Still going

Every Labour Day weekend you know where to find Irene Winslow.

For almost 70 years the lifetime member of the Hymers Agricultural Society has been celebrating at the Hymers Fall Fair, now in its 100 th year.

“It was much smaller than it is now,” The 91-year-old said of her first fair in 1945. “But the same feeling. It’s a wonderful feeling out here.”

Winslow and her family have been such a big part of the event that they have a building named after them. That’s where she was found Sunday afternoon, sitting with friends and surrounded by old photographs and mementos showing a century’s worth of celebration.

“The family as they grew up all exhibited things and we worked on the board and we helped build things,” she said. “I’ve made many many friends… our kids all took part. They won baby contests up here when they were little and their kids come now. It’s a great place for every age.”

It’s the consistency of the board’s directors that have helped the fair reach 100 Winslow said. Fair spokeswoman Sandra Mazur said there are plenty of things that the first fair would have had that are still around today. It’s intentionally been kept an agricultural event, without the bells and whistles such as a midway.

“You just have to roam and visit each of the booths,” she said.

It’s a great way for rural residents to meet up with old friends. And also compete Mazur said.

“They really enjoy the bragging rights,” she said. “They like to be able to show their produce or animals or cows or horse and say that they beat out the next farmer.”

But with traffic bumper-to-bumper all the way from the fair grounds to Whitefish Valley School Sunday afternoon, it’s clearly also a draw for people from the city. Mazur expects around 10,000 people to visit between Sunday and Monday.