Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Spring 1942. Young people at the Imperial County Fair near El Centro, California. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the FSA.
I lived my first 18 years in El Centro, and I used to attend the Mid-Winter Fair. I wonder if this is the same event. The Fairgrounds were in southern Imperial, the town just north of El Centro. These days, the two cities have contiguous borders. Back then, I rode my bike through a mile or two of country land between my house and the Fair.
The trim on that guy's hat--is that supposed to be Spanish? or Australian to keep the bugs away?
[It's flamenco hat ... a midway prize. - Dave]
Russell Lee takes an idea from Busby Berkeley and uses it for still photography. It's still a good idea.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5