will be a phone from that era.

“It's a wall-mount phone that you would turn the crank on and an operator would place the call,” he said.

Visitors will see and hear an antique phonograph. And a 1915 Cadillac and a 1914 International High Wheel Motor Wagon will be on display.

Halfway down the midway, in the “auditorium” tent, Professor Marvel, aka Michael Kett, will present his Amazing Flea Circus at 11:15 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

“He's the only entertainer who's been to every one of our fairs,” said Buck. “It's kind of a magic show. He's a fantastic showman.”

The Amazing Budabi Brothers, hailing from Minnesota, will perform at 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. both days in the same tent.

“They are a high-energy acrobatic juggling act. They're very, very fun,” said Buck. “They juggle fire. They juggle knives. They juggle with audience participation.”

Then there's the Tent of Wonders.

“Think Barnum before he got into circus. He would display oddities. It's kind of a cabinet of curiosities approach,” said Buck.

Buck said Dr. John Alexander MacRae, a retired forest preserve employee, curates the tent, which will be open from noon to 2:15 p.m. each day.

Though Buck couldn't verify the contents of this year's tent, he said past shows have included skeletons of minotaurs and the arrow shot by William Tell.

“He has an angel's wing. And chunks from the pillar of salt Lot's wife turned into,” said Buck. “The historic word that comes to mind for the Tent of Wonders is hokum or probably bunk.”

In the women's tent, visitors will learn that women, who in 1915 had recently been given limited voting rights, helped with the forest preserve district's creation.

“It was the overwhelming support of the women,” Buck said. “If only men had been voting, it would not have passed.”

Buck said before women were given full voting rights in 1920, they were first granted the right to vote in select elections.

“Illinois was the first state to pass legislation that would allow them restricted voting rights,” he said.

A portrait studio, featuring 1915-era costumes, will be set up in the women's tent for visitors, Buck said.

Buck said the fair will give visitors a chance to see the farm's chickens, sheep and horses up close. There also will be hay rack rides and a carnival game tent where visitors can play ring toss, the bottle tip game and try their hand at hitting a target with a slingshot.

There is no admission fee for the Country Fair. There is a charge for the hay rack ride that ranges from $2 to $5.

“This is a big family event,” Buck said. He said the Country Fair has attracted as many as 6,000 people over its two days.

  Horse-drawn hayrides will be among the highlights of this weekend's Country Fair at Kline Creek Farm. Scott Sanders/ssanders@dailyherald.com
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