Take a deep breath Shawville, you’ve earned it.
With the closure of another successful Shawville Fair, congratulations are in order.
First of all, the legions of volunteers who chipped in with their hard work and spare time deserve the lion’s share of the credit.
If you saw any of them at the fair, odds are it wasn’t for long. Each member of the fair board seemed to move at a running pace.
Despite the amount they had on their plate, they still found a way to have a smile and a chat with anyone who stopped them.
Putting on an event of this scale takes months of organizing.
For many of us, the Shawville Fair is a four-day event that happens once a year on the Labour Day long weekend.
But for the folks who organize the fair, it’s much more than a long weekend event.
Each year the fair delivers high-end musical entertainment. In order to book these bands, it takes months of organizing to make sure schedules line up.
Then there is the organizing for the midway, the vendors and – of course – the agricultural events.
Each of these requires careful planning that often goes on behind the scenes.
The local businesses in town make sure they do all they can to accommodate the influx of visitors.
Many businesses extended their hours to make sure that folks who aren’t from around here could get what they needed.
Even the citizens of Shawville deserve a hearty congratulations.
As the fair comes around, folks in town make sure their lawns are freshly mowed, their flowerbeds look pristine and their properties are above reproach.
Not only that, but people were walking the streets in the early mornings picking up garbage to make sure the town looked its best.
Everyone in town, it seems, takes up the mantle of Shawville ambassador and wears it proudly.
This attitude is what makes the Shawville Fair such a special event; it’s one of the reasons news vans from the city came up to the Pontiac this weekend.
So take a bow Shawville, you’ve knocked it out of the park.
Now, it’s just the small matter of planning and getting ready for next year.
Chris Lowrey
