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Wednesday, April 15, 2015 • Huron Expositor 11
Marco Vigliotti/Huron Expositor
Students from across Huron and Perth visited Seaforth on April 8 and 9 for the Huron Perth Agriculture and Water
Festival, an annual learning fair that showcases the importance of agriculture and water conservation. The event, hosted
at the Agriplex and Seaforth Arena, featured an array of hands-on learning demonstrations and special guests.
Local students take in farm
and water festival in Seaforth
Marco Vigliotti
Huron Expositor
About 600 elementary school
students from across Huron and
Perth counties visited Seaforth last
week for an interactive educational
fair on farming and water
conservation.
The Huron Perth Agriculture and
Water Festival, now in its 20th year,
took up residency at the Agriplex
and neighbouring Seaforth Arena
this past Wednesday and Thursday,
providing hands-on learning dem-
onstrations and presentations from
a diverse range of speakers, includ-
ing farmers, civic organizations
and government agencies.
There were also some barnyard
animals on hand, including a bash-
ful calf that appeared to be a big hit
with the young attendees.
With the number of young peo-
ple being raised on farms falling
sharply in recent decades, the festi-
val serves a crucial role in educat-
ing local youth about the mechan-
ics and importance of agriculture,
said Agnes Denham, who serves on
the event's steering committee.
"There are less and less youths
connected with the farm. Even
though they live in a rural area,
they still don't necessarily live on a
farm or see the farm animals or
how the farm works," she said in an
interview with the Expositor. "We
find it is important to get this infor-
mation out to the youth."
The festival, Denham said,
mainly targets Grade Four classes,
though there was a spattering of
both younger and older students,
mostly from schools with com-
bined grade programs.
As part of the proceedings, the
students spilt the day between the
agriculture portion, hosted in the
Agriplex, and the water section
inside the Seaforth Arena.
While the farming side sought to
explain the food development pro-
cess, the water component aimed
to illuminate the importance of
both conservation and the infra-
structure that ensures easy and
reliable access to clean water.
For example, one exhibit
attempted to showcase the strug-
gle early settlers in the region
faced transporting water back to
their residences in a time before
pipelines by handing the students
a carrying pole that held two buck-
ets filled with several bottles of
water.
The water contained in the
bucket was only enough for one
10 -minute shower.