In 1957, the State Fair of Oklahoma asked Farm Bureau to participate in a special Farmers Day at the fair and conduct county contests to select a Golden Anniversary Farm Family. The award was designed to recognize the type of rural people who built Oklahoma in its first 50 years of statehood. The contest was limited to those who had lived on an Oklahoma farm since 1907. A total of 45 county winners were reported by county Farm Bureaus in the contest. Gov. Raymond Gary presented a gold and silver plaque to the overall winner of the contest, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Graumann, in the bandshell of the State Fair of Oklahoma on September 26, 1957. This was the beginning of a Farm Family award program that continues to today.