The Canadian Lakehead Exhibition is going local for its 125th anniversary.
The annual fair will feature local musicians, jugglers and illusionists in its August 5 to 9 lineup. Even the fireworks display is being arranged locally.
"We've tried to focus most of our entertainment on community activities," explained fair chair, Ralph Scharf.
"Our bands that are coming, our other shows are basically Thunder Bay-related. And we'll also have some memorabilia throughout the fairgrounds that show the activities from the old horse races and car races up to today."
Those acts include folk singer Rodney Brown, duet Jim 'n' I, '50s rockers The Sensational Hot Rods, and Eric the Juggler. A Led Zeppelin tribute band and acrobats iFlip will also be performing sets over the weekend.
Static displays will celebrate the CLE's 125-year history, alongside its modern rides, games and a nine-foot-tall roaring dinosaur, which will be roaming the fairgrounds.
The tradition is hardly prehistoric but it goes without saying that the fair has changed a great deal since it was known as the West Algoma Agricultural Society. Even in the last 25 years, the grounds have been changed from sod to concrete, complete with the movie theatre and the Sports Dome.
"I think the focus of the fair has changed completely," Scharf says.
"When I was a young chap coming here, they had the horse races, they had the barns, they had that flavour. Now we're a midway entertainment organization and we cater to a different group. You go to Murillo, they've got the rodeo there. You go to Hymers, they have more of the agricultural things there, so we're more focused in the entertainment area. That's the difference."
Although far reduced from its original centre-stage focus, a form of agricultural education still plays a role in the CLE. Where farm animals once provided live education, fair-goers can now learn to milk cows through a simulator.
"You'd be surprised. A lot of these kids don't know how to milk a cow or where the milk comes from and how you make a pizza, where the cheese comes from and whatnot," says CLE president, Danny Mosa.
"Adults will even stand there and say, 'I didn't know that."
