It’s that time of year! The (once) glorious CNE is in its last week as Labour Day draws near. The season of fall fairs is upon us. Fall fairs mean candy apples and spun sugar. They mean rows of vegetables on display and vases of flowers lined up for judging. They mean every farm animal from chickens to horses being brushed and cleaned for exhibition. Fall fairs mean neighbours chatting while they stand around the ‘chip truck’ and teenagers bragging about their summer exploits.
I went to Blackstock Fair recently to watch my niece show her calf. It was a flashback to the days when I was a young teen and training, bathing and showing my 4-H calf was both a task and a highlight of this time of year. I watched the youngsters showing their calves in the show ring. There was one young boy who was not even as tall as the chin of his calf and his cowboy hat, bigger than a watermelon, rested below his ears but he ably led his show animal around the ring. It was so much fun to watch him proudly imitating the older more experienced exhibitors. His first fair and he was doing it up right.
Fall fairs are an old country tradition that serve a big purpose. I can imagine in years past, before instant communication and fast-travelled roads, going to the fair was a highlight of community life. For us country kids getting to the Ex in Toronto was a trip to the big city and a celebratory ending to a summer of stacking hay bales and weeding beans!
The Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies say that “Fall fairs are almost as old as recorded history…fairs were used as marketplaces and carnivals. In the 1700’s the British crossed the agricultural improvement society with the traditional trade fair/carnival and agricultural fairs were born.” The article goes on to say, “In Canada, the first agricultural society was formed in 1765 in Nova Scotia. Ontario followed suit in 1792.”
In days past fall fairs were a place to find those treats not readily available in the general day to day – candy floss, french fries in a paper cone sprinkled with vinegar, midway rides, and games where you had the slightest chance of winning a stuffed toy. Fall fairs also signal the turn of the season, the time for harvest, and the beginning of a new school year. Like many annual events they mark time – another season gone.
This time of year often seems a bit melancholy for me. I know many people love autumn with its vibrant colours and its comfortable – not too hot, not too cold – weather but for me it is a time of endings. But then, I guess for new things to begin sometimes old things have to end. So without getting too wrapped up in the doldrums of another summer gone I will smile at the young ones making eyes at each other their candy floss and the tykes modeling after their older sisters and brothers as they pull their calf into the show ring. Let’s go to the fair!
