From the damp opening night of the parade to the roaring excitement of the demolition derby, the 154th Listowel Agricultural Fair enjoyed another successful, busy year.
Listowel Agricultural Society president Penny Hawthorne said although final attendance numbers haven’t been tallied as of press time, the number of people filling the fair grandstands every night indicated numbers higher than last year.
“I’d say we had a pretty big fair for us again,” Hawthorne said.
Despite a last-minute downpour on Thursday night, the parade and ambassador competition went ahead as scheduled. Although rain threatened again through Saturday and Sunday, nothing was cancelled for the entirety of the fair.
“We had everything set up to move in case of weather,” she said. “No event was cancelled.”
One of the new additions to the fair also proved to be one of the largest attractors, as crowds packed around the infield to watch the North American 6-Horse Hitch Classic Series on Saturday. With everything else that was happening at the fair on that day, it soon became a problem finding room for everyone.
“We couldn’t let any more people park on the fairgrounds, every part of the fairgrounds was being used,” Hawthorne said. “There was so much going on.”
Eight teams participated in the 6-Horse Hitch competition, with Dave Zister’s Peak and Valley Farm team placing first, followed by Listowel’s own Carson Farms and Glencal Farms.
Saturday proved to be a late night for the fair, as the tractor pull went on into the wee hours of the morning. Fair goers were back early on Sunday for the church service in the Ag Hall though, followed by events that included the vintage farm show, youth talent show and the mini-rod competition. As always, the big attraction of Sunday night was the demolition derby.
Hawthorne retires her position of president following the fair, but said it was a great fair to go out on.
“We’re all tired, but also satisfied with everything that went over,” she said. “The community really showed their support, the attendance was really great.”