Salmon Arm fair — friends and neighbors celebrate harvest time

The Salmon Arm Fall Fair is over for another year but we’ll be remembering the sights, the sounds and the smells for a long while. What a great time of the year! What a great celebration –- of summer’s end, of the harvest, of neighbours, of old friends and new.

Attendance at this year’s fair was about the same as last year. Rain dampened the spirits a little on Sunday but for those who braved the wet stuff, it was still a great event.

Every fair needs a midway and the new one at the SA Fair was a definite hit! There was a wide variety of rides for the younger crowd and the squeals of delight could be heard all over the grounds.

The Pioneers Club attracted crowds with their exhibit of nearly 40 tractors of every make and colour as well as other farm equipment. There was a stationary engine and a threshing machine exhibit and the steam engine that came all the way from Village Cheese in Armstrong was the indisputable highlight of the show.

The printing press was in operation and visitors could watch a blacksmith at work and ladies enjoying a card game along Memory Lane. It was fun to see everyone dressed in the fashions of yesterday and all were happy to stop and chat with folks. Always a hit were the ice cream treats from Dutchman Dairies.

Several varieties of goats, including the adorable Pygmy goats and flocks of sheep from as far away as Vancouver Island were a big attraction this year. Llamas and alpacas were displayed in a wonderland setting behind the old armories. A first this year was the fleece competition with the fleeces being auctioned off to spinners and weavers in the area.

One of the highlights of the parade this year was the Shuswap Theatre's entry, the Kazoo Marching Band, directed by Peter Blacklock. (Photo submitted by Donna & Richard Good)

The Active Artisan building housed demonstrations and displays by spinners and weavers, quilters, local honey producers, wood carvers. The Thomas family was demonstrating native crafts and you could learn how pine needle weaving is done.

The photography was outstanding. Because of the cooler weather over the summer, some of the flowers such as roses didn’t do as well as in other years but the zinnias and dahlias were pure perfection. And the cabbages and rutabagas did exceptionally well over the summer, as attested to by the prize winners.

For crowds of fans, the ‘greatest show on earth’ at the fair, for the 5th straight year, just had to be the Shuswap Idol contest. Twenty incredibly talented performers drew loud applause from the spectators.

First place award and $500 in the 19 and over category went to Kassie Gaites, second and $250 went to Ben St. John and third, along with $125 went to Marcus Smith.

In the younger category, Hanne Gomme was declared the winner, Megan Lauridsen was second and Megan Abel third.

Three special ‘Keep on Singing’ awards, a People’s Choice Award, four prizes of $100 each and five prizes of two movie passes and $20 were handed out.

SA Fall Fair president, Phil Wright, gave all the credit for the success of the fair to the organizers, the exhibitors and the visitors. “We are supported so much by our local talent. The people in the Shuswap have so much talent, he said.” And we guess that summed it up for all of us who attended.