The early county residents enjoyed a number of diversions, including dancing, attending movies, running horse races, going to town on Saturdays, and drinking at the saloons. The first Mills County fairgrounds, located on the south side of Goldthwaite to the east of Livestock Commission Company, had a number of features, including a race track, baseball and football fields, an exhibition building, a band and dance platform, and sometimes a skating rink. It also hosted a carnival. All Goldthwaite football games were held at the football field at the fairgrounds—without bleachers–until a stadium was built near the school in the late 1930s. The circus, hosted in Goldthwaite, also attracted residents from across the county. Another regular diversion for county residents were medicine shows, held in Goldthwaite, in which proprietors put on an entertaining show designed to sell nostrums. In the 1920s, Lake Merrit attracted many Mills County residents, who camped and swam there.
