MOST summer fairs, no matter the size or location, have their roots in agriculture. But today it has become a challenge, particularly for larger urban fairs, to retain their connections with agriculture in a relevant way.
In this 21st century, increasingly urbanized society, it has probably never been more important to demonstrate the link between rural and urban life, between the production and the consumption of food. In fact, it is vital for the agricultural sector if there is to be any future understanding of farming’s importance to economy and culture.
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“This generation that’s growing up now probably have seen more zoo animals than farm animals,” said Jim Tucker, president and chief executive of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions, in a recent New York Times article. Tucker was commenting on state fairs, some of which are struggling with declining attendance and waning public interest in cattle shows and bench fairs.
Long-time Canadian agricultural writer Henry Heald noted observations along similar lines in a commentary about the recent Ottawa exhibition: “As I picked up my press pass at the media trailer, I remarked: ‘I hope I can find enough for an agricultural story.’ Then I did a double take. Good heavens! For most of the 40 years I’ve been covering fairs, agriculture was the only story.”
The agricultural connection is certainly no problem at the community fair level. In the hundreds of fairs that took place across the Prairies this summer, agriculture was front and centre at most.
They had livestock shows, feed and forage competitions, home baking, vegetable and flower displays. They had parades full of horses and farm equipment, ag-related contests and food, food, food.
As they do every summer, communities came together at their local fairs to celebrate and share their rural heritage. It is the ideal place to recognize and celebrate culture, volunteerism, friendship, the importance of community, and agriculture’s role in all of it.
But at larger centres, the midway and the entertainment stage are the major attractions. It’s hard to argue the merits of livestock shows, with their multitudes of breeds and categories that urban folk might not understand, against all that action, light, speed and noise.
As Steve Edwards, former chief executive officer of the Calgary Stampede, put it, “We know people enjoy agriculture but we haven’t done a good enough job of making it attractive to them and involving them.”
Successful, sustainable fairs are those that offer new exhibits and attractions each year and sell people on the overall experience of a fair.
That means it is in no small part the responsibility of people in the farming industry to encourage larger urban fairs to include and/or retain a connection to agriculture. It wouldn’t hurt to come up with some ideas on how that might be done, either.
