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Times Advocate, 1989-07-05, Page 6Page 2 Times -Advocate, July 5, 1989 Grand Bend's Canada Day blast Birthday blast - Thousands crowded the Grand Bend beaches - others watched from the boats offshore to take in the impressive fireworks display Saturday evening sponsored by the Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce for the Canada Day holiday weekend. While the display got off to a late start, even later were those who tried to leave town after the show and caught in the traffic jam. Karen McKay Tops in grade nine Barbara Tiernan Grade 10's best David Thiel Best in grade 1:1 Cindy Beaver Heads grade 12 Super boxes aggravate Exeter PUC Continued from front page rules. Most arc reasonable; some- times children turn on the hose, or someone forgets to change a timer. For a persistent violation, the wa- ter flow to a household could be cut back at the curb. He recalled that . neighbours of a former resident ad- A Canada Day. cake Elmer Bell gets some help in cutting his ministered their own justice by Canada Day cake from Addie MacNaughton. Bell was honoured chopping his hose into pieces. with a special Award marking Canada Day. Transitions mark Fair's 125 -year history By Adrian Harte ZURICH - This year the Zurich Agricultural Society is .celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Zurich Annual Fair - at least as far as any- one knows it's the 125th year of the fair. All. official Zurich Agricultural Society records before 1935 have been lost, but since all annual meetings arc numbered in the min- utes ledger, 1989 corresponds to thc Fair's 125th meeting. "That's all wcrc going on,"; said secretary -treasurer Marg Dcichcrt, who pointed out that while the Zu- rich Fair is perhaps not the oldest fair in the region, it is one of the oldest annual events in the South Huron District. It must be remem- bered that, in 1864, much of the arca was still little more than a sparsely -scored frontier communi- ty. The Exeter Advocate reported that the September 19 and 20 Fair of 1889 ran into a little trouble with bad weather, but there was no men- tion of whether this was the event's 25th anniversary. "The annual fair of the Ilay Agri- cultural Association. wets held at Zurich on Friday last. The entries were fully up to last year's. The inside show was extra good. Grain, roots, vegetables and fruit were good, considering the dry sea- son. The show of horses and cattle was fair only. Machinery was not well represented. An interesting feature was the electric town clock invented by G. !less, of Zurch 'sic], which was in full operation on the grounds. The receipts at the gate were about one-fourth of last year's. Considering the weather, as there was a constant rain from morning till night, and very stormy, the officers are well pleased with the result." By 1914 the fair was entering its 50th year, but from accounts in the Advocate and the Zurich Herald, no special events marked that occai- sion either. 'Tire Zurich fall fair was held on Thursday of last week and there was a surprisingly good list of en- tries. The indoor exhibits were ex- cellent quality and the space in the building was taxed to its utmost," read the Zurich Herald of October 2, 1914, showing that the fair building on the lands cast of the present liquor store was in use at that time. By the late 1950s, after Biddulph to consider rezoning to allow a public garage council has set Tuesday, July 18 at 8 p.m. as the time for a public meeting to consider a rezoning ap- plication. Tom and Brad England attended a recent council meeting asking for an amendment of thc township zoning bylaw to permit the opera- tion of a public garage on their property. Thepmperty in question is locat- ed at part of Lot 30, Concession 3, just west of Lucan and was previ- ously used by 'Clarence Carter as a fuel depot and the Englands as a compound for damaged vehicles. Joe Lojzcr., owner of a property just south of Clandcboyc was in at- tendance to register a complaint of a neighbour's Doberman dogs. . Lojzer said the dogs bark con- sta•ntl4 throughout the day and as a result he feels he has lost the en- joyment and use of his property. Council advised Lojzcr that the clerk had contacted the Lucan OPP detachment and they indicated warn- ings had been. issued. At the et', Un. wau►,ii ►tui to pass a noise bylaw. for various reasons or a bylaw to restrict his neighbour from owning Dober- mans. Road superintendent Hugh Davis was authorized to call tenders for the purchased of a new township road grader. A total of seven building permit applications were received and ap- proved by council. They are as fol- lows: Steve Hosking, an addition to the second floor of his residence at part of Lot 23, Concession, 1; Ron Simpson, a garage at part of Lot 2, South London Road Concession; David Rock, a pole barn at Lot 19, Concession 1; Jim Ryan, a steel grain bin at Lot 24, Concession 10', Tony VanGeleukcn, a garage at part of Lot 27, North Boundary Conces- sion; Ron Mills, an accessory building at part of Lot 2, Conces- sion North London Road and Doug- las and Joan Markle, replacement of a front entrance. porch at part of Lot 30, North Bounday Concession. one too many rained out events, the fair was moved to the community centre to take advantage of the larg- er indoor display arca. The 100th anniversary of the Fall Fair was celebrated in 1964, but since then a major change in the fo- cus of the event occurred in 1976 when it opened in July. Deichert explained that by the mid-1970s the difficulties of getting bands for fall parades and the conflicts of timing with the Bayfield and Exeter Fall Fairs wcrc taking their toll. The suggestion to move the fair to July came from Tory Gregg, a popular emcee at many regional fairs. The idea was to attract a larg- er number of summer tourists to the event, but to keep it far enough ahead of the Bean Festival to pre- serve its own identity. The shift in season naturally meant a difference in the product available for showing. Pumpkins, corn, melons, and ripe tomatoes arc no longer part of the judging. However, the secretary notes agood variety of flowers is still available. "If they're interested in showing, they get thcm in (planted) quite ear- ly," she said. July, nevertheless, is still too early for chrysanthemums. The mid -western horse show by the 1960s had developed into a main feature of the the Zurich Fall Fair. It debuted in 1957 and became the biggest event of its kind in the dis- trict. However, Dcichcrt notes that nowadays it doesn't attract the crowds it used to in its heyday. "It's not a big attraction because people don't come to look at it," she explained. However, the show is still considered an important event for Ontario's horse owners looking for points during the show- ing season. • Dcichcrt has bccn involved with the Zurich Fair since she was se- lected as a judge in 1951. Her fa- ther, Valentine Becker, was presi- dent of the Society for many years, including its centennial celebration in 1964. Dcichcrt became secretary in 1968, but gave the position up whcn she returned to teaching in the 1970s, returning to the post in 1979 after the switch to the sum- mer season. (Dcichcrt retired from teaching at the end of this school year.) Although the Zurich Fair,is not as big an event as in years past, it has been struggling for attention for at least the last 30 years, observed Deichert. She said minutes from meetings to the 1950s and 60s show the troubles the organization had enlisting interested people from time to. time. The cause, as she sees it, is the increasing urbaniza- tion of small towns such as Zurich. With fewer businessek directly in- volved with agriculture, support for the traditional farmer's fair is harder to come by. Financial aid from governments and businesses are what keep the province's agricultural fairs running and, as Dcichcrt observes, it is the show -oriented hobby farmer who keeps the rarer and less marketable breeds of sheep, cattle and poultry alive. The fairs provide a forum for showing, along with a venue for trading and selling their best. While Dcichcrt agrees the Bean Festival is the more familiar Zurich event to tourists, plans to incorpo- rate it with the fair seem unworka- ble. The Festival relies on an emp- ty arena in case of rain, but the fair already makes full use of the facili- ty. Both events also depend on dances as main fundraisers. Since both dances arc successful, any attempt at combining them would only cut revenues. Marking the special occasion of 125 years of Zurich Fairs this year, a celebration dinner will be held this Saturday: It 'expected MPP and minister of agriculture Jack Riddell will be making a special presenta- tion for the event. Past presidents of the Zurich Agricultural Society will also be on hand. For the fair itself, set for July 21 to 23; all past fair queens are being invited back for the event, along with past winners of the baby con- test. How many grown up "babies" arrive will depend on who knows they wcrc a winner at the time and how many winners there were. "Nobody scally knows when the baby show started tither," explained Dcichcrt. A threshing machine demonstra- tion is planned for the fair along with a display of other antique farm- ing implements. The theme for the parade will also focus on celebrating the fair's 125th year. A tense moment - This photograph, taken at the Zurich Fair in the early from left), Marton Turkheim, Diane Thiel, and Marion Yungblut, (their 1950s by a Molson's photographer, offers a glimpse of how midway names at the time) appear quite absorbed by the spinning arrow and games have changed over the years. These girls, Judy Willert (second where it will eventually stop.