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hill. It was perhaps a half—mile long and by today's standards was nothing, maybe 10° grade at the most, but everyone would make a run for it and if their car could negotiate the hill in high gear, it was a powerful car. As I remember, the red Maxwell couldn't do it but the four-passenger Maxwell could. Incidentally the latter Maxwell was b1ack as I recall. One favorite eating place where we used to go by streetcar and later by auto, was Candee's out at Onondaga Valley where I can especially remember the frog 1egs; Candee's was the sort of place you'd take out-of—town guests for a real super—meal something like we use the AC here in Erie today. Candee's, however, was a public restaurant and I think you could dine outdoors in the summer. It was a real event to go out there for a meal. Onondaga Valley was a historical spot, also, having predated Syracuse and been the home of Joshua Forman at one time. The old cemetery nearby contained a lot of good genealogical information on the headstones, as did the old cemetery at Onondaga Hill adjacent to the Knapp farm; however, I was not concerned with such places as cemeteries at the time.

There was one annual institution in Syracuse which was of interest to all ages and that was the New York State Fair which was held early in September every year at the fairgrounds a few miles west of town. The agricultural and industrial exhibits were interesting but the real thrills came at the race track where auto and motorcycle racing were just coming into vogue as I get old enough to appreciate such things. I was never too attracted by the horse racing but the auto races in particular were unbelievably thrilling and sometimes ended in tragedy. We were there one day when a car jumped the fence and killed several onlookers. The speed of the cars was fantastic -- up to 60-70 mph -— and the greatest racing drivers of the day participated such as Barney Oldfield and Ralph DePalma. It was also at the Fair that I saw my first airplane, an open-seated biplane which would take off from the area enclosed by the racetrack and fly around over the fairgrounds, another perfectly thrilling performance, practically unbelievable. The Fair had another attraction -- it was customary for exhibitors to give away free samples and souvenirs of all sorts and you'd come home with a lot of precious junk that was mainly precious because you get it for nothing. The best way to get out to the Fair was by taking a train on the Lackawanna Oswego line from the downtown station next to the Amory as they ran frequent service during the Fair. Or, as cars became more numerous and more reliable, you could drive out and park your car inside the grounds while you toured the fair. To go out on the train was always more exciting to me since my opportunities to ride the trains were few. It was a dirty, cinder-laden ride in the open coaches but it was really a lot of fun.  I referred to it in a Lackawanna article of mine that was published in TRAINS magazine last summer.