Throwback: The year foot and mouth disease threatened Brome Fair

In 2001, a foot and mouth disease epidemic was taking place in Europe that presented a threat to other areas of the world, including the Eastern Townships.

There were worries that because of the outbreak, regional county fairs would have to cancel their event.

While this was not the case, many fairs did question whether they would still hold their livestock exhibitions.

If the livestock were to come in contact with any foot and mouth contamination, it would have had a significant impact on the cattle industry in Canada if the contamination began to spread.

Foot and mouth disease causes sores and blisters to form on the mouths and legs of the animals. The infection can easily be given to others.

As a result of these worries, the 36 fair boards in Quebec came together and held a meeting in Brome Lake to speak about the outbreak.

At this meeting, veterinarians and people from Agriculture Canada came to provide the fair boards with suggestions as to what they could do to avoid a disaster.

They were also given advice on disinfection and sanitization by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and it was suggested that they post advisories for people who had recently travelled in Europe as they could have been carrying the virus.

The possibility that the livestock exhibitions would be cancelled affected many. Livestock and cattle are a significant aspect of Brome Fair and they are important to the breeders who depend on their livestock for a living.

At the time, there were no cases of foot and mouth disease reported in Canada but it was stated that if there were, the fairs were not taking any chances.

In the end, safety measures were taken at the fairs to avoid an outbreak and there were no livestock or fair cancellations.

The show must go on…