Abby Hughes, a lifelong Orillia resident and Orillia Secondary School graduate, is a second-year Ryerson University journalism student interning with OrilliaMatters.
*******************
Kevin Moore started showing cattle at the Oro World's Fair when he was a kid in the 1970s. In a regular year, Moore would be finishing the local fall fair circuit with the Orillia Calf Club at this time of year.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, however, all local autumn fairs - including the Oro World’s Fair, Coldwater Fall Fair and Orillia Fall Fair - were forced to cancel their events.
“It's a loss of tradition and comaraderie that we certainly miss,” says Moore, who has run the Orillia Calf Club for more than 30 years.
Young members typically show the calves they’ve been working with all summer and finish the season at the Orillia fair in what the club calls their “achievement day.”
“I like to see the young people work with their calves. I enjoy the (community) and the competition of it all,” says Moore.
Taylor Walters also participates regularly at fairs in the Orillia area, in addition to others in Barrie, Huntsville and Bracebridge, and expressed disappointment at this year’s cancellations.
Walters typically shows two of her horses in the barrel racing competitions to support the local events.
“The atmosphere of the smaller fairs is just so inviting, it's something to look forward to before (winter),” Walters said.
The local fairs can also be an avenue for people who want to show but aren’t able to do so at the provincial or national level, Walters explained.
“The younger kids that come out (for fun), they might not have the means or even the funds to get to those bigger shows,” she said.
The cancellation meant not only disappointment but a loss of revenue for Connor Earl, who usually does photography and videography at the fairs.
In the past, Earl has worked on a mostly volunteer basis, photographing the Orillia and Oro fairs as well as making promotional videos for the Severn Fall Fair. By walking around with a camera and tripod in hand, he’s able to promote his business to curious fairgoers.
While photographing the demolition derby at the Coldwater fair last year, for example, parents of a competitor in the derby asked Earl to take photos of their son’s car and later bought some of the pictures.
“If you can interact with a couple hundred (people at the fair) and give out business cards to them, it gets your name out there,” Earl said.
Overall, the decision to cancel has been understood and well-received by the public, says Coldwater Fall Fair president Matt Murray,
These feelings were echoed by the Oro Agricultural Society's second vice president and marketing and entertainment director, Ed Campbell, who said people have become accustomed to public events being cancelled in 2020.
“I think everyone understands that in these uncertain times it’s the only decision you can make," said Campbell.
This season wasn’t a total loss for the Oro Agricultural Society, however. Volunteers were able to build a new stage on the grounds and make improvements to the cattle barn, all while respecting social distancing measures, Campbell told OrilliaMatters.
The Orillia District Agricultural Society (ODAS) held a demolition derby as well with limited capacity and will be selling pies in October to keep some revenue flowing for the organization behind the Orillia Fall Fair.
Janine Wood, one of the directors of the Orillia fair, says proceeds from these fundraisers will help pay the bills for their main building that usually is rented out for events like weddings and banquets - events also cancelled by the pandemic.
Organizers from all three fair groups are hopeful that public health guidelines will allow for events to resume as normal next season. Murray and Campbell, respectively, say planning has already commenced for the 2021 fairs in Coldwater and Oro.
“I’m expecting, provided life gets back to normal by September next year, that it could be one of our biggest fairs ever,” predicted Campbell. “People always look at (events) like ‘I’ll go next year’, and this was the first time there was no next year, so I think everyone will take advantage and get out in droves.”
