Dear Editor,
As many already know, the Rich Valley Agricultural Society recently hosted our 38th Annual Fair. The weekend started with waking up to very wet grounds that caused some of our main events to be canceled: Ranch Roping, Gymkhana, and the Beef Show. These events were greatly missed by many but didn’t stop people from coming down to the arena to check out everything else that was going on. Practically all day the arena was packed full of people who came in to check out amd participate in the Trade Show, Zoo 2 U, kids bingo, square dancing and arm wrestling demonstrations. It was so great to see so many people! Even though the overnight weather left some good sized “lakes” on the fair grounds that didn’t stop us from hosting some of our other outdoor events that we had planned for the weekend. The Heavy Horse Pull went on as planned and we had hired a climbing wall and obstacle course for the kids. Several times throughout the day we had parents stop by to tell us how thankful they were that we had so many activities for the children this year. “We would have left hours ago if it hadn’t been for the kids. They didn’t want to leave!” Hearing that let us know that we’d done something right in our selection for this years fair. We wanted to make this a fair that the whole family would love and comments like that let us know that we succeeded. Saturday evening we had a delicious roast beef dinner put on by Yvonne Churchill and the most amazing gourmet cupcakes made by Christy Travis. These women know their way around a kitchen, that’s for sure! Several ladies from the community took the time to do some baking and donate their desserts for our first ever dessert auction. Delbert Kryger offered up his talents as an auctioneer for the occasion and he did a fantastic job at it! People really seemed to be enjoying themselves as they got wrapped up in the bidding! Saturday evening ended with an amazing performance by Lisa Hewitt and The Trads, which prompted many to get up and dance along. Sunday we woke up to warm, sunny weather and thankfully we were able to proceed with the days events without any complications.
Being from a small community it can sometimes be quite hard to find the necessary volunteers needed to put on large events. This did not seem to be the case for our fair this year. The community really stepped up to help out whether it was preparing things in advance for the Fair, helping set up tables, watching kids in the bouncy castle, cooking in the kitchen, sitting in the office, cleaning, etc. There is so much hard work that goes into making an event this large a success and it would not have been possible without the help of each and every one of our volunteers that helped before, during, and after the fair. Sponsorship is also of very big importance to our Fair. Without the generosity of the many local businesses that donated to our Fair we would not have been able to put on all the great events that we had to offer. We want to offer each and every person that helped, donated, and visited our Fair this year a very big THANK YOU! You all helped to make this years Fair a success!!
One last thing I’d like to mention that helped with the success of our fair this year is the dedication of our board members. We’re just a small group but you could really see how committed everyone was to the success of the Fair and how much they all truly care. Everyone really pulled together and put in a lot of hard work and effort, definitely going above and beyond. Even though we got a little discouraged at the start with the weather and cancellations we managed to pull together. Because of this I believe we can declare the 38th Annual Rich Valley Fair a complete success!!
THANK YOU again to each and every one of you who helped make this possible!
With great respect,
Alicia Borle
Rich Valley Agricultural Society
