MILLARVILLE, Alta. – An unlikely hero came to the rescue of a 103-year-old fair threatened with cancellation.
An old Massey Harris, nicknamed Millie, was raffled off, earning $5,000 each for the Millarville- Priddis fair and the Alberta Farm Safety Centre.
Every year, small town fairs are cancelled for financial reasons and community apathy.
“We didn’t want to be one of them,” said Paul Teskey, who donated the tractor. He was given the 60-year-old gasoline powered Massey Harris 44 by a family cleaning up their yard.
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With the fair’s future hanging in the balance, he offered it as a raffle item. The 2,000 $5 tickets were sold out by fair day.
“It started out as a joke,” he said.
The momentum picked up when Millarville native and fighter pilot Riel Erickson suggested she and her colleagues at 419 Squadron buy enough raffle tickets to bring the tractor to the Cold Lake Weapons Range for target practice.
The volunteer fire department wanted it for rescue drills and the producers of CBC’sHeartlandalso wanted it for the TV show.
The final winner was Dennis Nate of Calgary, who is negotiating to send the tractor to the CBC set.
The fair’s dilemma was no joke to organizers, who were faced with the prospect of another money losing year, said Bill Powell, head of the fair board.
When the community realized the situation, more than $50,000 was raised.
The gate drew more than 3,000 visitors and 600 people submitted 4,000 entries of homemade goods, vegetable displays, floral arrangements, grain and forage sheaves, canned goods and livestock events.
It costs about $75,000 to stage the one day event and whether they can create that much community spirit again is unknown.
“You can never repeat a success like this,” said Powell.
