Over the decades there has been many events that have brought crowds of people to downtown Bangor.  Often the Advance would give a figure as to how many people were in attendance.  Those figures were probably not much more that a boastful guess.  Newspaper editors tried to be optimistic about the crowds to help make their particular towns look good, and Bangor's men on the scoop were no different.  In 1881, a horse fair was held at the race track on south Walnut, and an estimated 1200 to 1500 spectators were in attendance.  In 1896, William Jennings Bryant made a whistle stop at the intersection of the railroad tracks and Monroe Street, and supposedly 2000 were there to watch and listen to the first presidential candidate to ever pass through town.  In 1892, A.E. Howland built and then launched a steam boat on the mill pond, and our local paper stated that 3000 people came to witness the event.  The above photo depicts the activity on Monroe Street that was certainly reminiscent of big events in town.  In 1894, the Maccabees held their countywide convention in Bangor and members from all over West Michigan were present,  the picture of which can be seen on the preceding page and the cover of our book.  No figures were given, but in 1900 Theodore Roosevelt also made a whistle stop in town and surely a large crowd was present.  Field Day (high school track and field) was another big draw for any town that had the good fortune to host the event.  In May of 1910, Bangor held Field Day and the entire county tried to cram into town.  There were so many spectators that it was hard to run events because there was hardly enough room for the participants.  Also, the Fourth of July in 1910 was one of Bangor's biggest one day events.  A series of activities, horse races, and fire works brought people from near and far.  Probably the largest party on the streets of Bangor took place at the end of WWI.  It was said that every person in town and the surrounding community came together downtown in a mass of humanity to take place in a parade that was remembered for decades.