Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
GRAND TRI-STATE JUBILEE, CARNIVAL AND FREE STREET FAIR
GRAND TRI-STATE JUBILEE, CARNIVAL AND FREE STREET FAIR. Perhaps never before was an event in Dubuque given such pre-publicity as this program held the first week of October, 1899. Beginning on August 28th, NUTWOOD PARK featured the "biggest and fastest field of horses ever raced in one week in America." The $123,000 total purse attracted up to 10,000 visitors daily. On the same week the DUBUQUE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION sponsored three days of boxing with a match featuring Jack Moffat battling Tommy Ryan, middleweight world champion.
With the city primed as an entertainment capital, the Grand Tri-State Jubilee, Carnival and Free Street Fair was held on October 3-7. Described by the Dubuque Daily Times as the "grandest amusement enterprise in the history of Dubuque," the event included daily parades, concerts, streets lined with booths and performers, balloonists, horse and chariot races, a road-building competition, and exhibitions of stock.
The most extravagant attraction was Pain's Battle of Manila. The high-budget re-enactment of the United States naval victory in the Philippines ended with a huge fireworks display costing $1,000 nightly.
Competition for audiences occurred with Cedar Rapids attempting to hold a similar event. Local newspapers in both communities carried out a newspaper battle with Dubuque benefiting from the ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD heavily advertising its half-price rates for people wishing to visit Dubuque.
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Source:
Day, Mike, "Dubuque Was the Place to Be in 1899," Telegraph Herald, October 4, 2014, p. 3