The county extension agents were busy preparing for the “biggest fair yet.” The Douglas County Free Fair was expecting a “mountain” of exhibits, including livestock, home economics, woodworking, model rocketry and electricity.

Construction work was progressing in Lawrence, including a new airport terminal near Lawrence Municipal Airport, a southern Lawrence sewer project, the extension of West 15th Street from Monterey Way to Wakarusa Drive, and the usual summer overlay program which was set to repair the surface of more than 12,000 feet of city streets.

Up to 200 descendants of the pioneering Jones families that had settled in the Vinland area in 1855 were coming from all over the country for a huge family reunion. The children and grandchildren of the two original Jones couples had married into other pioneer families in the county such as the Craigs, the Shaws and the Deays, who were all going to be represented at the reunion. The family was intending to hold large reunions every five years, probably in this area.