WEYBURN – The 114th edition of the Weyburn Agricultural Society Fair Days, which ran from July 6-8 at the Weyburn exhibition grounds, saw large crowds for most major events, and perfect weather with no daytime rainfall during the three days.
“It was great! We didn’t break any records, but overall we are happy with attendance,” said Tyler Metheral, president of the Weyburn Ag Society.
The official attendance numbers for the three days are as follows: Thursday, July 6: 1,856; Friday, July 7: 2,717; and Saturday, July 8: 2,523. (These numbers do not include children who are six and under.)
“The fair was fantastic. We were wondering how switching from a four-day to a three-day fair would be, but it couldn’t have gone any better. The numbers were there, and there was a lot of entertainment packed into three days,” said Brandie Fisher, media relations for the society.
“Our volunteers really stepped up, between kids tractor pull, gates, knocker balls and the beer gardens, there were a ton of volunteers, and we appreciate each and every one of them,” added Fisher.
For the entirety of the Fair, the Food Alley was ready to serve up all favourite fair foods, and a fan favourite, Ol’ McDale’s Petting Zoo, opened in the McFadden Building.
Canuck Amusements had the midway and games, while the household arts exhibits were located in the Tom Zandee Sports Arena along with a Tractor Land, Short Mat Bowling, daily Kids Tractor Pulls and a trade show on Saturday.
“The feedback from the crowd was nothing but positive, especially with the new addition of tractor land. It was a great place for little kids to go to and watch the kids' tractor pull competition,” noted Fisher.
Thursday wrapped up with the first performance of the Souris River Rodeo, followed by a slack performance on Friday morning, and the second full performance on Friday evening.
“The Souris River Rodeo was very well-attended and had lots of contestants,” said Metheral, who felt that moving the rodeo’s main performances to the evenings “helped more than anything, I think.”
One of the weekend entertainers, Magic Ben, who was a finalist on Canada’s Got Talent, was a performer alongside hypnotist Corrie J in the Exhibition Hall throughout the day on both Friday and Saturday.
The DQ Kids Rodeo began on Saturday morning in the rodeo arena, and a trade show was held in Exhibition Hall, with the Deep South Barrel Racing Jackpot in the afternoon.
“We have heard a lot of positive feedback right from the trade show, which we kind of threw together last minute, and had 11 people for that. They seemed pretty busy, plus the food vendors had some long lineups, but these vendors got through it pretty good,” said Fisher.
The Weyburn Iron Pigs had a game on Friday night, and the Weyburn Beavers played against Okotoks on Saturday afternoon, plus Magic Ben and Corrie J performed in the Exhibition Hall.
The inaugural Smash It Show took place in front of the grandstands on Saturday evening, featuring a minivan mashup, lawn tractor races and quad pulls. The show culminated with Tyler Metheral smashing a Rider-green car through a camper three times, until he lost a drive shaft, and the camper was completely destroyed.
The first-ever quad pulls were held, with a squad from Melville bringing their pull sled.
The winners were, in the lightweight division, Aeron Reinson in first and Ryan Bender in second. In the heavyweight division, Mack Metheral won first, and Wade Haberstock took second.
The winners of the minivan demo were: in first, Jenna Metheral, driving the “Oscar the Grouch” van; second was Mackenzie Rogal, driving the “Soccer Dad” van; and in third was Mackenzie Klotz, driving the “Barbie” van. In the lawn tractor races, heat winners were TJ Metheral and Ty Knoblauch.
Karaoke was held in Exhibition Hall, followed by Corrie J’s Hypnotist Show to end the Fair.
“All in all, going from four days to three saw just as much action but was easier on all our volunteers. We were all cleaned up on the grounds by Sunday at 5:30,” said Fisher. “We can’t thank Weyburn and area enough for coming out and showing your support of the Weyburn Agricultural Society.”
