With the weather being perfect on Sept. 14 most Sundre area farmers were out in the field but in town they were being honoured at the annual SPOG Neighbour's Day and Trade Show.
However, some did take a break from their work and came to celebrate.
“We had farmers and ranchers who came to sing and play. Every half hour we had entertainment,” said Eve Mill, who co-organized the Sundre Chamber of Commerce trade fair part of the event with Jeannette Weiss.
Of course it made sense to have a party atmosphere. This year's theme was “Salute to Agriculture” and despite a dip in attendance, caused ironically by good weather, it was once again deemed a resounding success.
“When it is sunny normally the attendance is down as the farmers are out in the field. If it is raining, like it was last year, the attendance is almost double,” said SPOG executive director Tracey McCrimmon. “We were slightly down in attendance from last year but it was pouring rain then.
“But it was a successful event,” she added. “There was great attendance at the breakfast and lunch. We were disappointed with the number of farm-based businesses we had. In light that the farmers were in the field we were still happy.”
Mill also said she was happy with the attendance but added the less than stellar economy probably played a part in the reduced number of people who came.
However, she added organizers were happy with the feedback collected from the distributed comment sheets.
“Out of that there were no negative comments,” she said, adding the event even attracted people from Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer.
Although official attendance numbers are not yet available organizers said they expect a final tally of about 2,000 who came to the two events.
It was the 14th annual Neighbour's Day event, held at the arena, while the trade show ran for the fourth consecutive year at the curling rink.
While last year's theme “Continuing the Legacy” was chosen to honour technology and its impact to Sundre and area, Neighbour's Day committee members felt it was right this year to pay tribute to agriculture.
“When you look at the volunteers we have, most of them are agriculture based. Most of the founding members of SPOG are agriculture people,” said McCrimmon.
Once again Neighbour's Day was hosted by the Sundre Petroleum Operators Group (SPOG). The list of sponsors included Alta Gas, Trans Canada, Bonavista, Keyera, Shell Canada, Pengrowth, Kodiak BBQ, Coverall Pipeline, Action Equipment Rental, TAQA North, Conoco Phillips, Pembina, PennWest, NewAlta, NAL, and Sundre Golf Club. For the public, the event was of course well represented by the oil and gas industry with related booths, demonstrations, and speakers. There were a total of 69 booths.
Every year the SPOG committee chooses a charity to make a donation to. This year the chosen charity is the Sundre Ag Society. So far the society has received $5,500 from the committee.
Over in the curling rink the trade show was a fundraiser for the Sundre & District Chamber of Commerce. The fair had 63 booths, including non-profit groups like the museum and library. Like last year the Sundre Arts Society had its own space. The public was invited to look over a wide variety of arts items, including jewellery, oil paintings and pencil sketches.
Mill said the success of the day always goes back to the volunteers. She said the trade fair alone had a base of about 40.
“It is a known that this would not happen without the volunteers,” said Mill.
Meanwhile, one of the highlights of the Neighbour's Day event for McCrimmon was the handing out of two volunteer awards.
The Community Volunteer Award was given to Ev Mill while the Industry Volunteer Award was handed out to Brian Boutin, an environmental emergency response plan consultant from Red Deer.
