I never got the opportunity to attend the great Chicago International, but I heard many stories about it, when I was growing up. My grandfather attended it 3 years and exhibited his Shorthorns there on 2 occasions. I can still remember him telling stories of travelling there by train and the show itself. My dad who will be 90, this year, brought this up a couple weeks ago when we were having lunch together. He was reminiscing about the years that my grandfather would pack up and take cattle to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto or to the Chicago International. The train trip to Toronto was 4-6 days in each direction and the trip to Chicago was usually 3-4 days in each direction. The cattle cars had to be disconnected at certain places and they were never sure if it would be connected to another train that day or not, so the people who looked after the cattle could not stray too far from the cars. The cattle cars were decked with the feed and tack on the upper deck and oftentimes people who were attending the cattle would have to ride in the cattle car until the train stopped again, and then have to make a mad dash to the rail cars for the passengers. I can't image how much preparation it took to attend these shows as most of the food they needed for themselves had to be packed with them.
I can remember getting breed magazines that had the show results and pictures from Chicago, and spending what seemed to be hours reading and re-reading the show results when I was a kid. The pictures librarian has posted here are pretty cool! I love this kind of history and I think it is oftentimes good for us to look back at where we came from.... just a little .... to actually get a brief glimpse of where we are going and to understand where we should be heading into the future.
I can still remember how upset my grandfather was when he first heard that the Chicago International was ending and that they yards and buildings were going to be knocked down. This show meant a lot to many people in those days and most of us only have the stories now to remember it by... but as they say... life goes on and the world is constantly changing.