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BARRIE FAIR CELEBRATES 150 YEARS AND MORE!
John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada’s first Lieutenant Governor
started the history of agricultural societies and fairs in Ontario.
His great desire was to see the largely unsettled colony of Upper
Canada become an agricultural nation. In his opinion, the future
of Ontario rested with farming. To work towards this goal, he helped
organize the Agricultural Society of Upper Canada in 1792. From
this humble beginning our present-day agricultural societies and
fairs descended. His dream of a well-farmed colony was realized
over the next century, as agriculture became the dominant force
in Ontario. Building on the English example of agricultural improvement
societies, hundreds of similar societies sprang up over the province.
Settlers took their love of farming and fairs with them to new
frontiers in Northern Ontario and Western Canada. The seed planted
in the fertile soil in Upper Canada flourished and improved from
within. Canadians were no longer content to practice agriculture;
they practiced “improved agriculture”. Ontario agriculture
has advanced in so many ways in the last two hundred years, and
while this proud record is the result of many factors, a prominent
one has been the role played by the agricultural improvement societies
and fairs.
The agricultural improvement societies are the same organizations
that sponsor our modern fairs and exhibitions. While community
fairs was always on of their main goals, societies did more in
the pursuit of their goal of improving agriculture such as buying
and selling seed, keeping breeding livestock and distributing books
and journals. Modern day agricultural societies are best known
for their fairs and exhibitions.
Fairs organized by the Simcoe County Agricultural Society were
held in Barrie as early as 1840. Shows were held on the market
square and featured ploughing matches. The local society operated
under various names including North Simcoe, South Simcoe, West
Simcoe and finally in 1911 the Barrie Agricultural Society. Sites
for the fairs included the original market square location (Mulcaster
Street), the Barrie Dunlop Arena / Barrie By The Bay location and
moving to it’s present location on Essa Road in 1948.
What began as a one day gathering in the 1840’s has grown
into the largest Summer Agricultural Fair in Central Ontario and
in fact, ranks only second to the Royal Winter Fair in the number
of livestock and horse entries. Initially the annual Fair in each
community was a rural community gathering, to showcase livestock
and horses as well as, display arts and crafts, crops, flowers
and baked goods. The same tradition continues today at a much larger
and longer fair but now includes many urban exhibitors.
Many years ago, much of the population was involved in some sector
of the Agri-Food Industry; today it’s less than 1%. As a
result, the Barrie Fair has incorporated many Awareness Programs
as part of its’ programming to educate and inform the urban
population about the agricultural process.
The present day Barrie Fair is first and foremost an AGRICULTURAL
EVENT ---IT IS FUN, ENTERTAINING, EDUCATIONAL AND AFFORDABLE FOR
THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY --- BOTH RURAL AND URBAN. |
