The Collingwood Agricultural Society is gearing up to welcome crowds back to the Clearview Township fairgrounds at the end of September after two years away, and could use some younger volunteers to help make the return to the major in-person event run smoothly.
The Great Northern Exhibition Fall Fair is slated to run Sept. 23-25 and will be celebrating its 165th anniversary this year. The fair had been slated to celebrate the milestone in 2020, but as the fair was put on hold in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns, the anniversary celebration was also put on hold.
This year’s theme is 'Barns on the Farm'.
“Even though we had no fair, we still kept having our meetings. Everything was put on hold. So planning that started in 2020 has just carried on into 2022,” said Joanne Gregson, president of the Collingwood Agricultural Society.
Gregson, who was first installed as president for the society in 2020, is looking forward to finally getting to see an in-person fair in the third year of her term. She’ll be stepping back from the role after this season ends.
“Hopefully we can carry on as long as we can get the volunteers to come out. It’s the best way we can promote agriculture in the community,” she said. “We’re still looking for volunteers.”
“We definitely can use some help. We also need people to carry this on from what our ancestors started,” said Gregson.
Gregson says one of the key goals of the annual fair is to educate the general public on issues facing the agricultural sector. New this year will be an agricultural awareness education component that will be available for the weekend.
“We want to show people where their food is coming from,” said Gregson. “The way housing is going... the issue is going to come to a head where you can’t keep taking farmland (for development) if you expect the farmers to keep feeding the cities.”
“We have to preserve our farmland,” she said.
The Great Northern Exhibition started in 1855 in Duntroon, later moving to Collingwood, eventually finding a home on Fairgrounds Road in Clearview Township.
The fair includes midway rides, talent shows, food vendors, talent, dairy and livestock shows, live music, truck pulls, a petting zoo, home crafts and a demolition derby.
If you’d be interested in volunteering or getting involved, you can contact the Collingwood Agricultural Society here.
If you’d like more information on the Great Northern Exhibition, click here.
