Digby County Exhibition ready for 139th year
This year the annual Digby County Exhibition runs from Aug. 22-25.
The exhibition is celebrating its 139th anniversary of operating – it’s one of the longest running exhibitions in Nova Scotia and organizers say it’ll be a great year.
“We are a very traditional exhibition. We don’t have rides or carnival games. We run mainly on agriculture and farming,” says Michelle Winchester, one of the organizers.
Winchester has been volunteering with the exhibition for the last four years, but beyond that she’s visited the exhibition every year for as long as she can remember and it never fails to impress her.
“I think the exhibition is very important to the community,” she says. “It’s neat to see families come together year after year for the event.”
Liam Constable just visited the exhibition for the first time last year and he plans to return to the exhibition again this year.
“It’s quite a sight to see an ox team pulling,” he says.
Constable grew up in Ontario and was involved in the 4-H program. He’s always been interested in agriculture. He’s visited exhibitions in Ontario, but the Digby County exhibition had more ox teams and pulls than he’s ever seen.
“It was really impressive to compare the differences between the exhibitions I’ve seen in Ontario to the one here,” he says.
According to a Digby Courier article from July 1969, the Digby County Exhibition in 1929 was the first two-day festival ever held in the county. Over the years the exhibition has had the same goal – celebrating agriculture.
Since the beginning the exhibition has run horse and ox pulls and as the years went on, more events were added.
Over the past few years exhibition organizers have been trying to encourage participation in the non-livestock competition.
Participants can enter photography, quilts, food, handmade art, preserves and more. Entries are judged on a number of factors, including presentation and quality.
For a full list of rules and details visit www.digbycountyexhibition.ca
Next year for the 140th anniversary, organizers are working on making the exhibition bigger and to do that they need more volunteers.
“We’re basically going to start planning the day after this year’s finishes,” says Winchester.
The committee that plans the exhibition is small, but mighty. To keep the long-standing tradition of a Digby County Exhibition running, anyone interested in volunteering next year, or even this year, can contact the exhibition at 902-308-0402 or info@digbycountyexhibition.ca
“Any help would be appreciated,” says Winchester.
The Digby County Exhibition runs Aug. 22-25 at the exhibition grounds in Bear River, 854 Riverview Road.
Admission is $5 daily and a weekly pass is $15. Children 12 and under are free. Parking is also free and accessibility parking is available.
The Dining Hall will be open daily for breakfast, lunch and supper. A plated dinner is served each day at 5 p.m.
Musical entertainment lined up for the exhibition include: The Hillbilly Band, Eccletica, One Night Only and Kim Doolittle and Caleb Miles.
The schedule is included here and is also posted on the website www. digbycountyexhibition.ca. Note: the schedule is subject to change so see any updates on the website.
The Vendors Market opens daily at 10 a.m. in the Commercial Building.
• 9 a.m. Judging of craft and flower, cooking and fruits and vegetables exhibits, Main Building and Dining Hall
• 8:15 a.m. start: 4-H Day Activities, 4-H Building
• 8: 15 a. m. Livestock Comm. Building
• 1 p.m. 4-H Day food/crafts competitions, Comm. Building
•5 p.m. 4-H Day Awards ceremony, Comm. Building
• 9 a.m. Weighing horses and oxen
• 9:30 a.m. Judging beef, Beef Barn
• 10 a.m. Judging draft horses, Pulling Arena
• 12 p.m. Silent Auction opens, Dining Hall
•1 p.m. Light horse show and horse pull, Upper Ring
• 3 p.m. Ox haul, Pulling Arena
• 5 p.m. Pork supper, Dining Hall
• 8:30 p.m. Ladies horse pull, Pulling Arena Show,
• 1 p.m. Showmanship
• 1:45 p.m. Halter
• 2:15 p.m. Lead line
• 2:30 p.m. Walk trot
• 2:45 p.m. Pleasure Pairs
• 3 p.m. Maritime Bred
• 3:30 p.m. Games: Little Britches/ Peewee
• 5 p.m. Games: Jr. and Sr.
• 9 a.m. Light horse show, Upper Ring
• 9:30 a.m. Judging: oxen and steers, Pulling Arena
• 12:30 p.m. Ox Haul, Pulling Arena
• 5 p.m. Beef supper, Dining Hall
• 6 p.m. Horse pull, Pulling Arena
• 6:30-9 p.m. Music by the Hillbilly Band, Comm. Building
• 8 p.m. Ladies Ox Haul, Pulling Arena
• 9 a.m. English Class
• 11:15 a.m. Road Hack
• 2 p.m. English Trail
• 3 p.m. Games: Little Britches/ Peewee
• 5 p.m. Games: Jr. and Sr.
• 9 a.m. Light horse show, Upper Ring
• 10:30 a.m. Junior Ox Pull, Pulling Arena
• 11:30 a.m. Steer Ox Pull, Pulling Arena
•1 p.m. Free-for-all horse pull, Pulling Arena
• 5 p.m. Otis Robbins Memorial Ox Pull, Pulling Arena
• 5 p.m. Turkey Supper, Dining Hall
• 7-11 p.m. Music by One Night Only
• 9 a.m. Western Classes
• 1 p.m. Trail
• 3 p.m. Games: Little Britches/ Peewee
• 5 p.m. Games: Jr. and Sr.
• 7 p.m. Presentation of Awards for the week
• 9 a.m. Light Horse Show, Upper Rin
• 9:30 a.m. Single horse pull, Pulling Arena
• 10 a.m. Championship horse pull, Pulling Arena
• 11 a.m. Consolation horse pull, Pulling Arena
• 11:30 Three Horse Hitch, Pulling Arena
• 12-4 p.m. Family Day activities: face painting, games and prizes, colouring contest, Comm. Building
• 1 p.m. Free for All Ox Haul, Pulling Ring
• 1 and 3 p.m. Music Ecclectica, Comm. Building
• 2 and 4 p.m. Kim Doolittle and Caleb Miles, Comm. Building
• 5 p.m. Silent auction closes, Dining Hall
• Baked beans, ham and scallop potatoes supper, Dining Hall
• 6 p.m. Raffle Draw, Dining Hall
• 9 a.m. Costume
• 9:15 a.m. Jack Benny
• 9:30 a.m. Maiden Classes
• 10 a.m. Family Classes
• 10:15 a.m. Stake Classes
• 12 p.m. Games: Little Britches/ Peewee
• 2 p.m. Games: Jr and Sr
• 8 p.m. Presentation of Awards for Saturday