The Fenelon Fair Founded, 1867
In the nineteenth century, most families were farm families, so crops, livestock and handicrafts were of great practical interest to most people. When the Fenelon Fair was founded at Glenarm in 1867, it became one of the township’s earliest and most popular annual events. It was one of the rare occasions when the whole township came together, when families got to see others who did not live in their immediate neighbourhood. It was also an opportunity to learn about the practical skills that families used in their everyday lives—better crops, better livestock, and inspiring quilt designs.
In early years the fair moved around to different communities, before settling in Fenelon Falls. In the nineteenth century there was no midway, local volunteers hosted the activities themselves, and the fair focused on the competitions. In 1888, there was even a special prize of a fine loaf of baker’s bread to the parents who brought the fattest baby to the grounds—back then under-eating was much more of an issue than overeating. The main attraction was a trotting race between the Austin Brothers’ White Stockings and Joseph McArthur’s Billy Mac. John Aldous’ Little Hector, remembered as the fastest little horse in Canada, got his start at the Fenelon Fair. The horse races might be talked about long after the fair was over, but for those living off the fruits of their own labour, its serious purpose of seeing a better way of doing things might make a tangible difference in visitors’ lives.
In the interwar years, Fenelon Falls held a spring fair. In 1929 it took place at W.T. Robson’s farm equipment shop on Colborne Street. The drive sheds at the churches housed the livestock, which were brought down to the main street for judging. Wood chopping and horse drawing competitions entertained spectators, all accompanied by a band. Special competitions included ‘The Fellow with the largest family,’ a \"slow race’ and a ‘tug-of-war between Fenelon and Verulam Townships,’ followed (of course) by a hockey game at the arena. Imagine the commotion it would cause to hold an agricultural fair on the main street today!
It proved difficult to maintain the fair through the strains of the Second World War, and from 1942 to 1954 the fair maintained its charter by holding field crop competitions which were judged standing in the field. Mac Murchison revived the fair, by holding a calf club competition at the Rotary Park (now the Ball Diamond). Junior Farmers took an interest and the rural schools marched from the arena to the park, each carrying a neatly stitched banner. These parades soon became an annual tradition, one of the students carrying a banner for the Red Rock School, Muriel Burnett, would go on to be a lifelong contributor to the fair.
Initially there was not much to the Fenelon Fair beyond the exhibitions, and there were not nearly so many classes as today. Founded in an era when families seldom travelled more than a few miles from home, and consumed little media other than the local paper, by the 1960s and 1970s, practically every family had television, radio, magazines and could drive their car to explore the wider world. The fair no longer served such an important function in broadening their horizons. And it continued to make do with makeshift locations, including the Market Square (now the post office).
The midway was introduced in 1960, and three years later, the Agricultural Society arranged with volunteer Graham Everett to use what was the original location for a few days in late August—20 acres subsequently deeded to the Township of Fenelon in 1980. Then the fair board was given the perpetual right to use the property to hold the annual fair. In the 1960s and 1970s, the fair used tents to cover its exhibitions—quite the ordeal given that it seemed like there was all of six inches of topsoil on the site. But once it gained a permanent home, the fair began to expand rapidly. Within a year it had a permanent display building, then gates sponsored by the Lions Club, while the Rotarians contributed the wiring for the exhibit hall. In the hands of a dedicated group of volunteers, the fair blossomed into a popular community event. In 1986 paid attendance reached 4500 people and four years later the organizers were honoured with a visit from Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander. The fair continued to add buildings, including the pole barn in 1993. Over the years, new events were introduced like the Mud Bog, where racing ATVs sent mud flying high in the air. The demolition derby was initially controversial, as organizers struggled to get past its sheer destructiveness, or to see how it related to agriculture. Today it is one of fair’s biggest attractions.
