The Dryden & District Agricultural Society’s Fall Fair is coming up next week!
Lisa Koshel is President of the Dryden and District Agricultural Society. Lisa joined me to talk about this year’s 119th Fall Fair.
You can listen to the interview here:
Or read below……
“There is a long line of people ahead of us that got it off the ground. So it’s a great tradition and I think something that a lot of people in Dryden look forward to each year, kind of as marking the end of the summer and the beginning of the school year again. So super excited for the events we have coming up.”
In just over a week’s time, those events will get underway August the 20th through the 22nd. Meanwhile, Lisa says that lots has been going on over at the Fairgrounds, including the construction of a brand new building.
“We have a brand new livestock barn that we’re putting up just off of the horse riding ring. So it’s going to house horses in addition to the existing barn that we have that has livestock going on. So it’s going to be, if all the stars align, ready to go for the Fair. And we invite everybody to come out, take a walk through and have a look at what we’ve been up to. It’s been a big year for expansion.”
The Fall Fair in Dryden starts next Thursday with lots happening on day one.
“So Thursday, we have a full docket of events going on. Of course, we start the Fair itself with our annual parade, which kicks off at 5:30, goes all through town. Lots of the different clubs and organizations put floats in, but everybody also always loves to see the horses and their riders come through too. So that starts us off. Our official Fair goes to the grounds and then we have our opening ceremony at seven o’clock and we do the crowning of our mini ambassador at that time. So that’s always exciting on the Thursday to get us going.”
We’re just highlighting a few of the many things that are going on each day. So that was Thursday. How about Friday, August the 21st Lisa?
“Our show is going on all day, as well as our Fall Fair Fury, which is our big money barrel race, which is happening at three o’clock on Friday. The cattle show goes starting at noon. Friday is the 4-H achievement day with their classes. Six o’clock is the fun awards and auction for those 4-H kids that we get to celebrate their achievements.”
And Saturday, August the 22nd, what’s going on?
“Another full day of events. Midway is open, of course, all three days. Horse show all day. Cattle show starting at noon on Saturday. Midway runs right until midnight. We’ve also got a couple really exciting things that are happening this year that I want to highlight as well. So entertainment, we always have a full lineup on our Moody stage. And this year, we’ve had a second stage that we started. It’s calling our Busker stage, and it’s going to be up by the Corn Booth. And it has a full lineup of entertainers as well. So there’s actually twice the entertainment for everyone’s enjoyment. We’ve added a vendor alley, which will be up along our main building and really close to the Busker stage. So outdoor vendors, a vendor tent, some kids crafts going on there, and some picnic tables to have your lunch and listen to the music. And then at the end of that row, brand new for this year, is our education tent. Our education tent has sessions on every two hours while the Fair is running. And there’s many, many different topics. We’ve had a wonderful group of volunteers organizing it, but also coming to teach different things such as flower arranging, beading, macrame, canning, how to raise chickens. Look at the schedule to see all the things that you might be interested in. There’s lots of really cool topics.”
You mentioned volunteers. Do you need volunteers to help out?
“Yes, we always struggle to get enough volunteers to run all of the events. But this year seems to be a little bit tougher than it has been in the past. So we’re looking for volunteers for all sorts of things, including setup, helping with the exhibit hall. But we also have some fun things like helping with the petting zoo and things like that. So we have a link for our volunteers, a really cool online app. If you go to our website, you can find that or on our Facebook pages and just click and sign up for the events that you want to help with. The website is https://drydenfair.ca/ and it’s Dryden and District Agricultural Society on Facebook. And there’s tons of posters that are going up and tons of information on there. Anything that you want to know about what we’re doing, you can find it there. I’d also like to mention that today (Tuesday, August 11th) is the deadline for doing your entries. So if you have entries that you want to put in, if you have some crafts you’ve been working on, if you want to bake or you have veggies, make sure you sign up by the end of the day today to make sure that those entries qualify.”
Admission prices for this year’s Fair?
“Prices for this year, 5 and under is free. 6 to 16 is $5. 17 to 64 is $10. And 65 and over is $5. So all of those are daily rates. We do have weekend passes as well. You can go onto our website and you can buy your passes right on there or you can come by the Fair office. If you’re going to be there multiple days, you might as well get the weekend pass and save yourself some money.”
Lisa’s final thoughts….
“As usual, thank you to all the volunteers that have been helping out to get this event off the ground. Our community support, our sponsors, people that are making donations. We’re just so thankful that we have a real community that rallies behind us and allows us to put this event on. I think people will be really excited when they see the schedule and see how many things are happening. And again, if you want those ride bracelets, they’re on sale too now online or at Lotto One. So make sure you take advantage of the pre-sales on everything and save yourself a little bit of money, which you can then use to get a 4-H milkshake or a cob of corn.”
It’s now 119 years for the annual Dryden & District Agricultural Society’s Fall Fair. This year’s theme, the Wild West. We’ve been chatting with President of the DDAS, Lisa Koshel.
“Richard, it’s been a pleasure. And thank you for the coverage that CKDR always provides for us. It is really appreciated.”
We’ll see you at the Fair!!
https://listen.streamon.fm/ckdr
