Ken Crandall's farm

From The Great Outdoor Fight

The humble beginnings of the Great Outdoor Fight are at the farm of one Ken Crandall (1813 - 1884). Crandall's farm was once well-known for putting out incredibly high-quality produce, and if he had expanded into more commercial venues he would likely be a household name today, and the Great Outdoor Fight would be completely unknown. However, he had no desire to expand, and his farm remained at ten acres for several years. However, Crandall's good times ended in 1850.

A serious drought rolled into his area, and though it wasn't widespread enough to be noted in the grand scheme of things, Crandall's farm was completely devastated. Desperate to earn enough for he and his family to live as they had grown accustomed, he sold his farm acre by acre over time until the drought lifted. By then he was able to resume his farming, though he only had three acres remaining. A close friend (who has remained eternally anonymous) was aware of his plight, and approached him with a unique offer. Crandall agreed, and his farm became the site for the first ever Great Outdoor Fight, though he continued to grow his still-excellent produce.

The arrangement worked well with no unhappiness on either side for the first five years - Crandall received a modest cut of the profits that only increased as the years went on, from both the steadily-growing attendance and the concessions. However, as more and more came to fight, Crandall's farm profits also dropped, due to the ever-increasing amount of damage to his crops from all the people fighting atop them. It all came to a head in the Great Outdoor Fight of 1856, when Edwin Rose's habit of constantly eating the produce, ripe or not, in addition to the general damage caused every single plant in Crandall's farm that year to be damaged to the point that it could not be sold.

A frustrated Crandall asked his anonymous friend to find somewhere else to have his Fight two days after it ended, when he discovered the extent of the destruction. His request spurred the decision to acquire the Acres. Grateful for Crandall's cooperation until then, he was given enough money to begin reacquiring his old land, and the Fight was moved for the next year.

Over the years past, Ken Crandall managed to rebuild his farm to its original ten acres, and resumed putting out quality produce until his death at the age of 71.