Michigan State Fair Grounds

[@tonytrotta9322]

Michigan State Fair on 8 Mile and Woodward: It was the oldest & best State Fair in the 1960-1970 that I remember. You couldn't see it all in one day. I remember the Dan Fleenor Hurricane Hell Drivers & the Hawaiian dancers. Great food & all the animals - rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, & horses & the side freak shows! What great memories! Also, steam train Pere Marquette 1223 which was moved to Grand Haven, Mich.

[@mrclassicman]

Tony Trotta thank you Tony! It is a shame that family entertainment such as this have gone away!

[@roger1793]

I seen Alice Cooper three times and many country singers there in the band shell. I miss that fair. There will never be another fair that come close to this one.

[@OldNewsNewNews]

My Brother & his 3 Daughters, lived right Across the street form the Fair Grounds, Near the Railroad Tracks, Not sure Of The Area near the tracks, Street, Thought it was Pretty cool all they had to do is cross the Street, and they were there, at State Fair, The entertainers, I' saw there was Bob Hope, Jody Watley, Tom Jones, The Hudson Brothers & others as well I' and My Sister & her Boyfriend, caught The bus near the Globe Theater, to the State Fair, as soon as we got there, They Went there own way, I' was only 15, So I' thought they would find me, it started getting darker & darker, rides were closing So I' went to the desk & there names were Called, but no replys, So I' saw this Carnie guy, he was closing His section for the night, he looked like John Denver, blonde hair about 5 Ft 5, He Was friendly and polite, I' told him my Sister & BF, took off & left me there as a Joke, he thought that was the most Disrespectful, thing to do besides being Dangerous, late at night, We talked for a while & he asked if I' Needed a ride, I' took the offer, he had A Pinto, I' believe, also His name may have Been Paul, he was a very nice guy drove Me home, safely, if there are angels above He is one, Where ever you are Thanks for Driving me home that night, down Harrison Street, when no one Cared about my safety you did, Hugs Kat.

[@mrclassicman]

Wow, great memory! Right now, if you were to look across the street from where they lived you would see a huge Amazon distribution center.

[@pizzasubs]

any chance when you filmed this, you actually showed where the old Mighigan State Fairgrounds Speedway used to be located????

[@mrclassicman]

Sorry but I can only guess that it was where the parking lot was. At around 4:12 in the video , facing due east , is a large pretty much vacant area that would have been plenty large enough for a track and parking. It is a shame that there doesn't seem to be much information about this though ! I would also love to have some pictures from back then!

[@mrclassicman]

This is what WiKi has to say :en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_Fairgrounds_Speedway , So I apparently guessed correctly. It was a dirt track on the east side of the property.

[@mrclassicman]

I found two pictures (one was from horseracing-tracks.com and the other was from snipview.com, I couldn't copy and paste though. But my search was in Google dirt tracks Michigan state fair. The first one (upper left) showed the track very well. If I can get these images to load I will post them

[@mrclassicman]

The only way I could figure out how to get the image moved was to put it on my Facebook "Vintage Sports car" group. If you have access to FB then it should be viewable on that page. It is a low resolution image though.

[@dennymcfastlane8530]

At 0:50 it starts coming into view just above the Coliseum Buildings. At 4:00 You can see 45' trailers parked on it, and the footprint/outline that went from State Fair St.on the right, to 8 mile rd, on the left. This was a legitimate 1. mile dirt oval. Horse, Auto & Motorcycle all ran that mile. Softball City diamonds were there after it stopped racing. Also, many concerts when the grandstands were still up. Went there Many Many times for all these events! Sea Biscuits ran his 1st horse race at this track. The Fair Grounds had a statue/Shrine of Sea Biscuits, but guess what? Somebody stole it!!!! At 5:06 The Field House has an ice rink inside, motorcycles races in the 1970's, and Gordy's Music had Guitar Shows there. The Coliseums had Motorcycle swap meets since the 70's. I saw Evil Kenevil attempt to jump 13 cars & trucks on the Mile infield--He crashed. At 2:35 the Bandshell had many concert through it's history. This is a Mighty Shame, these Grounds could easily be productive with the right people in charge!!! Check out...Water Winter Wonderland Site.