In a world swamped with constant change, perhaps it’s being able to count on the simple consistency of the agricultural themes that define the Harrow Fair that help it retain its popularity.
Blessed with gorgeous weather for its four days, the 162nd edition of the fair wrapped up Sunday having never been more popular.
“I think there’s a sense of community at this fair and people don’t have that like they used to,” said Chrystal Earhart, who said her husband Mike and her have attended for the past 13 years since moving back to the area from Alberta.
“This is one of the last things that has that.”
A signature event to end the summer since 1854, many of the reasons people attend the fair haven’t changed much since then.
The most common reason given being the Harrow Fair isn’t a family reunion, it’s a community reunion.
“I like coming because I run into so many people I know and I like picking up some local honey,” Mike Earhart said.
“It’s such a long-running event. We used to bring our kids here when they were younger.
“I’m even more connected now working in Harrow (Atlas Tube).”
Zak Lister carries one of his birds at the annual Harrow Fair in Harrow on Aug. 31, 2016.
Few events can draw multiple generations year after year and manage to offer something for all.
For LaSalle’s Anita Collery, Sunday’s visit was a trip down memory lane in the company of her friend Joan Hannah.
“It’s sort of sentimental,” Collery said. “We used to bring the kids along and my oldest one now is 51.
“I like to come for the fabric art and quilting. It’s a good place to meet friends.”
Hannah loves that the fair has stayed true to its roots.
“Mainly I come because it’s the only real fair there is,” Hannah said.
“They’ve got all the animals, the vegetables, breads other produce.”
Organizers of the Harrow Fair have no intention of messing with a formula steeped in tradition and success.
Crowds packed the fairgrounds and Harrow continues to draw more new exhibitors.
This year there were over 7,000 exhibitions from 1,508 exhibitors.
There were also 7,556 entries into the various agricultural and baking competitions.
Volunteers organize entries at the annual Harrow Fair in Harrow on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016.
A highlight event is the pie auction, which raised over $16,000 this year. The money raised from the auction is donated to the John McGivney Centre each year.
“Our crowds are as big as ever,” said fair manager Jay Anger, who has been involved with the Harrow Fair for 63 years.
“Saturday we were so full I’m not sure we could’ve fit many more. We can’t get any bigger with the area we have.”
Even among volunteers the loyalty to the fair runs three generations deep as it does in Anger’s and other families.
It takes over a hundred volunteers each day to run the fair and dozens of volunteers work through the year on the event.
“We get people applying to volunteer,” said Anger, who still farms. “We can always use more.”
For each volunteer, what makes the fair special is different.
It’s the donations at the gate for the 4-H program for kids in Harrow; the electrician who gets to the park at 3 a.m. to make sure everything is set up and safe, free of charge and it’s the OPP officer sweet talking a tow truck driver out of charging an elderly couple who arrived just as their car was about to be hitched.
For Brenda Anger, president of the executive committee, the same scene is what makes the fair special to her every year.
“It’s the grandparents smiling at their grandkids up in the driver’s seat of those big combines,” Brenda Anger said.
“We take that for granted, but for a lot of people, they get to experience things here they never get to do.”
