With the 98th annual Westlock & District Agricultural Fair having come and gone, organizers are looking back on the event as being a big success.
Bob Jones, president of the Westlock & District Agricultural Society, said despite some concerns about the changes to the fair — most notably moving the midway onto the ag grounds — everything went better than expected.
“I think it went really well,” he said. “We were concerned because any time you change things there’s usually growing pains.”
The feedback he got, however, was positive and there weren’t many complaints to speak of. One downside with moving the midway over was a perceived lack of parking, but Jones said that mostly had to do with people not realizing they could use the Canadian Tractor Museum’s parking lot.
The changes made things easier on volunteers, as well, since there were fewer points of entry and therefore fewer gates to worry about.
With sunny skies all three days, however, the gates volunteers were kept busy.
“All three days were more than we expected,” Jones said. “The big thing was the weather. Usually we get one or two days of rain, and I don’t blame people for not coming out and sitting in the bleachers when it’s pouring rain.”
Another factor that might have increased the size of the crowd was the mini chuckwagon races. They had been absent for a few years, as there is another big race usually scheduled for the same weekend, but that race was cancelled this year.
“We had a lot of phone calls about them so I’m sure that was a big part too,” he said.
The final tallies with respect to attendance, money brought in and money raised to help pay for moving the race track are not yet available, but Jones said there was at least one large donation for the track: $5,000 from the Westlock Thrift Shop.
He added there will be increased fundraising efforts to get the move made this year. Grant money could be available, and he said he hopes many will come forward to donate.
“I know there are donations out there, but it’s just a case of letting people know,” he said.
The parade that kicks the fair off on Friday afternoon was well attended and went smoothly, according to Cheyanne Erickson, who organized the parade this year in the absence of a formal parade marshal.
She said that the big winner, however, remains a mystery. The results were packed up and left at the office for her, she said, but as she had a very busy weekend she didn’t think about the parade for the rest of the fair.
“I didn’t actually look to see who won,” she said. “I guess it’s a big surprise.”
She was on vacation last week and couldn’t get access to the results, but said she was happy with parade, which was slightly longer this year than in previous years because of some extra-long floats like the Thunderbirds Football Club.
“I think we had 56 registered floats, and that’s not including all the dignitaries and fire trucks,” she said. “The parade lasted almost an hour and a half.”
