Welcome to your Shawville Fair special feature!

Welcome to your special behind-the-scenes look at what’s in store for this year’s Shawville Fair. This newsroom has been hard at work over the past month to bring readers the stories of just some of the ways people across this county are gearing up for Pontiac’s biggest event of the year. And we’ve just barely scratched the surface when it comes to capturing the energy and love that goes into making this event happen. 

From young 4-H members practicing for their first markets to veteran derby drivers putting the finishing touches on their entries for this year’s smash-up, we hope this special feature offers a glimpse into the quiet hustle that is building across the county as the fair weekend approaches. 

This year’s five-day event will offer attendees a healthy mix of all that has become tradition for the “Valley’s most family friendly fair,” which dates back to 1856, as well as some new features the fairboard is introducing to ensure the event offers the best possible window into all that this community is capable of, and that crowds are kept entertained throughout the weekend.  

There will be tractor pulls, horse pulls, sheep shearing, animal showing, produce judging, and so much more over the course of the five days designed to celebrate all things agriculture. 

In the produce section, local green thumbs can now compete for the largest potato prize, and seed producers will be happy to learn the fair has expanded the number of classes in which it is a qualifier for the Ottawa Valley Seed Show. The homecraft section is also expanding to include several new sections. And beef shows for Simmental and Hereford breeds are now point shows for those cattle associations. Big moves! 

The family entertainment planned for the weekend will once again include a canine circus show, a hypnotist, two magicians, and Dan the One Man Band for musical entertainment wherever you find yourselves on the fairgrounds. 

Between heavy horse classes on Friday night and Saturday afternoon, a trick rider will be performing with her two horses and miniature horse, and will be performing tricks throughout the fairgrounds on Saturday as well. And those hoping to say hello to Marty the Clydesdale will be happy to learn he will once again be accepting visitors in the horse tent all weekend long. 

Photo callout: We at THE EQUITY want to know what you get up to this Shawville Fair. Send your best photos from the weekend to editor@theequity.ca for a chance to have them published in our Sept. 3 newspaper. 

Hello and welcome from your local reps

Ralph Lang – President of the Pontiac Agricultural Society

Jane Toller – Warden of MRC Pontiac

Sophie Chatel – MP for Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi

André Fortin – Pontiac MNA

Calling all Canucks! Help the Shawville Fair break a world record

On Friday, the grounds will double as a celebration of Canada, with activities and ceremonies to honour and commemorate this country, and those who protect it. 

“We’re going to turn Friday into a real celebration of Canada,” said Mavis Hanna, general manager of the Pontiac Agricultural Society. 

The tribute activities will begin with an attempt to create the world’s largest human maple leaf. The simple task of showing up around 6 p.m., wearing red, could help Shawville make history. 

There will be a formal salute and a singing of the national anthem, followed by a live performance of Glass Tiger’s new song, “Canada’s Song (Free to Be)” by the band itself. 

Hanna said when the fair board found out the classic Canadian band had recently released this song, it was an easy step to incorporate it into the celebrations. 

“Shawville Fair has always supported Canadian, in terms of where we source things, and our entertainment, so this was a way to highlight that,” she said.

On Friday, all active members of the Petawawa Canadian Armed Forces will receive free admission as an appreciation for all they do.

Also, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. there will be a display of military vehicles and kits available at the fairgrounds to explore. 

So come out to the grounds on Friday wearing your brightest red across your chest and heart to help Shawville celebrate our true north, strong and free. 

First-time market goat shower preps for big day

by Sophie Kuijper Dickson

Eloise Thompson is one of 20 Shawville 4-H club members who have spent all summer raising, grooming, and training an animal so that it is ready to be sold in the club’s market at the Shawville Fair. 

While many members are now familiar with the process of raising their animal of choice – whether it be a lamb, a goat, or a steer – to be sold off in the annual Labour Day weekend auction, Thompson is hoping to step into the market arena for the first time with her goat she has named The Rock. 

Thompson bought The Rock from Clarendon goat farmer Meredith Closs this spring using $300 she had saved up in birthday money. 

“I love goats, and I wanted to try a different aspect of [showing], like talking to more people and trying to socialize more. And I wanted something that would be a bit more involved,” Thompson said of her reasons to purchase a market goat this year. 

At 12 years old, she’s been a member of the club for five years, and has shown many a goat over those years, so is familiar with the ins and outs of goat care. But this summer she has come to learn that raising a goat for market is a whole different can of worms. 

In previous years, she has shown female goats, not for market. For this kind of showing, there is no weight minimum a goat needs to reach to be shown. But for market, it’s different. 

“I’ll weigh him at the Shawville Fair, and if he doesn’t make 70 pounds, he can’t go into the market,” she said. 

“I’m going against two of my cousins – Graham Vereyken and Rosie McCann – and their goats weigh 80 and 90 pounds,” she whimpered, with a smile, admitting there’s a chance The Rock won’t be accepted.  

Thompson weighed The Rock the week of Aug. 11, and he came in at 64 pounds, still six pounds shy of the minimum. 

“He started off with 75 pounds. I was like, ‘Great this is awesome, I’m going to make it!’ I was so pumped,” Thompson said, of her early days with The Rock. 

“But then he dropped down to 58 pounds. The heat took a crazy toll on him. And then he got super sick. He had diarrhea and had to get dewormed. And then he went back up to 62 pounds. We weighed him again two days ago and he was 64 pounds.”

While his weight gain has been promising, Thompson was concerned The Rock’s participation in the 4-H club’s Achievement Day on Aug. 16 would cause him to lose some of the progress he was making. 

“We’ve been weighing him every two days now. And now we’re really on top of feed, and getting feed on him. And I’ve also been more on working with him because I want him to be more tame, because he’s a boy and usually they get more antsy,” she said. 

Besides the weight gain challenges, Thompson said he is more or less ready for market. She’s managed to get him a lot calmer and more comfortable with being groomed, and has stayed on top of trimming his hooves and his coat. 

All that’s left for her to do is to spread the word about her goat, and invite as many prospective buyers as she can to attend the market. 

She said she’s nervous about the process of talking to people to sell her animal. 

She has to share info about the animal, what the profits made will go towards, and convince people to try his meat, which Thompson herself has yet to try. 

“I’ve been looking up some stuff, and apparently it’s really good for protein, and because he’s so young, it will also be tender,” Thompson said.  

“I probably should try it before I pitch it, but I’m a bit of a picky eater so I’m scared to try it.” 

Thompson said any profits she makes on the goat will go towards paying off her up front costs of raising him, and the rest will be saved for future 4-H projects, and maybe one day starting her own goat herd.

Mainstage magic and beer tent bangers

by Emma McGrath

This year’s highly anticipated entertainment lineup is sure to bring the beats, no matter what era of tunes you’re into. With headliners Glass Tiger, Parmalee, and the one and only Brett Kissel, you won’t want to be too far from the main stage.

Friday’s Grammy-nominated, JUNO-winning headliner Glass Tiger is “one of Canada’s most enduring and iconic bands” according to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, into which it was just inducted this spring.

The band, originally from Newmarket, Ont., started playing together under the name Tokyo in 1981. Their debut album Thin Red Line became the fastest selling debut in Canadian music history with iconic tunes “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” and “Someday” topping the charts soon after the album was released in 1986. 

Their stardom may have begun over 40 years ago, but this is a cat that keeps coming back. This April, the band released a song dedicated to Canada, entitled “Canada’s Song (Free to be).” 

“They’re a classic band. Everybody knows their songs. They’re going to be a great draw for us. Plus we were lucky they had a song come out that’s all about celebrating Canada,” Hanna said, explaining the fairboard’s choice to book the band. 

“We’re going to turn Friday into a real celebration of Canada. [ . . . ] Canadian pride is huge now. When it just happened that Glass Tiger came out with that song, it really was an easy step to move into this.”

Warming the stage and crowd for Glass Tiger on Friday evening is Barrelhouse Tributes, a 10-piece tribute band that specializes in bringing audiences music by Dan Steely, the Allman Brothers, and The Beatles. This year, they will be bringing the Beatles to Shawville during their show, where they will be performing the Abbey Road Album, “note for note,” according to the band’s website.

Saturday’s musical entertainment will kick off with acountry set from Mark Mulligan in the beer tent. Moving over to the main stage at 7.30 p.m., Pontiac country musician and Grammy-nominated singer Danny Sylvester will get the evening’s entertainment going with his blended country-rock music mix.

Then at 9 p.m. he’ll be ceding the stage to four-man American country band Parmalee, which this year was nominated for the Favourite Country Duo or Group award at the American Music Awards. While the band didn’t win, its music is still making waves with top hits “Just the Way” and “Take My Name” from their 2021 album For You. 

According to Hanna, Parmalee has never performed in eastern Canada until now, and their show at the Shawville Fair will be the band’s only performance in this corner of the country this year.

Sylvester fans will be thrilled to know Saturday’s party doesn’t stop with Parmalee, as Sylvester will keep it going on the beer tent stage well into the evening. 

On Sunday, Ottawa-area cover wizards Bytown Brothers will get the jam going with interpretations of a variety of hits, old and new, from James Taylor to Green Day. 

After that, the musical lineup will bring several Shawville Fair veterans back to entertain the crowds once again. First, local legend Phil Denault will be warming up the stage Sunday evening (and keeping the after party going in the beer tent afterwards) with his rockin’ country classics. 

And then, a name that speaks for itself. Brett Kissel will be returning to close out the fair’s smashing entertainment lineup. The Canadian country superstar has 23 Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMA), three JUNOs, and 18 Top-10 radio hits, including “3,2,1,” “Airwaves,” and recently, “Cowboys and Dreamers.” 

Brett Kissel has been to Shawville before, in 2016 and then again in 2019. Six years later, he is still as big of a deal as he ever was, and has been releasing music nonstop since his last show in town. 

So if you missed his last local performance, or are ready to see more . . .  “Take that chance, ‘cause you might not get another one.”

Attention super fans! Do you have a burning question for Glass Tiger, Brett Kissel, or Parmalee? We’re hoping to score live interviews with each of these bands before they go on stage, and we’d love to ask your question! Send them in to editor@theequity.ca by Wednesday, Aug. 27.

Building the perfect beater – One local derby champ on why he keeps coming back for more

by K.C. Jordan

You would think demolition derbies and jigsaw puzzles would attract two very different kinds of people – but not in the case of Jeremy Williams. 

The punk-rockin’ owner of Jer’s Auto in Ladysmith is a five-time demolition derby champ at the Shawville Fair, and has been spending way too much time at the shop this summer playing with his latest puzzle of a build – an old Crown Victoria that, by fair weekend, he’ll have logged hundreds of hours planning, assembling, and testing. 

And then he’s going to smash it. 

Williams has craved the adrenaline-soaked feeling of derby driving since his teenage years at the fair. “There’s something surreal about that volume [ . . . ] you just hear the roar of everything the whole time,” he said at his shop earlier this month. 

Sixteen years later, Williams still loves the thrill. But the derby is also where he gets to show off his building chops. As the mechanic gave THE EQUITY an exclusive tour of his sprawling graveyard of salvaged auto parts, he said this is where the process of building a derby car begins. 

“It’s just full of parts and stuff that I’ve taken off scrap cars, or worn-out parts off of customers’ cars that I know I can cut up and use a piece of to make something else,” he said.

Once he’s got all the parts he needs for the build, he gets to work putting each one into place. Securing the fuel tank, reinforcing the tires, adding support bars so the driver doesn’t get trapped inside when the car gets smashed. Some choices are customized while many are for safety. 

The job takes hundreds of hours, and he does it on top of his normal job and home life. “Someone will come to the house to see me and it’s derby season or tire season, and my wife says, ‘What do you expect? He’s a ghost.’ I don’t exist during derby season.” 

Once the car is put together, it’s time to give it some personality – something Williams has in spades. Last year’s build, dubbed the “Spider-Man car”, featured a red-blue-white paint job and his former band’s name, Beyond Driven, spray-painted on the doors. 

This is all part of the fun for Williams – the hours spent building, the assembling, the painting.  “I almost have more fun building my car than I do driving it,” he said, adding that he takes time to admire others’ creations too.  

“That’s why I enjoy walking around the pits before and after the derby, because you get to see everybody else’s creativity,” he said. “There’s definitely always more to do, more to learn, more to experience, and there’s a lot of guys that know a lot more than I ever will.” 

Williams’ two young lads have been lapping up his wisdom in hopes of someday climbing into that coveted driver’s seat. Twelve-year-old Jackson Williams and 13-year-old Jax Mousseau have been helping him strip cars for derby parts and watching as he pieces the builds together. 

Though they’re not old enough to drive just yet, Williams hopes someday the experience will help them be able to build their own cars. “They’re around for the whole thing,” he said.

Both boys are derbyheads and can usually be found ringside screaming their heads off as Williams tries not to get smashed up. “We want to see him win,” said Jax. 

But just like many preteen boys, they both still crave the primal urge to go fast and smash stuff. 

“What I’m going to do is just go full hammertime, I’m just gonna try to obliterate people,” said 12-year-old Jackson of his future strategy.

In the end, all the work that goes into the cars meets a sudden and violent end. But it’s all in good fun, Williams said, and it’s all for the benefit of the crowd. “You’re there for one reason and it’s to destroy your car.” 

Two years ago he caught a nasty shot to his driver’s side door, bouncing the back end of his car nearly two feet off the ground. It was the hardest hit of his life, but all he could do was climb out and shake the guy’s hand for the sick hit. 

“It’s the hit I would have wanted to make on another guy’s car,” he said.

Sometimes, even after all the time and money spent on a car, Williams still comes up short and has to start again from square one. “You live with the disappointment – and the debt.”

On Sept. 1 when defending champ Williams pulls the Crown Victoria into the ring, he won’t know what to expect. It’s an unpredictable sport, and any number of things can go wrong. He could get another door shot. His tire could get knocked out in the first round, or he could get pinned up against the fence.  

And even if, by some stroke of derby-god luck he did win for a sixth time, that’s not the point. He’s just having fun ripping around the track, in the cool car he built with his boys. A trophy is just gravy. 

The demolition derby will rip its way into the Shawville Fair Sept. 1 at noon.

Meet this year’s service award winners

by K.C. Jordan

Every year, the fair board chooses individuals who have given significant amounts of time to supporting the agricultural society and honours them with service awards at the opening ceremony for each Shawville Fair. This year’s winners are Rick Younge and Elwyn Lang, both longtime volunteers, board members and past presidents.

Rick Younge’s love affair with the Shawville Fair began as a young lad showing dairy cattle as part of Shawville’s 4-H club.

“Shawville Fair was the best weekend of the year. You’re back seeing your friends that you hadn’t seen all summer,” said the now-beef farmer at his very own Willow Hollow Farms. 

Later, Younge started to see the fair as a chance to show off his region’s agricultural abundance, even to the city-slickers who didn’t know a Holstein from a Charolais. 

“We got to show the city kids what we did and what our animals did, so they realized that eggs didn’t just come from the store.”

An active community volunteer in many groups, Younge started volunteering at the fair about 30 years ago, in the beef cattle section as well as setting up and tearing apart the grounds. 

In 2007 he joined the fair board, and in 2010 and 2011 served as president – an experience he said allowed him to carry on the tradition his forefathers started before him. 

“Ever since I was a small child, it was a dream of mine to be part of the fair, and when I was able to be president those people helped me make my dream come true to keep the fair in good stead.” 

During Younge’s tenure, the fair acquired a property near the hospital that now acts as a campground during fair weekend. He said this helped to alleviate some of the parking problems that arose in town during the busy time.

“It was always a running joke that if a fair didn’t have a parking problem, it wasn’t much of a fair. We had a major parking problem, and we still have a major parking problem, but it’s a lot better because all those trailers are up there.” 

When Younge got the call from the Pontiac Agricultural Society’s general manager Mavis Hanna saying he had won this year’s award, he was appreciative of the opportunity to be recognized with Shawville Fair royalty. 

“I was humbled because to me it’s a great honour to be able to have my name amongst many of my mentors that came before me,” he said, listing a dozen or so names. 

“They all had busy farms, but when it came to Shawville Fair you shut down the farm as much as you can [ . . .] and it was important to them to be able to have a place for people to come and learn.”

The learning aspect is still close to Younge’s heart. Every year he tours schoolkids around the fairgrounds, trying to instill in them the same passion for agriculture that intoxicated him as a young lad. 

“Their eyes are just huge, it’s wonderful to see them,” he said. 

Elwyn Lang started volunteering as a young kid, slinging hot dogs at the fair’s 4-H food stall. As he got older he got involved with the entertainment side of the fair, coordinating volunteers for everyone’s favourite “White Ride” – the beer tent. 

In 1977, Lang stepped up as a board member, where he is proud to say he has served for nearly 50 years. But his tenure was marked by an early challenge, the 1989 fire that burned the old octagonal exhibition hall to the ground. 

The fair board was forced to re-build a new hall from the ashes, which he said put them in some temporary financial trouble. But thanks to some generous community members they were able to pull themselves out. 

“For a few years we’d run around collecting,” said Lang. “They asked people [not to] take prize money for a few years to help the fair survive.” 

He said the new exhibition hall, as well as many other new buildings the board erected around the fairgrounds, made space for the fair’s different divisions.

“That was a pretty big challenge. It changed the whole fair when they built the exhibition hall [because] we had somewhere to hold things and it was a venue for other opportunities.” 

After a half-century in the biz, Lang has seen the fair take new forms over the years, and he has seen it grow. He said a commitment to top-tier entertainment and a shift to a one-price admission has helped attract more people as the “Valley’s most family-friendly fair.”  

“We draw many more people because of our entertainment [ . . . ] I think that has grown the fair more than anything else. It’s a reasonable price for the day or the weekend. “

He said while he never sought to win any awards, this one is special because it’s a testament to those who work hard at the fair every year – and have a heck of a lot of fun while doing it. 

“It’s humbling. There’s lots of people that have given their heart and soul to it [ . . . ]  We’ve had a lot of hard work, but we’ve had a lot of fun.” 

Lang still lends a hand in the beer tent, but this year is glad to see a fresh set of faces tending bar. He said it’s encouraging for the fair’s future to see people still volunteering.

“If you can get one volunteer that is a really good volunteer, you’ll get more of them,” he said. 

He was able to coax in at least one more volunteer this year – his granddaughter Kendal, whose addition to the fair board now makes three generations of Langs.

Homecraft section keeping up with the times

by Emma McGrath

This year, the fair has introduced several new sections to the homecraft competitions: daycare crafts, charcuterie, and paint night creations. 

“We have three new sections in the homecraft section, which means three new opportunities for people who are showing, or are new to showing,” said Mavis Hanna, general manager of the Pontiac Agriculture Society. 

She said the board has removed some older classes and replaced them with these ones in an effort to tap into some of the ways crafting traditions have evolved over the years. 

Ideas for this year’s additions to the section came during a brainstorming session between some of the homecraft directors. 

“We thought, what can we take out to put in . . .
what’s new and upcoming,” said Lisa Coles, one of the directors. “We like to keep up with the new things happening.”

Hanna said charcuterie, for example, was added because it’s something that has become quite popular in recent years – a craft that people are already practicing.

“We have a whole section of classes for charcuterie trays, because charcuterie is big now, and everybody in their home life parties and events are doing charcuterie.”

Coles explained a section for daycares to enter was added to give the many daycares in the area an opportunity to make some crafts, win some prize money, and maybe get some future exhibitors hooked on the fair at a young age. The paint night section offers people who have already done the work to create the art at a local paint night a space to display their work. 

“We’ve all been to those paint nights and have those projects that have come from those paint nights, and there’s nothing really to do with them,” Hanna said. “So now you can show it.” 

Another section making its debut this year is macramé, a textile craft that involves knotting techniques, rather than weaving or knitting, to create various hanging shapes. And it’s made a “hot hot” comeback, according to Coles. 

“If [ . . . ] you’re sitting doing macramé, hey, you know, put it in [the fair], you could win five, six bucks,” she said. 

Charcuterie experts offer tips and tricks of the tray

While the word charcuterie technically refers to cured meat, it has come to used as a general term for a prepared tray holding a curated collection of different preserved foods – usually ready-to-eat meats, cheeses, dried fruits, and crackers.

This glamorous snack tray – the origins of which date back to 15th century France – has become a staple at most social gatherings because of the do-it-yourself approach it offers to building your own plate.

Would you like a fresh fig with a wedge of brie? Or perhaps a schmear of gorgonzola with a baby pickle? Or maybe yet, a classic cheddar on a cracker. The adventure is yours for the choosing. 

While hosts might figure the preparation of a charcuterie board to be simpler than whipping up a more complicated finger food, many would argue here is still an art to assembling and displaying the right combination of pairable pieces. 

Determined to get the inside scoop on how to master the charcuterie assembly, THE EQUITY caught up with two local experts to harvest their tips and tricks for what makes the perfect board. 

Jennifer Dale, owner of Shawville’s Little Red Wagon Winery, said some staple items she tries to include are a hard cheese, a soft cheese, maybe a goat cheese, a nice jam or jelly, pickles, olives, some thinly sliced cured meats, and crackers. 

She said she will often add some fresh fruits such as grapes or apples, and dried fruits too, like figs, apricots, or mangoes, and a little green garnish to tie it all together. 

Of critical importance to Dale’s charcuterie practice is the choice of surface used to display the gathered finger foods. She encourages using a board or plate “in a colour that makes everything pop,” which means opting for neutrals that will accent the colours of the foods, and adding either a matching or contrasting bowl for your olives, or anything else in need of some structure. 

She also stresses the importance of including utensils for snack-browsers to gracefully gather their chosen pieces – a small fork to pick up the ingredients or a small knife to spread the soft cheeses and jams will elevate your board and make it easier to enjoy. 

Only a stone’s throw from Dale’s headquarters at the winery, another charcuterie expert has been hard at work over the years refining her charcuterie practice at her restaurant in downtown Shawville. 

Café 349 owner Ruth Hahn said she started to offer boards because there was an increasing demand for finger foods rather than full meals at the casual events she hosts. 

For Hahn, charcuterie boards are a winning option because you can make them for any occasion – a belief she’ll be testing this week as she tries to assemble a breakfast board for the first time. 

Hahn’s second tenet of a good board is that it uses whatever happens to be on hand in the kitchen.

“Easy to say because I am a restaurant owner,” she joked, noting she loves to work with textures and colours to fill in any gaps, such as some nuts, a nice sprig of green herbs, or some crackers. 

But she shared that there ultimately are no rules to putting a board together, something she has learned over time. 

“Just fill it with what you’ve got.” 

A new gallery for paint night prodigies

Sheila O’Brien has been instructing paint nights at the Fort William hotel in Sheenboro for three summers now, and says their popularity is only growing. 

A paint night is an event where an instructor leads a group of people, not necessarily painters, step by step through the process of painting a specific image. 

O’Brien, a professionally trained artist who now teaches at Algonquin College in Pembroke, said she was looking for an opportunity to use her skills while offering the community a chance to connect during her quieter summer months. 

“I think there was a big need for that [connection] following the pandemic,” she said, explaining her thinking behind launching her paint night events. 

Nearby cottagers Dora and Mark Brazeau and their daughter Lindsay are among the dedicated followers of O’Brien’s paint nights. 

“It’s something so different,” Dora said, adding that they love to do other family activities like karaoke, but that painting offers a new way to spend time together. 

“I get to spend time with my daughter, and my wife, and it’s relaxing,” Mark added after they had all painted a beachy, sandy landscape. 

None of the three Brazeau family members had plans to submit in the Shawville Fair’s paint night classes, new as of this year, but said they will likely give their paintings to their respective parents because they have collected a few paint night products themselves already. 

For O’Brien, having a new fair category for paint night productions might be just the gallery space she believes some of her participants are looking for. 

“I talked to a lot of artists through this Paint With Sheila that are so proud of their work,” O’Brien said. “But they don’t necessarily just want to bring it home and put it in a room where no one is going to see it. They want to get it out there.”

She said she sees paint nights as a natural extension of more traditional homecrafts. 

“It’s like the 2025 version of quilting, where people would gather to create a quilt. Now, we’re gathering to create art. It definitely belongs.”

Starting them young

Over the last few weeks some little ones at daycares in the Pontiac could be found preparing for what will be for most, their first ever submission to the Shawville Fair, in the fair’s first ever homecraft section for daycare crafts. 

Tanya Greer works at Kids Stop Care, a daycare in Bristol, where she spent some time crafting with her young group of little ones aged three and under to get their submissions ready for the big weekend.

“I thought it was a great idea, because it gets kids at a younger age used to what the fair is all about, and then maybe when they get older, they will actually put exhibits in,” she said. “It’s one way to get them used to the process and what’s involved.”

Also this month, burgeoning artists over at Bambinos Universe Early Childhood Center in Shawville were getting their craft on to prepare for their first submission to the fair. 

Head teacher at Bambinos Christa Kelly said every year the school, along with other schools in the area, are invited to tour the fairgrounds the Friday morning. Fair director Kendal Lang said that initiative is an opportunity for kids to explore the agricultural side of the fair before it gets busy, something that can get missed when they come with families. 

Kelly said having something of their own on display will make this year’s trip to the fair “extra special.” 

“They’re going to be so proud to show what they have done to their parents,” she said.

The instructions for each craft, including paper bag scarecrow or spooky square pumpkin, were left up to educators to plan, and the makers to execute, so every submission is sure to be one of a kind!

Thinking of entering in this year’s new homecraft categories, or those that have been around for decades? Here are some details. 

To enter into the homecraft competitions, you must be a member of the Pontiac Agriculture Society. You can purchase a membership up until the beginning of the fair – with a deadline of Wed. Aug. 27, at 9 p.m. – from the fair board office at 215 Lang Street, Shawville.

Wool and pumpkins take the spotlight 

by Emma McGrath

Expanding on an initiative that started last year, the fairboard is bringing two new interactive agricultural awareness installations to this year’s fair to provide an opportunity for local or visiting passersby to learn more about two lesser-known corners of Pontiac’s agricultural scene. 

This year, the two installations will highlight pumpkin growing and wool production. 

“It’s all about being an educator for agriculture for our visitors to the fair,” said Mavis Hanna, general manager of the Pontiac Agriculture Society. 

“We want to make sure we are representing the industry and reflecting the changes in the industry.”

She said farmers in the area have grown to include more than just historically prominent dairy operations, to cash croppers, market gardeners, and sheep farmers.

“It opens up the conversation,” said Kendal Lang, one of the directors responsible for the installations, adding that the booths, set up in the ag awareness barn alongside the 4H projects, help make the conversation around agriculture a little more approachable and engaging. 

The pumpkin installation will have an information banner that shares facts about how pumpkins are grown and walks you through the life of a pumpkin from start to finish, as well as a tic-tac-toe that uses small wooden pumpkins as pieces that directors hope will draw in fair go-ers. 

The sheep installation will include a poster that will walk its readers through important stages in a sheep’s life, focusing on what it takes to make wool. Several mystery boxes will invite visitors to reach into them to feel their contents without being able to see them. Inside will be wool in different forms and products to touch. 

A new way for wool waste

Clarendon sheep farmer Shauna McKenna is one local producer who has found some creative ways to use their wool, often deemed to be an agricultural waste product. 

She started her flock of sheep back in 2019, with seven commercial sheep. Now, she tends to a flock of 60 at her home in Radford. 

While she began sheep farming to be able to sell their meat, she has a particular passion for  their wool, which is often thrown out, according to McKenna, a practice seen by many as a “necessary evil.” 

“I used to be a producer who threw out wool, I’m not very proud to say that, but it would go into the manure pile because it was considered a waste product,” McKenna said. 

She started wool felting as a way to use some of the wool she produces, without having to process the wool into yarn. 

“I fell in love with the creation part,” she said. “I can dye my own colours, I don’t have to buy it from the store, I can use my sheep, and just needle felt it and make something great.” 

She uses about 70 per cent of the wool she produces for various different wool creations – including artwork on homemade greeting cards – and the rest of it goes to Leystone Farms, a Luskville operation that transforms sheep wool into pellets that are then sold as a natural garden fertilizer. 

“I think [wool] is a product most Canadians think of as picky and not comfortable,” McKenna said. “But there are many different valuable things that you can do with wool rather than throw it in the manure pile.” 

McKenna said right now she is noticing a shift in discourse around wool and its uses and the desire of consumers seeking natural fibres over synthetics for clothing and textiles. 

“It’s a really positive thing that [the fair] chose sheep and wool this year rather than just sheep with meat. Obviously both products are really great, but it’s nice to see that wool is highlighted as a product that can be used in everyday use,” she said.

Last year’s champ offers tips for growing the plumpest pumpkin – by K.C. Jordan

Anyone seduced into pumpkin growing by the fair’s new ag exhibit should be sure to get in a visit with the giant pumpkin submissions on display in the agricultural hall to understand just what an attentive pumpkin whisperer can accomplish. 

Mike Rusenstrom has been one such whisperer, winning the award for heaviest pumpkin at last year’s fair with an entry that clocked in at over 400 lbs. 

Rusenstrom offered THE EQUITY a tour of his garden in Bristol as well as some tips for how to grow the plumpest pumpkin. 

It all starts with the soil, he said, making sure it is healthy and alive – which can take a few years to get going. 

“Guys will have three piles of compost, and you have to let it break down properly before you actually add it into your garden,” he said. 

Rusenstrom has come up with ways over the years to keep his soil healthy, such as growing buckwheat and other plants to help nourish the compost.

“It breaks down easily once you chop it and then you till it into the ground,” he said, adding that crushed-up seashells can also be added as a calcium source.  

Then comes choosing the right seeds. To grow a champion pumpkin you can’t just use any old seeds – they are bred specifically for their sheer girth. Rusesnstrom got his seeds this year from local grower Todd Kline, a wily veteran who boasts a record 15 first-place pumpkins at the Shawville Fair. 

Rusenstrom estimates a pumpkin can gain upwards of 40 lbs a day. “They grow fast,” he said, noting it takes a lot of water to feed them. “A plant can be a thousand square feet, so it could be an inch or two of water a day [because] there’s a whole root system there that is just absorbing it.”   

Sometimes, he said, your efforts don’t bear fruit. The veggies he wanted to enter in this year’s fair got warped by two recent windstorms, squashing all hopes of a winning entry. 

“I did my best to untwist it and it started growing out again, and then the next one was just enough damage that it started losing leaves.” 

He said the unpredictability of the weather conditions is just the name of the game. “There’s only so much you can do to control it.” 

Rusenstrom may not have an entry this year, but that won’t stop him from chasing what he calls the “Bristol record” – an ongoing battle with his neighbour Dr. Keith MacLellan, who lives two kilometres down the road and is one of the fair’s original large pumpkin growers. 

“I need to be one pound heavier than whatever Dr. MacLellan grows, that’s the goal,” he said. 

Costumed cowboys (and girls) to make a comeback

by Sophie Kuijper Dickson

Making a return to the fair for a second year is the gymkhana horse show. For folks who may not be familiar with this word, this event sees riders of all ages compete in a slew of races involving barrels that need to be circled, poles that need to be bent and eggs that need to be carried on spoons, to name just a few of the usual obstacles riders encounter. And this year there will even be a costume class, which used to be a regular component of the Western horse show, but didn’t happen last year. 

Chomping at the bit to partake in this year’s races are Ladysmith cowgirls Grace and Claire Pasch, who were the only two riders in the peewee section of last year’s gymkhana competitions. The girls, who had already spent years riding, loved the games experience so much that they then dedicated themselves to the sport, participating in monthly gymkhana competitions and even traveling to North Bay with their family to take part in some Western games hosted there. 

“The girls absolutely love it, they’re horse obsessed,” said their mother Molly McGuire. “It keeps them outside with fresh air, and gives them lots of responsibility. It all started at the Shawville Fair.”  

PAS board member Kait Meilleur-Theriault has been involved with running the western and lighthorse show at the fair for the past 10 years, and three years ago was invited by the agricultural society to take on organizing the whole event. 

“The board needed someone to organize the event and no one was able to do it, and if no one stepped up, there wouldn’t be a western or a light horse show,” she said. One of her first moves at the helm of this section was to bring back the gymkhana competition. 

“Horsemanship is one of those things that doesn’t always get highlighted as much, so we wanted to bring something exciting that people would want to come and see.” 

“Last year was our first time taking the Western pleasure [competitions] out of it, and really focusing on it being more of a game, a fun time for people to come and enjoy their horses and not have too much of the stress of having to be perfect,” she said. 

And according to her, the crowds loved it. 

“For spectators it was incredible. I don’t think we had a spot available in the arena. I was really shocked to see how many people came out, and really cheered everybody on.”

This year she said she’s hoping to draw more riders in the peewee/novice category. Riders have until Aug. 28 to register for these games. The races will take place starting at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 31. 

Fair now a points show for two breeds of cattle

by Sophie Kuijper Dickson

Local cattle breeders have another incentive to show at the fair this year, as it is now an official points show for Hereford and Simmental breeds. 

“So if you’re in the beef/cattle showing business, that’s big. It refers to the excellence of our show and the excellence of the cattle that come to our show that they would consider us a point show,” said Mavis Hanna, general manager of the Pontiac Agricultural Society.

“If you show a lot, and collect points throughout the year, then at the end of the year [the bread associations] have this big banquet and there’s overall winners. It’s a way for [breeders] to promote how good their livestock is.”

Hanna said for Simmental breeders, there is only one other points show in Quebec – Expo Boeuf in Victoriaville. She said for the fair to be a points show will put the Pontiac on the map as a region with high quality livestock, and will also draw beef producers from elsewhere looking to rack up some of their own points. 

“For us it’s all about keeping agriculture strong in our fair, and these are the methods that we can use to do that,” Hanna said. 

For young Pontiac cattle farmer Reese Rusenstrom, this is exciting news. She’s been showing Simmental at the fair for the past five or six years, and is looking forward to the elevated competition she expects will come from joining the circuit of points shows.  

“It’s more of a motivation for people from further away as well, to come, because if our fair counts as a points show, they’ll be hopefully more interested in coming to get those points, and so the quality of our show will get better,” she said. 

Rusenstrom, who has a 50-head herd of Simmental cattle, is showing a heifer calf and yearling heifer in this year’s shows, and she’s ready for the competition.

“She’s going really good,” she said, with regards to her calf Stormy. “Everywhere you go you’ve got to think there could be potential customers. If somebody sees a cattle that they really like, that could give you an opportunity to sell genetics off of those animals.”

Folks hoping to get a look at the young Stormy can do so during the open beef show on Saturday.

This year’s Shawville Fair is also, once again, a qualifying show for the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. 

“You have to apply each and every year,” Hanna said. “There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get it.”