Queens County Fair growing, but still a ‘down home’ exhibition
Marcus Tufts of Barrington Passage with one of his oxen team at the Queens County Fair in Caledonia. (Rick Conrad)
Organizers of this year’s Queens County Fair say the annual agricultural exhibition is growing, but staying true to its roots.
Secretary-manager Doreen Holdright says more people are volunteering, and events like the horse and ox pulls are attracting even more participants.
“It’s getting bigger, we’re providing more entertainment. We do a lot of things that people just coming in off the grounds can take part in. Like Saturday, our corn cob contest. See who can eat the most corn. More like the old country fair. That’s what we’re trying to stay with and stay clear of the commercialism. ”
This is the 149th year for the fair in Caledonia, though the exhibition is more than 150 years old, and runs until Saturday. It features other livestock competitions like barrel racing, an artisans market, competitions for arts, crafts, vegetables and horticulture and lots of activities for kids. And popular events like the ladies’ toilet seat toss and the men’s frying pan toss are back for another year.
“Everybody’s interested,” Holdright says. “They all want to get involved. We’re all volunteers and three-quarters of the community volunteers.”
Despite an incident in which a horse and buggy overturned during Tuesday’s parade, Holdright says opening day was a success.
A man and his daughter were on the cart when their horse got tangled in its harness. The man suffered undisclosed injuries and is still in hospital, while his daughter hurt her leg, but was sent home after being checked out in hospital.
Holdright says the two people on the cart will be OK, and the horse was uninjured.
She says the fair is so popular this year that organizers will have to expand their camping area next year. A large part of the draw are the horse and ox pulls, with a record number of light horses at the fair this year.
“Ox pulling is growing. There’s new people coming into it. There’s new people coming into it. We have to limit because we only have 61 stalls for oxen. But at our spring pulls, we’ve had up to 80 pairs.”
Marcus Tufts of Barrington Passage brought his two teams of oxen. One of his pairs was already racking up the ribbons, winning best matched team, best gear and best exhibit of oxen in the parade.
“Queens County is where I grew up but moved away 20 years aog and it’s still my favourite exhibition to come back to. Just a hometown fair to see the people and friendly and just love the fair and to compete with the ox pulling.”
Tufts doesn’t use his oxen for much farm work anymore. But he still puts them through their paces to prepare for the ox-pulling competitions.
“It’s like bodybuilding,” he says.
“You have to work them every night to make them strong. We exercise my oxen for near an hour a night every evening at home. Just dragging a lightweight to build the muscle in their legs and their neck. And every once in a while, once a week, we put them on a heavier load just to test them to see how we’re doing.”
He bought Toby and Dan when they were three years old.
“No Bright and Lion. That’s a traditional name but we tried to stay away from that. They were actually that when we bought them.”
The six-year-old pair can haul up to 9,600 pounds, about three times their body weight. Oxen are judged by how much they can pull divided by their weight. He says the crowds love it.
“It’s a big draw. I think it’s just to see the pure strength of the animal and how well they listen to being trained. It’s an old tradition. Years ago, they used to use them in the woods and the old guys would bring them to the fair just for bragging rights of who had the strongest team. It’s kind of still the same thing today, except not many work them in the woods anymore.”
Tufts says this is the last fair of the year for his oxen. After this, they’ll head home for a rest in the pasture.
“My father always had a team. Now my kids, they come with us to all the fairs. My kids pull in the junior ox hauls and this is just my hobby. This is my four-wheelers.”
Kari-Lynne Drummond and Kevin Charlton of East Torbrook in the Annapolis Valley have been to four other exhibitions this year, in Lawrencetown, Bear River, Bridgewater and Windsor.
They said they were impressed with Caledonia.
“The barns are in excellent shape and the number of livestock is high,” Charlton said. “For the number of fairs we’ve gone to this summer, it’s probably the fair we’ve seen the largest amount of animals.”
“They’ve done a great job here as far as keeping it down home,” Drummond says.
The fair’s Holdright says the rest of the week features lots for people of all ages.
“It goes until Saturday, come check it out. Our rates to get in are the lowest and we’ve got lots for you to do and see.”
For more information, visit the Queens County Fair’s Facebook page.
Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com
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