Niagara Regional Exhibition land not for sale
ALLAN BENNER
POSTMEDIA NETWORK
Welland’s famous old fairgrounds are not for sale.
That’s according to senior members of the Niagara Regional Agricultural Society board and representatives of the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies.
Uncertainty over the future of the local society itself and its annual exhibition has resulted in interest in the fairgrounds property at the north end of Niagara Street in Welland.
It is 30 hectares (75 acres) of prime real estate, only a block away from a new subdivision being built on the Thorold side of the municipal border.
Real estate speculators have visited the board’s office at the Niagara Regional Exhibition grounds three or four times in the past several months, says Niagara Regional Agricultural Society treasurer Art Gill.
Gill didn’t ask who they were. He didn’t care. He just wanted them to leave.
“The first time they came, I said: ‘Get lost buddy, this site isn’t for sale,’” Gill says.
But the speculators have returned, several times, he says.
Most recently, realtors visited the fairgrounds in mid-December, according to Gill.
“I was going to leave when these two guys came in the door. I knew they were real estate guys,” he says.
For the past few years, the struggling agricultural society may have seemed like it was ripe for the picking, and ready to sell its property in where the NRE has been held every fall for decades.
Representatives of the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies, which oversees local fair boards, have heard about the interest in the property. They have been working with the local board members for the past two years to resolve problems with the governance of the organization.
OAAS District 6 representative Margaret Clark says the interest shown in the fairgrounds has led to concern from tenants, including Bullet Proof Baseball Academy and the Niagara Sport and Social volleyball club, and has been “quite upsetting to the board.”
“But the land is not for sale,” Clark says.
“And the NRE business.”
The agricultural society has launched a new website at www. niagaraex.com and has a new email address at info@niagaraex.com.
It is also planning to hold its rescheduled annual general meeting on May 8 at 7 p.m. in the Welland city hall community room.