Missouri State Fair, Sedalia Premium List Poster, 1917

This original 1917 poster promotes the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, announcing the dates “September 22–29, 1917” and billing itself as the “Premium List, 17th Annual Exhibition.” Dominating the vertical design is the bold, hand-lettered title “Missouri State Fair” in large red letters with black shading, set against a pale blue ground. At the bottom, a stylish young woman in a striped dress and broad‑brimmed hat gestures upward toward the fair’s name, with the caption at her feet reading “I’ll Be There,” turning her into a personification of the eager fairgoer. Additional text at the base instructs visitors to “Bring this copy with you to the State Fair…,” underscoring the poster’s role as both advertisement and program guide. Across the top border, a lively vignette likely produced by chromolithographic printing shows the fairgrounds in miniature: livestock in pens, exhibition buildings, and a flurry of early automobiles and horse‑drawn vehicles kicking up clouds of dust as they arrive. The color palette combines bright reds and oranges with cool blues and neutral tones, creating a crisp, eye‑catching contrast typical of early 20th‑century fair advertising. The composition balances decorative typography with narrative illustration, conveying the bustle of modern transportation, agricultural display, and social gathering that defined the state fair experience on the eve of the 1920s. This piece matters as a visual record of American fair culture during the First World War era, when state fairs were key showcases for agriculture, technology, and popular amusement. Its blend of fashionable female figure, automobiles, and livestock reveals how early 20th‑century advertising framed the fair as both modern spectacle and community tradition, offering insight into changing leisure habits and the visual language of public promotion in 1917.