Welcome to THE EQUITY’s annual Shawville Fair supplement! We’ve spent the last few weeks, between our regular reporting, calling around to find the stories of the people working tirelessly behind the scenes to pull together all the hundreds, heck, maybe thousands, of tiny details that make the Shawville Fair the success that it is.

In this effort we can guarantee we’ve but skimmed the surface of stories available for telling as farmers, bakers, accountants, managers, welders (and the list goes on) all offer their hand in whatever form they can to this community effort. Capturing all that volunteers across the county are doing to pull this annual event together would be near impossible. But in the next few pages we hope you find an anecdote or tidbit that sheds new light on the labour of love that is this annual county-wide homecoming. Or if not this, perhaps simply a bit of information that will help you make the most of the weekend.

As we’ve done in the past, we’re also offering an advance copy of our See You In THE EQUITY game, so the keeners out there can get a head start on identifying the faces splashed across our two-page spread, this time using our new website to search for clues.
And if you’re at the fair this year, stop by our booth! We’d love to hear from you about what you’d like to see more of in your EQUITY.

The Shawville Fair Board

And now a message from . . .

Ralph Lang, President of the Pontiac Ag. Society

Dear Friends and fellow fairgoers,

Here we are at the 168th edition of the Shawville Fair! Our board is excited to gather once again to celebrate our community.

This year, our fair promises to be more exciting than ever.

From the electrifying performances under the new big top circus tent, to the impressive displays of the canine circus dog show, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

At the heart of our festivities lies our commitment to agriculture. As we witness the bustling activity in the livestock competitions and agricultural exhibitions, we are reminded of the dedication and hard work of our local farmers. They are the backbone of our community, and their contributions continue to ensure the prosperity and sustainability of agriculture in the Pontiac region.

The Shawville Fair has always been more than just a gathering; it is a time to come together, celebrate our achievements, and embrace our agricultural traditions. Whether you are a longtime resident or a visitor exploring our fair for the first time, I encourage you to immerse yourself in the festivity of this event.

As we come up to this year’s fair, let us celebrate the past, present, and future of our beloved Shawville Fair and the legacy of agriculture in the Pontiac.
I would also like to thank the community members for the thousands of volunteer hours they put in to make this a great success! Thank you all for being part of this wonderful tradition.

Sophie Chatel, MP for Pontiac

Dear Constituents and Visitors,

I am proud to take part in the opening of the Shawville Fair, a highly anticipated event that showcases the spirit of our community and region.

During these festive days, we invite you to discover a wide range of exciting activities and entertainment for the whole family.

We’d love to see you there—my team and I will be volunteering and joining in the fun! Whether you’re a music enthusiast, passionate about agriculture, or simply looking to enjoy quality time with your family, there’s something here for everyone!

Experience the best of our local offerings with product exhibits, thrilling rides, agricultural competitions, and captivating demonstrations.

The Shawville Fair is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen our community bonds and create lasting memories.

Wishing everyone a fantastic time at the fair!

André Fortin, MNA for Pontiac

Welcome to the Shawville Fair! We have an amazing weekend upon us.

Of course, the traditional horse pulls, the steer auctions, the animal barns, the music concerts, the demolition derbies (I have fond memories of those from my time as a child) and all our beloved and traditional events.

But this year the fair is giving us so much more in terms of new activities with the Canine Circus, magic shows, hypnotists and more.

That is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our volunteers who can’t stop thinking of ways to improve our fair. For decades upon decades, volunteers have run just about everything at the Shawville Fair. This doesn’t happen everywhere.

Heck, it hardly happens anywhere. Our volunteers are the heart of the Shawville Fair. They allow us to showcase our rural way of life. They allow us to grow our local economy. They allow us to celebrate the greatest weekend in the Pontiac. So, if you get a chance, shake their hand, pat them on the back, or simply say thank you. They deserve it!

Jane Toller, Warden of MRC Pontiac

I am delighted to welcome everyone to attend and support the annual celebration of agriculture at the Shawville Fair!

There is no other event in the MRC Pontiac that attracts so many visitors as this event does each year! The Shawville Fair unites our 18 municipalities who all attend.

Agriculture contributes 32 per cent of the employment in the Pontiac, and we are very proud of our farmers. This event allows them to display their livestock and farm produce – the fruits of their labour.

We’re also very proud to have the largest 4H club in Quebec with over 85 members. The fact that our youth are so engaged at such a young age guarantees a bright future for agriculture in the Pontiac.

Finally – I would like to congratulate the board and all of the organizers and volunteers who have worked tirelessly all year to guarantee another successful event for all ages! On behalf of the MRC Council of Mayors, we give you our full support!

Bill McCleary, Mayor of Shawville

The 168th edition of the Shawville Fair is approaching quickly. I’m sad that it also means fall is as well.

However we live in a country with four seasons.

This event is made possible by a group of dedicated volunteers. Their workload is big and they do it well.

The town booms during this event, with people from all over. When you see a volunteer, don’t forget to thank them. Hopefully the weather will also cooperate.

Marty the Clydesdale wants more love

Sandra Dale and her daughter Heather Dale are once again co-directors of the fair’s heavy horse events. This year heavy horse events will take place Friday evening in the indoor arena, with special accompaniment by Laird Graham on the organ, as well as most of the day on Saturday in the outdoor ring.

Each event will rotate between parallel classes for heavy horses and miniature horses, offering the heavy horse exhibitors a chance to prepare for the next class.

Friday night’s show will start with a cart class and finish with the six-horse-hitch class. On Saturday morning starting at 9 a.m. will be the purebred confirmation classes and junior showmanship classes, and at 1 p.m. the hitch classes will begin.

“This time we start right at 1 p.m. with the six-horse-hitch, then work our way down to the four, unicorn, team, then the ladies and junior cart class,” Sandra explained.

Sandra said the Dale family and the volunteers that help them do a lot for the exhibitors in the heavy horse shows, including serving them coffee and donuts and yogurt first thing in the morning, and serving them a home-cooked lunch.

It’s all part of an effort to bring more horse hitches to the Shawville Fair, which happens the same weekend as the Brome Fair every year.

“We’re both trying to get more Quebec exhibitors to come to Shawville, but they all go to Brome.”

Another part of this effort is the four-horse-hitch event, now in its second year at the Shawville Fair.

“The competition designed last year by Carp Fair to help encourage more Ottawa Valley shows and give more recognition to top hitches in the Valley,” Heather said, explaining that about a dozen fairs, including Shawville’s, are participating as point fairs for the final show in Carp at the end of September.

Last year, on top of the traditional heavy horse events the Dales organized for the fair, they put together its first Heavy Horse Educational Tent, which was filled with eight Clydesdale hitch horses owned by Ray and Amber McLaughlin of Haley Station, Ont.

“It was fantastic. The kids were able to get up close and personal, and pet and touch them,” Sandra recalled of the tent.

“A lot of people see these draft horses. They used to be our tractors, years ago, but because of their size, they’re afraid of them,” Sandra said, explaining the idea behind the tent was to dispel this fear.

Heather said the educational tent was designed to give fairgoers a better shot at actually meeting one of these gentle giants.

“The horse barn really is the corner of the animal section of the fair, and we found people just weren’t comfortable walking through all the other animals to get to there,” she said. “Having the tent there, hosted by the McLaughlins, gave people the chance to touch them and ask questions.”

“To have a horse with that much patience that can allow kids to pet it all weekend is extraordinarily special,” Heather said.

The McLaughlin’s semi-retired gelding Marty will once again take centre stage in the tent, available all weekend long to receive some friendly affection, along with his stable mates.

Something for rock, pop, and country fans alike

The musical entertainment lineup for both the main stage and the beer tent include a roster of chart-topping country music stars and the local talent you’ve come to know and love.

Friday: Ottawa band Sussex, self-described as “a vocal heavy popular rock and dance band” opens Friday’s party at 7:30 p.m. with covers of classic rock and modern pop songs.

At 9:00 p.m., Toronto cover band Dwayne Gretzky takes the stage. The band was created in 2010 by a group of Toronto musicians who loved playing music from the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Kyler Kyte, founding member, explained that in most shows, there are as many as 10 musicians on stage.

“It’s a lot of folks on stage, and everybody has their moment to shine,” Kyte told THE EQUITY. “We feed off each other and we feed off the audience. And when the audience shows up ready to have a good time, then the sky’s the limit.”

Kyte explained the band doesn’t use a set list, and instead relies on its vast repertoire of songs from throughout the decades that the musicians choose from as they move through a show.

“We’ll go out and feel it out as we go. That makes every show unique,” Kyte said. “The whole goal is to keep you on your toes and to surprise you with something.”

After Dwayne Gretzky, Sussex will pick up their instruments once again, this time for a late night show in the beer tent.

Saturday: The afternoon will bring a series of Ottawa-based country musicians to both stages. Starting at 1 p.m., Tony True will serenade the crowds with a mix of country classics and original songs on the main stage, and from 3 to 6 p.m., the duo that is Valley Mountain will put on a similar show in the beer tent.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening, British Columbia’s rising country star Madeline Merlo will grace the mainstage with some of her hits, likely including Kiss Kiss and It Didn’t.

Next up after Merlo on the main stage is Tyler Joe Miller, another country music star from B.C. who has seen a number of his songs reach the top of the country music charts since his hit-single, Pillow Talkin’, was released in Dec. 2019.

“Five years ago I was still a contractor,” Miller told THE EQUITY. “Before doing music I was a carpenter and a painter. I knew music was a big passion of mine but it was always one of those dreams that you kind of don’t want to chase because you think it’s too big.”

He played in a church band for years before deciding to try his hand in the country music scene, and began playing as a backup guitarist and singer for country artists in B.C. Eventually, he got a call from a record label offering him a record deal.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit right after his first song came out, preventing him from playing shows to his growing fan base, but once restrictions relaxed, he hit the tour circuit and he hasn’t looked back since.

“We play a ton of the small towns and they’re some of the biggest shows we’ll get to play,” Miller said.

“It’s fun to play the big shows in giant arenas, but there’s something about small town crowds . . . it might be smaller than some but it’s mightier than most.”

Following Miller’s performance, Ottawa’s Valley Mountain will close the evening in the beer tent.

Sunday: The third and final day of musical acts will begin with some easy listening on Sunday afternoon. Dai Basset of Almonte, Ont. is known throughout the valley both for his covers of what he calls the “oldies but goodies,” as well as for his Elvis impersonations.

He’ll be opening the main stage performances at 1 p.m.. Then, Howard Hayes and the Country Drifters will entertain those sipping back a Sunday brew in the beer tent from 3 to 6 p.m.

Pontiac locals and Shawville Fair mainstay, the Phil Denault Band, will rock the mainstage at 7:30 p.m., warming up the crowd for the evening’s headline act, Jade Eagleson.

Eagleson, only 29 years old, released his debut album in 2020 and since then his career has skyrocketed, seeing recent success with hits like She Don’t Know, and More Drinkin’ Than Fishin’.

Then Phil Denault Band will close out the evening in the beer tent for all the fairgoers not ready to give up on the weekend just yet.

New gates for 4-H

Kayla McCann, a director with the Pontiac Agricultural Society and 4-H club leader said business is more or less usual for this year’s 4-H events at the fair. About 65 members will be showing their animals of choice – mostly cows and sheep – which they’ve been grooming and training since May.

Last weekend they held a practice run at the Shawville Fairgrounds where competitors put the finishing touches on their routines with the more than 90 animals that will be shown. Qualifying finishers from the Shawville Fair events will go on to compete at the Metcalfe Fair, a regional show with competitors from various Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec fairs.

New this year are the gates that will be used to contain the sheep as they wait for their big moment in the arena spotlight. They were made over the school year by Pontiac High School’s welding students.
McCann reached out to PHS welding teacher Megan Tubman to make that happen.

“The gates were not super old, we just really didn’t have enough for the sheeps that were coming to the fair,” McCann said, noting the number of sheep being shown at the fair last year was double what it had been in previous years. She said this year won’t be any different.

“The last couple years it’s mostly been kids who grew up on sheep farms, and this year there’s a lot of kids who didn’t grow up on sheep farms showing sheep,” she said. “It’s wonderful, but we needed more gates.”

She reached out to Tubman to see what might be possible and Tubman was happy to take on the project.

“The kids really enjoy seeing their stuff out and about, and they also enjoy seeing productivity,” Tubman said, explaining she got all the grade levels involved in some part of the construction process.

It took the students just under a month to make a total of 28 steel gate panels of different sizes.

“If they have a smaller or more fast-paced project, they get more engaged in it,” Tubman added.

In addition to showing animals, the Shawville 4-H club will be running a food stall again.

“We don’t have a deep fryer. It’s hot dogs, grilled cheese, that kind of thing,” McCann said, noting every kid who is showing an animal at the fair has to work a shift at the food stall, a tradition that has existed since she was a kid doing 4-H at the Shawville Fair.

“It’s our major fundraiser for the year,” she said.

’From one to 101’, a new take on family fun

The Shawville Fair has long been known as the Ottawa Valley’s most family friendly fair. This year, the board of directors has taken that title to a whole new level. And that level involves a circus tent, which will be set up throughout the fair hosting a wide variety of fun for all ages.

Dr. Von Houligan’s Traveling Variety Show will treat visitors to the classic fire-breathing, juggling, magic-trick filled circus performance. He’ll be performing multiple times a day, every day of the fair. Those watching closely may be able to memorize his tricks by the end of it.

The tent will also host a hypnotist twice a day; a dog circus show that appeared on America’s Got Talent which will take the floor three times daily; a professional illusionist, who can apparently levitate and disappear people; and Dan the One Man Band, a traveling musician who walks around playing multiple instruments at one time to the tune of anything and everything from Mary Had a Little Lamb to AC/DC.

“We found that the family entertainment needed a shake-up and to include more family entertainment rather than just focused on young children,” Hanna said. “Something that would suit the whole family, from age one to 101.”

Dedicated Service Award winners

Every politician and fairboard director THE EQUITY heard from in putting together this Shawville Fair teaser emphasized one ingredient above all others as worthy of the highest praise, and that is the volunteers who have dedicated hours if not weeks of their lives to make this and every Shawville Fair come together.

For a select few volunteers every year, this praise comes in the form of a Shawville Fair dedicated service award, the winners of which are voted on by the fair’s directors.

“It’s to recognize people that have given a lot of their time and energies towards the betterment of the fair over the years,” explained beer tent manager Elwin Lang, who figures he has been on the fairboard “the longest out of anyone there.” This, he said, gives him a privileged perspective on the contributions community members have made over the years.

“Every year we pick someone we think is very deserving of it. This year whenever we started thinking about the people we were honouring, three names came to the top of the barrel.”

Those names are Dorothy Morrison, Beryl Smart and Doug MacDougall.

Lang explained Morrison and Smart both served on the fairboard for some time, and were for many years the beer tent’s accounting team. Lang said MacDougall has taken the week of the fair off so he can volunteer his time setting up and running the beer tent for the past 25 years. All three each had their own divisions they took care of – Morrison the the field crops, Smart the handicrafts department, and MacDougall the light horse show.

“All three of them have dedicated many, many hours, months, years,” Lang said.

The three winners will be presented with a plaque at the fair’s opening.

Interacting with agriculture

Fairgoers looking to learn a thing or two about agriculture will have three new opportunities to do so, each to be set up in the agriculture awareness building.

Two sets of virtual reality glasses will make it possible for visitors to explore farms across the country without actually leaving the Shawville fairgrounds.

Another two stations will be available for people interested in learning about local agricultural practices.

“What we decided is each year we’re going to do two new modules,” explained Mavis Hanna, general manager of the Pontiac Agricultural Society. “This year we just randomly selected corn and dairy cows.

Both are very present in the Pontiac, and we’re trying to stay local, as opposed to talking about potato production, or something that’s not local.”

The corn station will display a large photograph of a cornfield in front of which a few different interactive toys, all sharing information related to planting and harvesting corn, will be available for people to engage with.

“It will be written in a language that is age neutral,” Hanna said, noting all information for this learning station was supplied by Kendal Lang.

All information for the dairy farming learning station was supplied by local farmer Kristine Beck, and the large photo backdrop at the station will bring visitors right inside her family’s dairy barn. At this station, curious visitors will be able to learn about the life cycle of a cow.

All stations are designed to be interactive, and Hanna said a lot of effort has gone into thinking through how best to engage people in learning about these industries that are so central to life in the Pontiac.
She said in years to come, the fairboard hopes to build a collection of these learning modules that can be rotated through each fair.

“We’re really trying to be able to say, ‘See what great stuff we have here in the Pontiac?’”

Green thumb wars

Pontiac farmers know a thing or two about what makes good crop seed. This year, for the first time ever, that expertise, if exhibited at the Shawville Fair, may qualify them to place their seed in the 2025 Ottawa Valley Farm Show competition.

“If you win in Shawville, you’ll be qualified to go ahead,” said Hayley Campbell, Shawville fair board director for produce, explaining first and second place winners of select classes in Seed and Field Crop category are eligible to enter the 2025 Ottawa Valley Farm Show.

‘’It’s nice to have that opportunity to go on further and compete against other exhibitors from other parts of Ontario,” Campbell said. “It’s nice to have Pontiac grown items on display. It puts us on the map.”

There are also several new classes available to produce growers wishing to show off their green thumbs, including a Jack-o-lantern competition for juniors, as well as tomatoes, yellow with a stem, three specimens and cherry tomatoes, green, five specimens, same variety, stems attached for the more seasoned growers.

“The produce competitions definitely help us stay true to our roots, because the fair is much more than the rides and the entertainment. The early days of the Shawville Fair would have been things like livestock exhibitions, and people showing their baking and produce,” Campbell said.

“At the end of the day it just encourages people to revive that garden box they have in the back corner of their property, and try growing some carrots and tomatoes and see where it leads.”