SUNDRE – There were hundreds of entries on display at the local curling rink plus many more at both of the schools this past Friday during the 2024 edition of the Sundre Community Fall Fair.
Formerly known as the Sundre and District Agricultural Society School and Adult Fair, which first started in 1918, the organizing committee has more recently attempted to rebrand the event as part of an effort to convey its all-inclusive nature.
“We’ve just started calling it the fall fair, just because it’s simpler and then people have more of an idea of what it's actually about,” said Adrienne Beck, organizer and former chair of the fall fair committee.
“People who haven’t gone to school in Sundre, they hear school fair and they think it’s just something for the schools and don’t realize that it entails the community as well,” Beck told the Albertan on Monday morning during a follow-up phone interview.
While there is of course also a separate school component that involves teachers at River Valley School as well as Sundre High School collecting and judging student work from the past year to put on display at their gyms and hallways, there is also the community component that is featured at the Sundre Curling Rink with adult and youth categories to highlight local talent.
“The community component is open for all ages, students and adults,” she said.
“Anything done at home and brought in is brought to the curling rink.”
Categories include a variety of entries including classics such as horticulture, homebaked goods and quilts as well as exhibits for photography and art.
“It turned out really well,” she said about this year’s fair, adding there were 62 participants overall who submitted items for the fair’s community component.
“We had 41 adults and 21 kids participate,” she said, adding they all together brought in a total of 461 entries.
Among the highlights that made the final selection for Best in Fair was a carefully crafted bench made by Julian Tubb that was sanded down smooth as silk and beautifully stained.
“That definitely stood out as being a phenomenal piece of work,” said Beck.
Cody Jackson, the ag society’s president, once again presented the awards on behalf of the society, which financially supports the fair and also provides the prizes for the high point winners in the main categories.
“There isn’t actually a prize for best in show,” said Beck. “It’s a place of honour . . . all of the prizes are for high points in categories.”
