The Beginnings of Brome Fair

On July 12, 1856, a meeting was held at Kimball’s Inn, now known as the Relais, and it was at that meeting that the Brome County Agriculture Society, and Brome Fair, was established.

The meeting was chaired by Paul Holland Knowlton, known as the founder of the beautiful village we call Knowlton, with Nathaniel Pettes as Secretary. The goal of the meeting was to organize an agricultural society and with 70 people already coming forward and signing up as members, BCAS was formed.

George Boright took on the role as the first president of the Brome County Agriculture Society, Asa Frary became the

first vice-president, and Nathaniel Pettes was the first secretary-treasure.

Another meeting was held by the BCAS at the end of July to organize the exhibitions. At the time, they decided to hold two exhibitions with one taking place in the fall and another taking place in the winter. They also determined who the judges were to be for the exhibitions and established a set of rules that were to be followed by participants.

The first fall show took place in October of that year followed by a winter show in January of 1857. It cost the Agricultural Society a total of 954$ to hold both of the exhibitions with most of it being covered by the government. The provincial government had recently passed the Agricultural Act in support of agriculture.

In 1861, they would decide to only hold one exhibition in the fall.

In the beginning, the exhibitions were being held in the Knowlton village but as the BCAS continued to develop and expand they needed a new location that provided them with more space. Especially with the formation of the Horticultural Society in 1880 who would join in on their exhibitions.

In 1890, the directors of the agricultural society bought twelve and a half acres of land in Brome and with a by-law passed by the mayors of Brome, Sutton, East Farnham, East Bolton, West Bolton, Eastman, and Knowlton these 12 acres became the permanent site for their exhibitions in 1891.

And it is the present site of the big bad Brome Fair. In 1905, the Agricultural Society added 6 more acres of land to their exhibition site for a total of 18 acres, the size of today’s Brome Fair grounds.

From it’s early beginnings of holding two cattle exhibitions a year to establishing one of the largest rural agricultural fairs in the province, the Brome County Agriculture Society has worked hard in continuously providing support in the area of agriculture. Their hard work has most certainly paid off with thousands of people from all over the country making their way to the Brome Fair grounds over Labor Day weekend, an event that holds a special place in the hearts of many.

Photos: Record Archives