The new addition to Memorial Hall is something General Manager Danny Aguilar says they’ve been working on for a few years now.
“We had the opportunity back in 2019 to call a room and space our museum and that’s where we said lets just bring all these stories and really find a place where we can honor the past.” he told DPM
The museum will house artifacts and photos, some dating back to the early days of the Delaware State Fair over 100 years ago.
Aguilar says that he took museum development on as a personal project, working in the evenings, speaking with various community members about the fairs past.
And while Aguilar says it’s meant to be another piece of entertainment for fairgoers, it's intentionally located in Memorial Hall which houses the 4-H and FFA exhibits, helping connect it to the fair’s agricultural roots.
He adds the process also included lots of help from workers building the exhibits, people donating photos and memorabilia, and historians from other museums; and that some fair fans might recognize pieces from the Delaware Public Archives’ State Fair exhibition during the fair’s centennial celebration in 2019.
The museum is free of charge and will be open outside the fair’s 10 day run, but only during events involving Memorial Hall.
The Delaware State Fair runs through July 26th.
