Our Fall Fair is the best Fall Fair. Don’t miss it. Don’t even be late.

Since its beginnings in 1852 our Fall Fair has seen its share of ups and downs … unprecedented crowd sizes, exhibitor disappointments, sunny skies and torrential downpours. It’s been a live event, a virtual event and this year it’s a hybrid. There was one year, way back in 1873, when the Fair was cancelled entirely for reasons unknown.

Success at the 1895 Fair was measured by the simple and noteworthy fact that not one fight occurred in Tavistock all day.

By 1900 it was very fashionable to have your picture taken at the Fair. A.O. Murray, a Tavistock photographer, set up a studio on the grounds, encouraging everyone to “have a souvenir photo taken of yourself, your family, your sister or somebody else’s sister”.

Just one year later the horse show truly came into its own. The judges proclaimed that the horse exhibit at the Tavistock Fair surpassed the London Fair. This was quickly expanded to boast that Tavistock had the best show of horses west of Toronto.

Exhibits have always been a key component of the Fair. In 1903 Mrs. Dryden easily captured first prize for one fresh peach. Her entry was 10 1/2 inches in circumference. Pity that someone swiped it right out of the case. The 1943 prize list included 23 classes for fowl (chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys); the opportunity show 28 different types of apples; a class labelled “9 sandwiches for afternoon tea”; and a knitted hot water bottle. If you were a first prize baker in 1952 your first prize money was 75 cents. if you were a talented seamstress and won first prize for buttonholes (3 worked and 3 bound) your prize was also 75 cents. It was the same for “specimen mending - ladies stockings”. Not quite so grand for gardeners who received 60 cents for top spot in “floral arrangement, suitable for church”.

Businesses used the Fair days to showcase their products at the arena. Staebler & Jickling had a piano and organ display complete with an orchestra to entertain the crowd (1902). M. McDermott & Son, local agents for the Chevrolet automobile, touted the latest Chevy to a crowd that was predominantly horse and buggy drivers (1916). Jim Francis handed out 600 yardsticks advertising his business at his large display of living room furniture (1937).

Throughout the village business boomed at Fall Fair time, especially at the hotels. At the Oxford Hotel proprietor Art Liebler used 6-quart baskets kept behind the bar to store coins used in payment. Several times a day the paper money was put in large Corn Flakes cereal boxes and taken upstairs to be stashed under the bed for safekeeping. On Monday morning Art walked his baskets and boxes to the bank. Fall Fair Specials were advertised at most businesses. Promotions at Emerson Weitzel’s General Store included 2 large-size flannelette blankets at $2.29 a pair and roasted Rio Coffee at 3 pounds for 89 cents (1920s).

Local clubs and church groups were always present in the arena, on the grounds and in the parade. The newly-formed Tavistock Gun Club introduced trapshooting to the roster of Fall Fair events (1921). The Boy Scouts sold hot dogs and chocolate bars to raise money for equipment for the troop (1936). The Evangelical United Brethren Church (now Grace United) surely holds the record for serving delicious meals and snacks to hungry fairgoers. Women’s Institute groups throughout the community absolutely hold the record for educational displays and, in years past, colourful themed floats in the parade.

Entertainment of all sorts has always been a big factor in attendance whether it’s midway rides or demonstrations of military marching during WW2 or tractor rodeos or the concerts and dances that have been popular since the very early days of the Fair. Starting in the 1940s Fred Funk, a local man widely known as “Entertainer Extraordinaire”, brought first-class variety performers to our community year after year to the delight of audiences of all ages. Fred’s old-time and modern dances always drew a large crowd. By the 1950s the CKNX Ranch Boys from Wingham and Bev Chesney’s Orchestra had dancers on the floor and toes tapping on the sidelines.

Our timeline of Fall Fair news has now reached the point where readers may be starting to have their own special memories of our Fair. One of my first memories is winning 6th prize, a big 5 cents, for a bouquet of zinnias picked from my grandmother’s flower bed. What’s your favourite memory of our Fall Fair where you “Show What You Grow - Share What You Know”?