Chris Howell, President of the Burford Agricultural Society’s board of directors, spoke to County of Brant Council to address the upcoming changes the society will be making as a whole, and in regards to the future of the fair, during a regular Council meeting on Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
The Burford Fair, originally known as the “World’s fair,” was first established in 1858 in Harley, Ontario, and was later relocated to the Burford Fairgrounds in 1893.
In 2003, the Burford Fair became a three day event over Thanksgiving weekend, bringing in thousands of visitors every year.
During his presentation, Howell highlighted that while there are fall fairs happening all over the province of Ontario, there are a few things that make the Paris and Burford fairs unique.
“A lot of these other fairs don’t necessarily own their own fairgrounds whereas we do,” he said. “That makes us unique because not only do we put on a fall fair, but we have the pleasure and hard work of managing a business, which is the fairgrounds, for 365 days a year with just a core group of volunteers.”
Howell told Councillors that unfortunately, the fair has not recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and with the retirement of society’s longtime primary amusement supplier, Homeunick Amusements, that same year, things just haven’t been the same.
“The general public has just not enjoyed the midway and other things since then, but fairs are more than just midways and concerts. When you look back at what the fair was like in 1893, it was just a community coming out to really truly celebrate agricultural farms and families. However, as time has gone on, the farming community has changed and we’re no longer 60 to 100 acre family farms, we’ve moved more to industrial farms and such. Now when people think of fairs today, they think of ferris wheels and concerts, but are those things really the agriculture of today? Or is there still a need for a fall fair put on by these agricultural societies?”
Howell said despite many visitors asking why the Burford Fair can’t be more like the Paris Fair or the Rockton Fair, he said a lot of it comes down to population and support.
“According to this 2021 census, Burford has about a thousand people, so when those other places have about 14 to 16 times the population base as you, that means you have 16 times the businesses that donate to you and you have 16 times the public that’s going to come out,” he said.
Noting that 90 per cent of the Burford Fair is funded by the community itself rather than businesses, he said the Agricultural Society is running on a shoestring budget.
“We’re doing the best that we can with the help of several grants from Council and from the community, several donors at large. But we can’t sit back and rest on our laurels, so where are we going from here?” asked Howell.
Recognizing that there’s a shift happening between farming and rural life, and that people are moving out of metropolitan areas and into the County for various reasons, the Burford Ag Society is looking to embrace the change.
“We’re shifting the focus to go away from traditional farming, and starting to support more rural life activities like homesteading, chickens, gardening, and animal husbandry; Those are the things that people are really moving into and want to embrace in the county, and why they move to the county as a whole,” said Howell.
In addition to that, the board president said that the society will be hosting a number of extra events outside of the fair season to make up for the donation deficit and to keep themselves relevant.
Such events and activities include: the Burford Cornhole Club (going on now), a truck and tractor pull to support the Special Olympics, the Ontario Tractor Pulling Association tractor pull in July, fish frys, Jack Russell Terrier Club of Canada’s National Trials, flea markets and events like the Billy Bash and Pumpkin Smash demolition derbies.
With all that being said, Howell explained that one of the biggest changes will be the date and the structure of the Burford Fair come 2026.
“The fair is now going to occur the weekend before Thanksgiving weekend, and we’ll also be condensing it down to a two-and-a-half day fair,” said Howell. “We’re also looking to move away from the traditional midway, and trying to drive community membership with events such as more demolition derbies, ATV pulls, and bringing in more agricultural shows for cattle, sheep, and horses, to really bring the Burford Fair back to being, as close as we can get it, a true agricultural fair.”
After wrapping up his presentation, councillors took the time to ask various questions and Mayor Bailey specifically asked how many members were currently involved on the Fair board.
Howell said that while their constitution allows for 24, they have 17 members and are always looking for more people to volunteer and get involved (on the board or in general).
Before accepting the presentation as information, Councillor Jennifer Kyle congratulated Howell and the rest of the society for its work.
“When we hear anecdotally about a lot of other fair boards that are pivoting away from the rural and agricultural part of what makes the Ag societies and the fairs great, it’s really nice to see that Burford is embracing the people that are coming in, and trying to figure out how we can entice them with some of those rural things while keeping some of the traditional agricultural stuff as well.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
