As summers tend to do, this summer has flown by quickly. We are now in the middle of August, and in just a few weeks summer vacations will come to an end, and students will return to the classroom. Parents’ schedules will shift from days at the beach or the park to making lunches and ensuring homework gets completed. The middle of August also means that it will soon be time for the 167th Meaford & St. Vincent Fall Fair.
Fall fairs might not be the highly anticipated event that they used to be in the glory days of fairs, when the competition for people’s attention did not include iPhones or video games, but they should be.
The Fall Fair was one of the first events I attended in my newly adopted home of Meaford nearly 20 years ago, and it was a great way to quickly gain an appreciation for the rich agricultural heritage that is to be found in the Municipality of Meaford and the surrounding area.
The Fall Fair is a celebration of not just our agricultural heritage, but our agricultural present, and it provides a small snapshot into our agricultural future. From livestock to produce, the Fall Fair captures the agricultural activity in our area, and while that level of activity is impressive, the average age of our farmers is inching ever higher, and there has long been a concern about who will replace them.
Farming might not be a sexy profession by today’s standards but it is a crucial profession, and unless we are willing to watch large factory farms take over all of the production of our food, or for China to become our primary source of food, we need to find ways to make smaller scale farming more appealing (and viable), and we need to be training a new generation of farmers. I am always hopeful when I see families enjoying a day at the Fall Fair that some of the youngsters might one day decide to go into the business of growing or raising food, and that visits to fall fairs might help them to make such a decision.
If I was to give advice to kids returning to high school or college or university over the next few weeks, I would urge them to consider the trades or agriculture as potential future careers – people in both of those fields are becoming greyer with each passing year, and both of those fields are crucial for the sustainability of our communities.
It would be wonderful to see elementary and high schools building upon programs that introduce young students to that magical world of growing food and handling livestock. It would be wonderful to see more field trips to farms, orchards, and the various industries that support and serve the agricultural sector.
For this year’s Meaford & St. Vincent Fall Fair, the 167th year of the event, Saturday, August 31 is the big day. As has been the custom, the Fair will be held at the fairgrounds and inside the curling club located at 130 Collingwood Street.
At 9 a.m. on August 31, the exhibition hall at the curling club opens to the public. If you have never visited the Fall Fair, the exhibition hall is a great place to start, as there you’ll find impressive examples of the many fruits and vegetables that are grown by area farmers, along with some impressive quilts and other locally handmade items.
After visiting the exhibition hall, I have always enjoyed heading over to see the chickens and ducks along with the cows and horses. If you get a chance, have a chat with some of the farmers: they have a wealth of information about not just farming but also of local history. I have long said that if you want to learn something interesting, talk to a farmer.
The Fall Fair doesn’t strictly focus on farming. This year from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., organizers will have a number of classic cars and classic tractors on display, which should provide a fun walk down memory lane for many.
If old cars and tractors aren’t your thing, take a wander over to watch the junior cattle show, which is always enjoyable to take in. Later in the day you will find the junior dairy show, a sheep show, and the always popular saddle horse show.
The website for the Meaford & St. Vincent Fall Fair (meafordfallfair.com) includes the full schedule of events, including a lawn mower obstacle course, which should be a hoot for both participants and spectators alike.
After the action-packed day at the Fall Fair, perhaps as you sit down for Saturday’s dinner, consider the food in front of you, and ask yourself where that food has come from, and more importantly, where would you like it to come from? If you’d prefer your food to come from farmers like those you met that day at the Fair, or from the fine folks you’ve met at the local farmers’ market rather than a Chinese factory farm, consider how you can increase the local content in your kitchen.
I would like to thank in advance the many volunteers that it takes to pull a fall fair together and make it a success. And I would also like to thank, of course, the farmers themselves, who get up each morning and put in a hard day’s work, and that hard work puts food on people’s tables, and nutrition into our bodies. Agriculture has long been a crucial part of the fabric of this community, and it will continue to be so for many years to come, but the Fall Fair is just one day of the year, a day when many farmers take a break and head to the fairgrounds to showcase the work they do, the food they produce, and the incredible value that they bring to this community.
For more information about the 167th Meaford & St. Vincent Fall Fair visit meafordfallfair.com.
