The absence of rides at last year’s Fair was a good thing financially, president Brandon Ward said, due to the bad weather and lower turnout. This year, the hope is that many people enjoy their return–under sunny skies.

Cookshire Agricultural Fair vice-president, Gerry Coates, gave the rallying cry, “It has to be sunny!” for the 2024 edition, this August 15 to 18.

During last year’s fair, Mother Nature was not on the organizers’ side; several activities succumbed to bad weather. Heavy rain forced the last-minute cancellation of a full evening when truck pulls had been planned.
“We try never to cancel activities but we didn’t have a choice. And it doesn’t take much for the Fair to have trouble, when it happens!” said president Brandon Ward.
Back this year is the return of the rides. “We are taking a risk; it’s an economic issue. Because everything is free, people only pay once, at the entrance, and there is no big increase there,” promised the pair of volunteers.

“Fortunately, our finances have proved stable from one year to the next. If we had offered the rides last year―which we replaced with inflatable games for children―with the enormous expense this would have represented, we would have had much more serious problems,” admitted the president.
The main challenge facing the exhibition this year is expenses, which continue to climb. “The economy is becoming very difficult; this year, everything is going up. We have to hope that Mother Nature cooperates.

“One clarification we would like to make is that we replaced the roof of our Main Building on the Expo grounds. I would like to specify that the work was carried out by a donation. It wasn’t Fair money that paid for this necessary improvement. We are all volunteers, we give our time for the success of the Fair. There is only one salary, that of the secretary,” he said, with a gesture of assent from his VP, Mr. Coates.

Asked about attendance at the event, he was clear: “The number of participants is constantly going up. The weather has an effect, that’s for sure. Also, the year right after COVID, the growth in attendance was extraordinary! It was special, everybody was missing the Fair,” he commented.
“We have a lot of help from volunteers, fortunately, to carry it out. But volunteers are more and more difficult to find; it’s hard to interest them and it’s important to keep them involved,” added Mr. Coates. “Fortunately 4-H still exists. These are young people who persist over the years. This is one of the challenges of the agricultural world, namely the next generation, for which it’s more and more difficult to replace their parents. Expenses are rising, but revenues are not keeping pace. And land is expensive to buy. The Cookshire Fair emphasizes school, for young people. We offer them training. We hope that they will benefit from it, as we ourselves benefited from the Fair when we were young,” he said.
He also mentioned the popular Winslow Dancers. “Nicolas Lachance does an extraordinary job; he works hard, and we will have him with us again this year, in the big tent, which was very popular last year. It’s extraordinary what he does. It’s quite a phenomenon!” exclaimed Mr. Coates.
“In addition, there will be more music groups this year to entertain the crowd during the activities,” concluded President Ward.

Translation by Rachel Garber