In the fall of 1923, the Shelby Kiwanis Club developed a plan to create a county-wide fair combining the Boiling Springs, Fallston, and Union community fairs into one event. Through the sales of $20 shares of stock, $15,000 was raised to establish the Cleveland County Fair. The first fair was held in 1924 with 70,000 in attendance. Since then, the theme has always been to celebrate city and farm life coming together through such popular attractions as agricultural exhibits, livestock, carnival rides, stage show revues, stock car racing, tractor pulls, and demolition derbies. Today, the Cleveland County Fair remains the largest county fair in North Carolina and the county's largest continuing attraction, drawing attendees in from a 75-mile radius of Shelby. The average annual attendance holds strong at over 175,000 people. Marie Farrow Patterson and U.L. "Rusty" Patterson are Shelby natives and grew up experiencing the Cleveland County Fair firsthand. Marie, a registered nurse with Gaston Memorial Hospital, and Rusty, executive director of the Cleveland Community College Foundation, collaborated to bring the Cleveland County Fair of yesteryear to life. Step back in time, smell the sawdust, taste the vinegar fries, and "meet us at the waterwheel."