Comal County Fair
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The annual Comal County Fair represents tradition and community in New Braunfels, where it has been an important event since the early 1890s. The fair emphasizes agriculture, animal husbandry, home economic skills, arts, entertainment, patriotism, organizations and local industry. In 1892, the opportunity for the first fair arose when the city hospital, the Krankenhaus, held its dedication and wanted a fair to take place on hospital grounds as a hospital fundraiser. In 1893, the Comal County Fair Association organized with Harry Landa elected as president. The first Comal County Fair was held in 1894 on Landa’s Pasture near Landa Park and would be held there for the next four years. In 1898, the association purchased eleven acres on the Guadalupe River in Comaltown to host the fair. The initial acreage was sold in 1905 to the city with a lease agreement with the fair association for use of the land that is still in effect today. In 1923, the fair association reorganized into a corporation and purchased additional adjacent acreage from the Braunfels subdivision. The fair has reflected the times, scaling back activities during WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII. The 1946 fair celebrated the end of WWII and also the New Braunfels centennial. The centennial was celebrated a year late due to the war. The fair has always been about the people from fair queens, rodeo queens, marching bands, fair floats and the parade to carnivals, rodeos and horse racing. The Comal County Fair is the only community event where all schools and many local businesses close to encourage participation. Today the Comal County Fair has become one of the largest county fairs in Texas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Comal County Fair has been a fixture of New Braunfels since the early 1890s, beginning in 1892 as a fundraiser tied to the dedication of the city hospital. A fair association organized in 1893 under president Harry Landa, and the event moved to permanent grounds along the Guadalupe River by the turn of the century. Scaled back during two world wars and the Depression, it endures as one of the largest county fairs in Texas, still closing local schools and businesses.
Why it matters
Long-running agricultural fairs like this one anchored community identity in German-founded Texas towns, blending farming, tradition, and civic pride into an event that spans generations.
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Related people
- · Harry Landa
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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