SUNDRE – A group of community organizers remains committed to keeping alive a local legacy that has endured for more than a century with the goal of celebrating the diverse range of talented individuals in the area.
“For years and years, it was the Sundre School and Adult Fair,” said Karen Tubb, one of five members on the fair’s organizing committee.
“But what we were finding was that people were assuming it was only school related,” Tubb told the Albertan.
“It’s kind of morphed over the last few years but this year, we’ve gone with the Sundre Community Fair hoping that it would draw people in more.”
Although rebranded in the hopes of better conveying its all-encompassing umbrella, the format of the fair itself remains closely in line with past incarnations, including the pet parade at noon near the Sundre Arts Centre and the community centre for children in kindergarten to Grade 2.
“They can bring any pet,” she said. “We’ve had everything from a goat with a bowtie to a grasshopper.”
The fair – which takes place on Friday, Sept. 6 – will also continue to feature the student components that are handled by and hosted at the schools as well as the community-wide entries for all ages at the Sundre Curling Rink.
Throughout the previous school year, teachers saved some of the work students accomplished, and then in September those past assignments and projects are brought back out and judged by educators and then displayed at the schools’ gyms.
“All manner of things that the kids have done will be displayed and it’s been judged by the teachers,” she said.
Meanwhile, the curling rink will host the community’s entries in a variety of categories including classics like horticulture that features a variety of veggies and flowers, baked goods, preserves such as cans, jams, and salsas, as well as handicrafts including quilting, sewing, knitting and crocheting.
There’s also a kids’ section that is not school related and includes entries that children have done on their own personal time at home with their family, which might include baking, arts, crafts and even Lego, she said.
“There’s also a seniors’ section, which is mostly handicrafts,” she said, adding trained and accredited judges come to Sundre from around the central parts of the province to rate the entries.
“You have to be specially trained to be a judge,” she said.
“Not just anybody can be a judge,” she said, adding they each have a particular category to focus on, whether for example vegetables and flowers or baking or preserves and canning.
“They’re very specific to their area of expertise,” she said.
Fair booklets that outline all of the different categories and classes that people can enter are available at the Sundre library, the Visitor Information Centre, the Sundre and District Museum as well as the Sundre Farmers’ Market for anyone who is interested in registering, she said, adding that process involves signing up for an exhibitor number that is tagged onto all of the entries a person submits.
“When the judges are judging, they don’t know who has done what,” she said.
While picking up a booklet in advance facilitates the whole process, people can still be assigned an exhibitor number at the curling rink when submitting entries as well, she said, adding entries can either be dropped off on Thursday from 7-9 p.m. or first thing on Friday morning from 8-9:30 a.m.
“It just goes a little quicker if you come with everything tagged and you know your exhibit exhibitor number already,” she said, adding that judging generally gets started by about 10 a.m. Friday and that everything must be in place by then.
“Once the judging starts, there’s only the judges and the volunteers in the curling rink,” she said, adding the viewing public then gets a chance to peruse all the entries usually starting at about 2 p.m.
Although sponsored by the Sundre Ag Society, the organizers are a standalone group of volunteers “who believe in the fair and want to see it continue,” she said, inviting anyone who might be interested to consider getting involved.
“We need new blood,” she said, adding most of the current members have carried the proverbial torch for years and are starting to “run out of steam.”
“The very fact that we’re all involved means that we really believe in the fair,” she said in response to being asked her thoughts on the importance of keeping alive the legacy that’s lasted since 1918.
“So, we really are encouraging people to bring things and enter them in the fair,” she said.
“And then also, we would love to have some younger, energetic people that might like to join our committee and keep the fair going.” she said.
“It’s a way to showcase people’s creative talents,” she said. “It’s such a broad spectrum – everything from master gardeners to master bakers. And it just seems like it’s a nice way to draw the community together and showcase all of these gifts or talents that people have in our community; it would be a real shame to see it die.”
Over the years, she said the fair’s organizing committee has endeavoured to keep the event relevant by adapting to new trends.
“We do make a point of responding to community interest,” she said.
“A few years ago, somebody said, ‘You know, lots of people around here are baking sourdough now; how about adding a sourdough category?’ So we did. Salsa is another new one that we added quite recently,” she said.
That includes crafting categories as well, which at one point saw the introduction of scrapbooking in light of community interest at the time as well as photography later on, she said.
“It has evolved over the years to reflect the interests of the community,” she said, adding the school portion has also changed a bit over time.
“The categories in the school component have changed too to reflect the changes in the curriculum,” she said.
“It’s not a static thing…and I think that’s part of why the fair has continued, is because it has reflected our community really well.”
