CARRAGANA, Sask. – The sun struggles to make an appearance at the 74th annual Shand agricultural exhibition in northeastern Saskatchewan.
It will be just one of many challenges faced by more than a dozen key organizers Aug. 11.
Pinch-hitting for a poultry judge who phoned in sick, fair director and chicken producer Sophie Machala examines birds in a row of white cages for straight legs and robust feathers.
She said committed volunteers make or break Shand exhibition.
“Most stay on until they die,” said Machala, who has been involved with the fair board longer than she can remember.
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Shand is one of the last fairs to offer poultry competitions, said president Tony Potoreyko.
“It’s a feather in our hat,” he said.
Potoreyko said the mixed bag of activities is a throwback to the old-time country fair.
Pointing to trailers in the parking lot, he said people travel from across Canada to take in the fair held on the second Wednesday of August every year. They come to visit the community where they grew up.
For locals, it is a meeting place.
“They sit in the bleachers and chew the fat,” he said.
Nearby his wife dances on the grass with the fair clown, whose name Shandy is emblazoned across the backside of his denim overalls.
Potoreyko, who sees the primary role of fair board president as public relations, spends the day chatting with small groups and visiting concession operators between setting up race events and watching his daughter show cattle. The morning starts with interviews on a live radio show broadcast from the grounds.
“I want people leaving with a smile on their faces.”
Fair secretary-treasurer Olga Smith, whose job includes compiling ribbons and trophies and printing the all-important exhibitor’s book, said the fair is visited by 1,000 guests and involves 100 volunteers.
“If you want to keep it going, you have to be involved with it,” she said, citing the push to get younger volunteers on board.
“I want to see my grandchildren coming here in 10 years.”
A steady trickle of people come into the fair office throughout the day looking for show programs or seeking minor first aid.
Others register for competitions and make donations for horse,cattle, handicrafts and baking competitions.
One woman writes out a cheque for a prize, telling Smith, “as long as we’re alive, we’ll be doing it.”
From her office door, Smith has a panoramic view of the country fair, from the inflatable jumping rooms for children to the show ring for horses and cattle, to the hall housing exhibits. A series of amateur musicians belt out tunes from a tiny stage.
Recent cool, wet weather holds back fairgoers from paying their $4 entry fee until temperatures climb into the teens in the afternoon.
“You take the good ones with the bad ones,” said Smith of the fair’s success from year to year.
Inside her office, a box is filled with cattle trophies packed in newsprint that will not all be handed out today. Area cattle producers have lots of animals to show, but little money to spare for travel.
Smith has other concerns also. Children’s prizes have not arrived and must be picked up in town and the paintball operator is a no-show.
Disappointment is there for a senior unable to find bingo at the fair and one exhibitor is hoping for ribbons instead of stickers on her prize-winning entries. Smith explained ribbons, that run about $500, were deleted for adult entries following the lead of other country fairs.
“But if that ribbon will make them come back next year, then we bring back ribbons,” said Smith.
The fair costs the non-profit organization about $18,000 to stage. Since government grants were cut by half, it relies on corporate and private donations. Any surplus is reinvested into projects like this year’s new concession building.
Also new is the round bale rolling event. Giggling, sweating teenagers test their strength and agility rolling, turning and heaving them over obstacles.
In adjacent fields, other teens suit up for all-terrain vehicle races on well-watered, mud tracks to the cheers of spectators.
The slough-like tracks are the work of vice-president Keith Tumak, who spends weeks making sure the track is mucky enough to challenge even a tractor.
“It’s clean and dirty fun in the mud,” he said.
Grabbing a double cheeseburger before heading over to the track, the mechanic, tow truck operator and former drag racer cited the three trucks he takes to mud drags around Saskatchewan.
The cold wind drives many visitors indoors to a patio-lantern-lined log cabin hall, where squash and carrots are transformed into a flying Canada goose. Home-baked bread and goodies fill the tables and flowers scent the air.
Debby Tessmer, a local history teacher who serves as the hall exhibits convener, proudly shows off one quilt, the work of 80-year-old exhibitor Betty Salmond. Quilt entries are up this year along with children’s contributions.
Tessmer said the garden produce and baking exhibits are central to the theme of this country fair.
“If reflects the agricultural roots of Saskatchewan and we are here to celebrate that,” Tessmer said.
Food is central to the fair, which begins with a pancake breakfast and ends with a dinner and dance.
As this fair winds down for another year, president Potoreyko looks toward planning for a two-day Shand fair and homecoming to mark its 75th year in 2005.
“It never ends. It pretty well starts as soon as this one is over,” he said.
