YORKTON - Maybe because my hair – that which remains upon my head – is now fully gray, but I do find at times I am more reflective of things past.
That includes all sorts of random things, from remembered fishing trips, and a wish I had taken more, to games of crokinole with my Dad more than a half century ago.
Such thoughts of the past are often fired by a walk from the parking lot to some event on the grounds of the Yorkton Exhibition and the Gallagher Centre.
The sense of the place for this long-time ag reporter is extremely keen there, with memories extending back decades before I ventured to the city to join the staff of the then ‘Enterprise’ following an offer made largely because I had a background in agriculture – meaning basically I grew up on a mixed farm in Saskatchewan.
But the connection to the fairgrounds here started years earlier, entwined completely with my farm background.
My dad and following his footsteps, yours truly, showed pigs at the Yorkton summer fair for years. We sold pigs at spring and fall sales here in the city too.
In the process I walked every inch of the grounds for years.
I still drive by the old hog barn – now simply used as storage – and miss the shows held there. I could mark out the spot our camper sat every summer.
I remember the bacon and eggs and burgers enjoyed at what was the Tonkin food booth for years.
So it was interesting when in recognition of Agriculture Week in the city special guest Merve Kuryluk applied a brand to a board to mark the week, and then talked about his family showing dairy cattle in Yorkton, I too could recall dairy as part of the summer fair.
Of course through the years draft horses, and beef breeds and sheep, and of course pigs, were all shown, but over time – sadly in my mind -- one-by-one the shows were discontinued.
Harvest Showdown held in the fall became the ag-focused event, and by then I had arrived as a reporter here. One of my earliest assignments was a story on the first showdown. Thirty-five years later but the showdown and I are still here.
The show of course has evolved. Come and gone are draft horses shows, sheep sales, canola days and llama shows to name a few. Farming changes over time and the Showdown has adapted.
So what does this meandering reminiscence mean? Maybe just how many more years I will interview the farmer recognition award recipient, or shoot photos of the heavy horse pull, or maybe just what new memories those grounds will create for this veteran scribe.
