The longstanding tradition of a fair in Aldergrove goes back more than a century, to the first fair held on Sept. 19, 1912.
It was operated by the Aldergrove Agricultural Association, which rented the original Aldergrove Elks hall before its own hall was built. It featured horse and horse carriage judging, as well as poultry, dairy produce, fruit, flowers, and needlework from local residents.
The Aldergrove Agricultural Hall was built in 1923 by the members and was used for the fall fair display until 1961. The property was sold that year and the society held flower shows in the United Church hall and the fall fair at the high school gym from 1961 to 1964.
In 1965, the fair was moved back to the Elk’s hall, and in 1982 relocated again, this time to the spacious Aldergrove arena.
Through all these years, fair director Mike Robinson noted how the fair has relied so completely on volunteers.
“The agricultural association went along strong until the 1960s when [volunteer] numbers dwindled to very little. It ended up not being much more than a hotdog stand and a few tables in the Elks parking lot” for a time, he explained.
Robinson said volunteer numbers picked up in the 1990s, but dropped again in the 2000s.
At the same time, the Aldergrove Festival Association was also struggling to find volunteers for their June event.
That’s when the two organizations banded together, in the early 2000s, forming the current Aldergrove Agricultural Fair and Festival Association that Robinson is involved with.
So with the merger, the fair – originally hosted in the fall – was moved to the third week of July.
“In the process of doing that, we tried to amalgamate the best of both organizations,” Robinson said.
The festival held a parade that led into the actual festivities. However, volunteers were lacking for both the parade and festival. So, when the organizations combined the parade was moved to Canada Day — until this year when it was cancelled due to high costs and lack of volunteers.
“Typically in these organizations, you end up with one or two people who are the backbone of that organization, who keep things ticking along… but then you’re burning out the backbones,” Robinson said, adding that a challenge is also finding volunteers to replace the “backbones” to continue the organization.
“It’s as simple as no volunteers, no fair.”
Robinson said it’s not too late to volunteer for the fair this year, regardless of experience anyone of any age is encouraged to sign up.
Those interested in joining the Aldergrove Fair committee can email volunteers@aldergrovefair.ca.
This year, the fair takes place from Friday to Sunday, July 14 to 16, at the Aldergrove Athletic Park — located at 26770 29th Ave.
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