One of the biggest parties Westlock has seen in the past century is coming up this weekend with the 100th annual Westlock & District Ag Fair.
This year promises to include many of the crowd-favourite standby events like the midway, the rodeo and the chuckwagon races, but will also include some new twists in honour of the 100th anniversary.
Things will kick off this Friday morning, with the parade scheduled to start at the south end of town at 10:30 a.m. before working its way north through downtown — but people should consider showing up early to get a good view.
“From what I’ve observed in past years, there are people sitting there already at 9 a.m. waiting for it,” parade marshal Cheyanne Erickson said.
After the parade the fair grounds will be open to all comers, with a wide variety of activities taking place throughout the weekend.
New and noteworthy events this year include a pioneer-themed dress-up event where participants will don old-fashioned attire, as well at the West Coast Lumberjack show that afternoon.
“We just keep growing and adding a few little things every year,” Ag Society president Bob Jones said.
While the event does grow every year, it has taken on a somewhat different character as the traditional elements of the agricultural industry wane in significance to the Westlock area.
Historically there was a greater emphasis on a wide variety of livestock and the draft horses, past president Doug Brown said, but those have become less popular and well-attended over the years.
“We’ll eventually see the fair not having livestock shows at all,” he said.
“I hope it never happens. I believe it helps the livestock industry to have shows that keep improving the cattle.”
The horses and the cows will undoubtedly remain a significant part of the fair, however, as the rodeo and races continue to be the biggest draw with the grandstands often full for the events — the races will take place Friday and Saturday nights while the bulk of the rodeo events will be held Saturday afternoon.
This year the grandstands themselves have had a makeover, with dozens of volunteers coming together over the past few months to repair and upgrade the seating.
On the other side of the Old Pickardville Road there will be a host of ag-related activities for people to take in — everything from the horse show to the bench shows where people display the produce they’ve grown this year.
The midway itself will undoubtedly be the highlight for the younger fair-goers, while sports-minded attendees may want to take in the North Central Alberta Baseball League’s semifinal series, which run all weekend at Keller Field.
Action at the track will conclude Sunday afternoon with the annual demolition derby, which is always a crowd-pleaser.
“I think we’ll have a really good turnout,” organizer Byron Boutin said, noting there’s close to $4,000 in prize money to give out.
To find out more about what’s going on this weekend, see the pullout booklet included with this week’s print edition of the Westlock News.
