I Have To Eat Crow Over The Exhibition
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 @ 3:45 AM
If any of the folks at the Prince George Exhibition would like me to eat crow all they have do is drop it off because I feel I have an obligation to eat it.
Some years ago I wrote a piece saying that the Xxhibition could not make it, it was a dinosaur, its time was up and I suggested that it was in its death throws.
Well here we have it a few years later and the Ex will hold its 100th year of celebrations this year.
That is quite an accomplishment going from a time in history when the horse races at the Ex were held down 3rd Ave and the horse pull really meant that you had the strongest horses in the area.
As the old saying goes, "Baby you’ve come along way", and they have.
For just a moment think about what hasn’t made the grade:
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snow golf; which at one time was the pride of the winter,
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the raft races ; yes we did have them at one time,
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an air show ,
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sand blast
The list goes on and on .
In the end, the one event still standing, is the Ex. They have had their down spots, to be expected, but when you think hard about it, 100 years is a long time and they have had to make changes to keep pace.
So bring on the bird, try and make it a young one , I’ll eat it, because you proved me wrong and that folks makes me proud to be able to say that.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
I think fall agricultural fairs are a part of Americana and even Canadiana by extension.
Here is a link to the Topsfield Fair which was started in 1818, almost 200 years ago. It bills itself as âAmericaâs oldest agricultural fairâ. The first president of the Society was a war hero of the American Revolution and graduate of Harvard.
http://www.topsfieldfair.org/index.php
Video from Topsfield Fair http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3jZiTZPArw A bit bigger and some additional attractions, but otherwise not much different than the PG X.
Near the very end, they even show the RCMP Musical ride was there.
Here is thefairs facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/TopsfieldFairFans Looks like the RCMP musical ride will be there again.
I think whenever an organization or a government initiative speaks about sustainability, they ought to have a member of a 50, 75, 100+ year old agricultural fair sitting on the board to provide advice on organizational sustainability.
A little bit of a dig, I know, but I notice that the Topsfield Fair has not needed to change their name in order to try to tell folks who they really are …. ;-)
I just had to share these amazing rides I discovered while travelling through youtube ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuq1ff9kT-Y&feature=related
Even though I work full time, I always try to enter a bit of baking and some flowers in the baking and horticultural competitions. Mostly I do it to support the fair and to get some nice exhibits in for the folks to look at. Some years I even come out ahead with prize money! Yay PGX.
Snowgolf? Wow, now that takes me back. I was a kid at the time, but from my point of view as child, it looked like quite the drunken gong show.
I believe there was another winter sport called Knurdeling (sp?). I think it was played in Spruceland Mall’s parking lot. Huge Q-Tip like sticks and a big red rubber ball.
Plyot Project, it was broomball that was played in the Spruceland parking lot. Lots of fun, kind of like hockey.
I personally like the PGX. I enjoy taking my children to it each year. We take in all the exhibits and only a few of the rides (way to expensive for the experience you receive).
The original Snow Golf was for all intents and purposes a drunken gong show. They had hot wine set out around the course, and the participants dressed up in various costumes, and hit a ball with various clubs like baseball bats, shovels, etc;
The event in its formative years was covered by CTV, and one year it was attended by none other than Arte Johnson of Laugh In fame.
The original organizer was Don Prentice of CKPG Radio I beleive.
A good time was had by all, and then it disapeared into the sun set.
I don’t remember the hot wine set out aroung the course. I was part of a team that played until they started to treat the out of town players 1st class and treated the local as 2nd class. At the last banquet I was at all the tables around us where for the locals and they were the worst tables. At every table you heard the same thing: I had to pay for the banquet (the out of towners got in free)and they treat us as dirt.
The reason the PGX is still alive is that knows it’s roots and understand that it must keep the local’s happy for them to keep coming. I think it is a bad idea to change the name to something that means nothing.
Arte Johnson attended more than one snowgolf event. The last one he attended was at Tabor ski hill. Someone spilled a glass of Glühwein all over his sheepskin coat. He had a little more to say about that than “vee have vays ov makingk you speak”.
One of my favourite events was the annual raft race and I did enjoy watching Sandblast…but those were def. a part of my younger days and yes, as with many events of the 70’s and 80’s there was quite a bit of liquid courage involved! Times have changed. Even the PGX has changed and I know how hard they have worked to make it as “family friendly” as possible. Going are the “daze” of skeezy outlets at the fairgrounds selling roach clips, pipes and nasty t-shirts.Not easy keeping everybody happy.
The X is a helluva job taking sweat, dedication, grit and and an iron will to make it happen in this day and age with not one penny to spare and things like lawsuits, liability, crowd management, animal safety, health & sanitation, on and on and 95% done by volunteers.
You are correct, Gus, agricultural organizations such as fair boards amaze me with their longevity; most fairs in this province have existed before the towns and cities they are held in, even existed and many are well past the 100 year mark. Cheers the them all!
Please support the PGX everybody, make the organizers proud, it is the only way it will survive, cause it gets tougher every year:(
I’d support the PGX if we had one, there is no such thing anymore!
Get over yourself, Jim.
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