For more than 100 years the Westlock and District Agricultural Fair has been the community’s premiere summer festival.
But with an aging board of directors and limited volunteers, the Westlock & District Agricultural Society is sounding an early warning that without fresh blood, the event, which celebrated its 103rd birthday over the weekend, and the society could be headed for extinction.
“We have a few people who are almost in their 90s,” said society vice-president Carl Larsen, who at age 44 is the youngest member of the board. “It makes getting things done a real challenge. Even for myself, for example, to find five people to watch the gates for the chuckwagons is hard.”
Larsen noted that board members compensate by putting in long hours to make sure the essentials get done. He added that lacking a volunteer group limits the society in what it does during the rest of the year.
“There are lots of events we wouldn’t mind trying to have,” he said. “
We could probably do more with our poker tournament, we could put in a beer garden of some sort … we could maybe even host a concert. The sky’s the limit when you have volunteers.”
Just about all the work, such as maintaining the grass on the ag society grounds, covering the gates during the fair as well as set-up and tear down, is being done by board members.
Ag society secretary and bookkeeper Cheyanne Erickson noted that two board members were on light duty after surviving heart attacks earlier in the year.
“Our biggest worry is how much of our board is aging,” said Erickson. “The rest of our board members aren’t much younger than the people who had heart attacks.”
If the society folds, the economic impact on the area could be huge. The ag society handles the entirety of the fair, covering the costs of the midway, rodeo, demolition derby, chuckwagon races and everything in between.
Town of Westlock chief administrative officer Dean Krause said that while the town had never taken on a formal economic study of the fair’s impact, if it did stop everyone would notice the void immediately.
“It’s safe to say it has a significant impact to our businesses from all the visitors coming out, from hotels to restaurants to stores and gas stations,” he said.
“But the ag fair has more benefits than just the economic value — it promotes our community, enhances the quality of life for us citizens by providing entertainment and social functions.
“It’s a really vital part of our community identity.”
Erickson said that anyone who is able to help out on a farm would fit right into the ag society’s volunteer needs. She suggested interested persons should come out to the next board meeting, set for Oct. 25 at the Ag Barn and the board would set them up with a mentor.
They had better hurry up too. Larsen estimated that if the situation doesn’t change, the Ag Society could be gone in as little as two years.
“Right now we’re running on no budget,” he said. “So without fundraising we’re totally relying on government grants.”
Erickson confirmed Larsen’s estimate.
“If we don’t get some younger manpower coming in to learn from our existing members, it’s not going to last much longer,” she said.
“The guys who are here right now aren’t going to last much longer at the pace they’re going.”
