Building on success
Plans underway for 101st annual Cape Breton County Farmers Exhibition
The calendar may still say July, but that’s not stopping local residents from counting down the days until mid-August.
The 101st annual Cape Breton County Farmers Exhibition will take place Aug. 14-19 at the Exhibition Grounds in North Sydney.
Plans for this year’s exhibition are well underway and organizers like Pauline MacLeod are already looking forward to the start of the events.
“It’s something that people look forward to seeing each summer, I know I have for over 40 years,” said MacLeod. “As soon as the exhibition is over, we start planning for the next one.”
This year’s exhibition will feature many popular traditional events including live horse shows. However, MacLeod said there will also be new events.
“We love the tradition, it’s fantastic, but we do think we need to change a little bit with the times and slowly we’re doing that,” she said. “We get very little funding, so it’s very difficult to make big changes, but I think we’re doing a good job with what we have.”
Some of the new features include an oxen show as well as wrestling on Aug. 17. The famous Beavertails, which were recently at RibFest in Sydney, will also be at the exhibition.
“One of the exciting things is that we are having the minis (horses) this year, I haven’t seen them, but they are coming and they haven’t been here for a number of years.
“Normally the Men of the Deeps are here each year, but because of a scheduling conflict we don’t have them, which is why we went with wrestling, something new.”
As part of the exhibition, Hinchey’s Rides and Amusements will be on site with its popular rides and games. There will also be a host of vendors set up in the food court during the week.
Throughout the year, the exhibition hall is used by a wide range of community groups. MacLeod said without the success of the exhibition, the groups wouldn’t be able to use the facility.
“The exhibition allows the facilities to stay open yearround, we’re a non-profit so it covers some of the expenses that help us operate yearround,” she said.
MacLeod said the exhibition will have something for everyone. “If you’re not a horse person, because of course the exhibition is definitely related to the horses … we do have more to offer than just that,” she said.
MacLeod believes the exhibition brings the community together each year.
“For myself, I volunteer in the schools and you go back to school in September and one of the things the teachers ask the children is what did they do this summer and a large majority of them say they attended the exhibition,” said MacLeod. “We want families to have the most fun in one day at a reasonable rate.”
This year’s Cape Breton County Farmers Exhibition schedule hasn’t yet been released.
For more information, visit the exhibition Facebook page by searching Cape Breton Exhibition.